ABSTRACT

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is about economic prosperity and wealth creation of
developing economies, (FDI) brings with it capital, technology, it provides a platform for
the creation of jobs and links to the world economy which brings development. The New
Partnership for Africa’s Development [NEPAD] asserts that to meet its developmental
challenges, Africa will have to rely more on foreign direct investment [FDI] than aid.
Given the fact, the aid flows to Africa have significantly declined over the years and that
the continent has now to compete with other countries for the same resources needed for
development. Therefore, [NEPAD] places greater emphases on the importance of foreign
direct investment [FDI] as Africa’s new engine of economic growth, particularly in the
manufacturing and agricultural sector, as opposed to the oil and gas and other natural
resources. However, the contribution firms, and foreign direct investment [FDI] make to
the society is determined principally by the investment climate. There are many features
of a good investment climate, aside of legal framework, provision of security and
maintaining infrastructure, which provide the opportunities and incentives for the
investment to flow and flourish and create confidence in the mind of the investors, to
invest productively, and they include strong and vibrant contract enforcement. Delays or
uncertainties in the enforcement of contractual rights erode the value of property rights
and diminish the opportunities and incentives to invest. Therefore, the process of seeking
redress through the normal court system is too protracted and unsatisfactory to continue
to serve as primary recourse option of executives and potential investors, and this also
explain the slow of improvement in FDI in the manufacturing and agricultural sector
inflow to Nigeria. There are additional reasons for all these difficulties and hurdles that
constitute a clog to an efficient contractual enforcement. The legal system that made
judges of regular courts to also handle election petitions and other ad-hoc assignments to
the detriment of the regular pending commercial cases before the courts. Secondly, there
currently distinct rules for each state of the Federation and there number of civil
procedure rules required to be complied with to move cases through the system from
filing to judgment enforcement. This has created additional and unnecessary procedures
that elongate the process of contract enforcement. Thirdly, despite these enormous
powers of the Sheriff and bailiffs in the process of trials and enforcement of contractual
judgments, in Nigeria majority of the bailiffs in all our courts including the courts of
records are either retired police or military officers with no formal training on their
powers and obligations in accordance with the provision of the law.The dissertation
mainly recommended the creation of Commercial courts or Commercial divisions
throughout the federation to handle contractual and commercial cases; secondly,
Secondly, it is recommended for the unification and adoption of a single the civil
procedure rules throughout the country. Lastly to institutionalize the training and retraining
of sheriffs and court bailiffs on the provisions of the rules as it relates their
functions of giving effect to court orders and judgment.These would go a long way in
providing an effective and speedy movement of civil cases through the system of trial and
subsequent enforcement in our courts, which may further create confidence and improve
the investment climate for the inflow of the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in to
Nigeria.

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