Earlier this Februari, Daniel Gilbert interviewed DARN’s Dr. Pontian Okoli about the enforcement of foreign judgements in Africa. The interview starts as follows:
Q1. Firstly, please accept my congratulations on the successful completion of your PhD and on your new Stirling University academic position. Could I ask you to briefly provide a context for your thesis, and to reflect on recent developments? – I asked Dr Okoli, who replied:
“Thank you. International litigants want effective outcomes when they try to enforce judgments obtained abroad. There are, however, several barriers to enforcing foreign judgments. My thesis is a comparative analysis of certain African jurisdictions vis-à-vis the Hague Judgments Project – a forum for the harmonisation of Private International Law rules. Over several decades, efforts to agree on a Convention have been largely fruitless. There is, however, now renewed hope for progress. There have been positive developments in the past few years and there is a draft Convention on foreign judgments. More members have joined the (process) but certain powerful countries such as Nigeria are not members”
To read the full interview, please visit https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/foreign-judgments-enforcement-africa-hague-project-daniel-gilbert/
