Section 1: Extent of the admiralty jurisdiction of the Federal High Court

(1) The admiralty jurisdiction of the Federal High Court (in this Act referred to as "the Court") includes the following, that is-
(a) jurisdiction to hear and determine any question relating to a proprietary interest in a ship or aircraft or any maritime claim specified in section 2 of this Act;
(b) any other admiralty jurisdiction being exercised by any other court in Nigeria immediately before the commencement of this Act;
(c) any jurisdiction connected with any ship or aircraft which is vested in any other court in Nigeria immediately before the commencement of this Act;
(d)
any action or application relating to any cause or matter by any ship owner or aircraft operator or any other person under the Merchant Shipping Act or any other enactment relating to a ship or an aircraft for the limitation of the amount of his liability in connection with the shipping or operation of aircraft or other property;
[Cap. M11.]
(e) any claim for liability incurred for oil pollution damage;
(f) any matter arising from shipping and navigation on any inland waters declared as national waterways;
(g) any matter arising within a Federal port or national airport and its precincts, including claims for loss of or damage to goods occurring between the offloading of goods across space from a ship or an aircraft and their delivery at the consignee's premises, or during storage or transportation before delivery to the consignee;
(h)
any banking or letter of credit transaction involving the importation or exportation of goods to and from Nigeria in a ship or an aircraft, whether the importation is carried out or not and notwithstanding that the transaction is between a bank and its customer;
(i) any cause or matter arising from the constitution and powers of all ports authorities airport authority and the National Maritime Authority;
(j) any criminal cause and matter arising out of or concerned with any of the matters in respect of which jurisdiction is conferred by paragraphs (a) to (i) of this subsection.
(2) The admiralty jurisdiction of the Court in respect of carriage and delivery of goods extends from the time the goods are placed on board a ship for the purpose of shipping to the time the goods are delivered to the consignee or whoever is to receive them, whether the goods were transported on land during the process or not.
(3) Any agreement or purported agreement, monetary or otherwise connected with or relating to carriage of goods by sea, whether the contract of carriage is executed or not, shall be within the admiralty jurisdiction of the Court.