Treaties
Is your country party to any bilateral or multilateral treaties for the reciprocal recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments? What is the country’s approach to entering into these treaties and what, if any, amendments or reservations has your country made to such treaties?
Certain foreign judgments may also be enforced under the 1958 Act. This Act deals with the registration and enforcement of judgments obtained in Nigeria and the United Kingdom and other parts of Her Majesty’s (Queen of the United Kingdom) dominion and territories, and was not repealed by the 2004 Act as decided by the Nigerian Supreme Court in the case of Witts & Busch Ltd v Dale Power Systems plc. The constitutional approach in entering any bilateral or multilateral treaties is that until such an international treaty signed by Nigeria is enacted into law by the National Assembly, it has no force of law and its provisions will not be justiciable in the court of law within the country. This connotes that, before the enactment into law by the National Assembly of such a bilateral or multilateral treaty to which Nigeria is a signatory, the signed treaty has no force of law and Nigerian courts cannot give effect to it, as they can with other laws.
Is there uniformity in the law on the enforcement of foreign judgments among different jurisdictions within the country?