NIGERIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Abubakar Anafi, Larry Nkwor, Justice Uka-Ofor and Ayomide Abiodun, G. Elias
tration pursuant to the Sheriff and Civil Process Act, 2004 (SCPA). Where the settlement agreement is not sanc- tioned and entered as a consent judgment by the court, it can be enforced only as a contract between the parties. The parties will then have to institute an action in court to enforce the set- tlement agreement. 8.4 Setting Aside Settlement Agreements An action will be filed in court seeking to set aside a settlement agreement. This will be the situa- tion where the settlement agreement is yet to be sanctioned by the court. The grounds on which the court sets aside settlement agreements include fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, mistake, or any other vitiating element which affords a ground for setting aside an agreement. The court will apply the same grounds where a settlement agreement has been entered as a consent judgment of the court. An appeal against a consent judgment must be made with the leave of the court. 9. Damages and Judgment 9.1 Awards Available to the Successful Litigant The remedies available to a successful litigant are based on the nature of the litigation and the claims sought from the court. The remedies available to a litigant include the following: • damages are monetary compensation award- ed by the court to a claimant/plaintiff for a wrongful act caused by the defendant; • a declaratory relief is a remedy of the court that clarifies and declares the rights and obli- gations of the parties in a dispute;
• a specific performance order is an equitable remedy that compels a party to fulfil their contractual obligations (a specific perfor- mance is generally granted where damages would not be an adequate remedy to the claimant/plaintiff); and • injunctions are orders of the court restraining the commission or continuance of a wrongful act or mandating the doing of an act. 9.2 Rules Regarding Damages For special damages to be granted by the court, a claim for the damages must be specifically pleaded and particularised to properly apprise the opposing party of the case being made against them. Special damages must be proved. Punitive damages are available and awarded by the courts to punish a defendant for malicious conduct and to deter the defendant. Punitive damages are also “exemplary damages”. There are no fixed limits on the maximum dam- ages recoverable, because the extent of true loss cannot always be predetermined. The courts generally aim to award an amount of money as damages that is sufficient to restore the aggrieved party to the position in which it would be if the breach in issue had not occurred. However, the courts cannot award damages exceeding the amount claimed by a claimant. 9.3 Pre-judgment and Post-judgment Interest A successful party may be awarded pre-judg- ment and post-judgment interest if the same is claimed by the party. Pre-judgment interest is generally granted where a party establishes its existence during a trial through the (a) agreement of the parties; (b) exist-
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