It has become commonplace for litigants and their counsel to routinely file applications for the extension of time stipulated by the various rules of courts within which they are required to perform certain acts. Filing an application for extension of time has evolved to become, perhaps, the most quotidian application before courts in Nigeria, and motions of this nature have earned the moniker, ‘housekeeping applications’.
It has become acceptable practice for courts to grant applications for extension of time as a matter of course without placing much burden on the applicants to convince the court that they indeed deserve the grant of an extension of time within which to perform acts that are essential to their claims or defence. This flexible and lenient approach is often attributed to the ‘overriding’ interest of justice in furtherance of the constitutional right to fair hearing.