Problems of Access to Courts in Nigeria: Results of a Survey of Legal Practitioners
| Date | 01 September 2001 |
| DOI | 10.1177/a018603 |
| Author | Jedrzej George Frynas |
| Published date | 01 September 2001 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
PROBLEMS OF ACCESS TO
COURTS IN NIGERIA: RESULTS
OF A SURVEY OF LEGAL
PRACTITIONERS
JÊDRZEJ GEORGE FRYNAS
Coventry University, UK
ABSTRACT
Access to courts constitutes a key test of the quality of a legal system. However, there
is a dearth of empirical studies on access problems in developing countries. This article
identifies the main problems of access to courts in Nigeria on the basis of a survey of
154 Nigerian legal practitioners, an analysis of Nigerian court cases and two field trips
to Nigeria. It focuses on one specific type of litigation: litigation related to the
Nigerian crude oil industry. The survey results suggest that the main constraints of
access to courts in Nigeria are financial problems as well as the lack of education and
information of potential litigants, which falls in line with the results of other empiri-
cal studies in developed countries.
INTRODUCTION
ACCESS TO courts constitutes a key test of the quality of a legal
system. This article aims to identify the main socioeconomic factors
that can either encourage or discourage potential litigants from
engaging in litigation in a developing country. We investigated this topic on
the basis of a survey of 154 Nigerian legal practitioners, an analysis of
Nigerian court cases and two field trips to Nigeria.
There are many empirical, including sophisticated quantitative, studies on
socioeconomic problems of access to justice in developed countries. The most
impressive body of literature on this topic originated in the United States, the
country with the greatest number of lawyers but beset by serious problems
of inequality in terms of access to courts (see for example American Bar
Association, 1994; Curran, 1989; Curran and Spaulding, 1974; Miller and
SOCIAL &LEGAL STUDIES 0964 6639 (200109) 10:3 Copyright © 2001
SAGE Publications, London, Thousand Oaks, CA and New Delhi,
Vol. 10(3), 397–419; 018603
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Sarrat, 1981; Spangenberg Group, 1989). Other developed countries such as
Britain have also been studied in extensive detail (see for example Abel-Smith
et al., 1973; Genn, 1999).1
In developing countries, there has been relatively little empirical research
on problems of access to courts. In Africa, empirical research is particularly
scarce. Previous scholars who have undertaken sociolegal studies on access
to courts in Africa have largely confined their analyses to speculative evidence
(see for example Degni-Segui, 1995; Sawadogo, 1995) or have confined their
research to one aspect of the subject such as access problems of women (e.g.
Wanitzek, 1990). For example, Degni-Segui (1995) stated that there are five
main barriers to justice in Africa: geographical distance to courts; delay in the
disposal of cases; lack of funds; African political systems; and ignorance of
legal rights. Unfortunately, he has failed to provide evidence of why we
should regard those specific factors as more important than other potential
causes. Ultimately, his assessment of the hierarchy of the problems of access
to courts hence appears speculative.
In contrast to the existing African studies, this article attempts to empiri-
cally determine the hierarchy of access problems by relying both on a survey
of Nigerian legal practitioners as well as on more qualitative evidence. In this
context, we are able to show that, for instance, the geographical distance to
courts, which features among the key problems of access to courts cited by
Degni-Segui (1995), is not a particularly severe barrier to justice in itself.2In
this context, our analysis offers many advantages if compared with the exist-
ing studies, which are either abstract or lack real evidence.
The article focuses on litigation related to the Nigerian oil industry. There
are at least four reasons for this particular focus.
First, the oil industry is Nigeria’s most important economic sector,
accounting for more than 60 percent of the total government revenue, hence
oil-related litigation has not surprisingly become an important branch of lit-
igation in Nigeria. Indeed, there are hundreds of oil-related court cases in
Nigerian courts. For instance, in early 1998, Shell alone was reportedly
involved in over 500 pending court cases in Nigeria.3
Second, oil operations have created considerable adverse effects in the oil-
producing areas, while both the Nigerian state and the oil companies were,
until recently, generally unwilling or unable to remedy these effects (see
Frynas, 2000: 158–69). As a result, thousands of potential litigants from the
oil-producing areas have a valid legal claim against the oil companies and, to
a lesser extent, the Nigerian state. The ability or inability of potential litigants
in the oil-producing areas to sue oil companies therefore presents an import-
ant test in terms of access to courts in Nigeria.
Third, as shown elsewhere (Frynas, 1999), oil-related litigation in Nigeria
has experienced a certain measure of legal change in favour of opposing
litigants in lawsuits against oil companies. This change did not result from
legislative changes, but rather from changing case law. Nigerian judges sig-
nificantly increased the damages awarded to plaintiffs suing oil companies,
while also interpreting locus standi and evidence rules in a more liberal
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