Why Nigeria is not a reciprocating territory
India's commonly cited list of Section 44A CPC reciprocating territories includes the United Kingdom,
Singapore, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Trinidad and Tobago, New Zealand, the Cook Islands (including Niue), the
Trust Territories of Western Samoa, Hong Kong, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Aden, and the UAE. Nigeria does not
appear on this list. This platform sourced the current list from secondary legal commentary rather than a
primary Gazette notification, so it should be verified against the current Ministry of Law and Justice
Gazette notification before relying on it for a specific case.
The Section 13 fresh-suit route for enforcing a Nigerian judgment
Because Nigeria is not a reciprocating territory, a money decree or divorce decree from a Nigerian
court cannot be directly executed in India under Section 44A. Instead, the judgment must be relied upon as
a cause of action in a fresh civil suit under Section 13 of the CPC, where an Indian court will treat the
foreign judgment as conclusive on the matters directly adjudicated, subject to the exceptions listed in
Section 13 itself (such as the foreign court lacking jurisdiction, the judgment not being on the merits, or
it being obtained by fraud). This route is materially slower than direct execution would be.
Family matters within Nigeria's plural legal system
Because Nigeria applies different legal frameworks -- statutory, Islamic, and customary -- to family
matters depending on religion, ethnicity, and the type of marriage contracted, a cross-border family-law
dispute connected to Nigeria can raise which Nigerian legal regime actually governs the underlying
marriage, in addition to the usual private-international-law questions. This platform recommends
confirming which Nigerian legal framework applies to the specific family relationship at the outset of any
dispute, alongside individualized Nigerian legal advice.
Common mistakes NRIs and Indian-origin families connected to Nigeria make with this topic:
- Assuming a Nigerian court judgment is automatically enforceable in India, without accounting for
Nigeria's absence from the Section 44A reciprocating-territories list.
- Not confirming which Nigerian legal framework (statutory, Islamic, or customary) governs the
underlying family relationship.
- Not budgeting time and cost for the Section 13 fresh-suit process, which is slower than direct
execution would be.
