The Commonwealth model and conundrum in the enforcement of foreign judgement regime in Nigeria

Nigeria, as a member of the Commonwealth, retains identical statutes to the UK and other Commonwealth countries on registration of foreign judgement. Nigeria also inherited the common law rules on the enforcement of judgement, like all other parts or former parts of the British Dominions. However, the Nigerian courts have construed these statutes very differently when compared with the way in which the statutes of other Commonwealth countries have been construed, and have sometimes approached the matter of enforcement of foreign judgement as if there are no extant common law rules on the matter. As a result, the need has clearly arisen for the attention of the Nigerian courts to be directed at the similarities between the Nigerian and other Commonwealth statutes on the matter, as well as the judicial practice of the other Commonwealth countries. This article presents a brief historical perspective and then demonstrates the identical features of the statutes, pointing out the perceived errors of the Nigerian appellate and apex courts.