NIGERIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Adedoyin Afun and Michael Abiiba, Bloomfield LP
required, no qualified Nigerian officer or crew for the position specified or no Nigerian ship- building yard with the capacity to construct the type and size of vessel specified. The NSRO is also responsible for maintaining the cabotage register for vessels eligible to under - take coastal trade in Nigeria. The Cabotage Act established a Cabotage Ves - sel Finance Fund (CVFF) and it also stipulates that a surcharge of 2% of the contract sum per - formed by any vessel engaged in coastal trade shall be paid into the CVFF. Enforcement of Foreign Judgments A foreign judgment is required to be registered before it can be enforced in Nigeria. There are two applicable statutory regimes in this regard: the Reciprocal Enforcement of Judgments Ordi - nance Cap 175 of the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria and Lagos, 1958 (the Ordinance), and the Foreign Judgment (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act, 2004 (FJA). A party may also bring an action under common law. The FJA provides for the enforcement in Nige - ria of final judgments of foreign superior courts which accord reciprocal treatment to judgments of Nigerian courts. Such foreign countries are to be listed in an Order to be made by the Minister of Justice under Part 1 of the FJA, although the Order is yet to be made. The Ordinance applies to judgments of certain commonwealth countries, including the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Ghana. Under the Ordi - nance, for a foreign judgment to be enforceable in Nigeria, an applicant must file a petition ex parte or on notice to a judge for leave to reg - ister the foreign judgment in Nigeria. The peti - tion ex parte or on notice shall be supported by
an affidavit of the facts which must state that, to the best of the information and belief of the deponent, the judgment creditor is entitled to enforce the judgment, and the judgment does not fall within any of the cases precluded from registration. The petition and the affidavit in sup - port shall be accompanied by a written address, addressing all the legal issues involved in the matter. If the court finds merit in the petition, it shall order that the foreign judgment be registered as a judgment of the Nigerian court, and the order will usually specify a time limit within which the judgment debtor can apply to set aside the order – this is usually 14 days if the judgment debtor is within the territory of the registering court, or longer if otherwise. The Ordinance has a six-year limitation period for the registration and enforce - ment of foreign judgments. Under common law, a party seeking to enforce a foreign judgment in a maritime claim must institute fresh proceedings in the FHC, with the foreign judgment as the basis for the claim. The judgment creditor may apply for the case to be placed on the undefended list, an expedited pro - cedure for cases where there is no reasonable defence to the claim. A certified copy of the for - eign judgment will be attached as an exhibit to the application.
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