By OLUSOJI DAOMI
One of the most painful experiences in litigation is this: you win your case, the court gives judgment in your favour, the judge says the defendant should pay you ₦10 million, everybody in court congratulates you, and you go home believing that your money will soon arrive.
Then reality knocks. The judgment debtor does not pay. You call him. He does not answer. You send WhatsApp messages. He reads them and disappears. You meet him at a wedding and he tells you, “Lawyer, don’t worry, we will settle it.” Three months become six months. Six months become one year. Meanwhile, the man who lost the case is still driving his Lexus, while the person who won the judgment is asking, “So what exactly did I win?”
Here is the first lesson: winning a monetary judgment is not necessarily the same thing as recovering the money. Enforcement is a separate legal process.
When a judgment debtor voluntarily refuses or fails to satisfy a monetary judgment, the judgment creditor may invoke the machinery of execution under the Sheriff and Civil Process Act and the applicable rules of the court.
One of the most powerful weapons is garnishee proceedings. Let me bring this down from legal English to Nigerian English.
Suppose Mr Ade sues Mr Bernard and obtains a judgment for ₦20 million. Mr Bernard refuses to pay. But he has ₦25 million sitting in his bank account. Mr Ade does not necessarily have to follow him around begging for his money. Through garnishee proceedings, the court can be asked to attach money belonging to Mr Bernard but held by a third party, usually a bank.
The judgment creditor ordinarily first seeks an Order Nisi. In simple language, this is the court saying to the garnishee, “You appear to be holding money belonging to this judgment debtor. Come to court and explain why this money should not be used to satisfy the judgment.”
The garnishee is therefore given an opportunity to show cause.
If there is no valid reason why the money should not be attached, the court may make the order absolute, directing the garnishee to pay the attached funds in satisfaction of the judgment.
This is why the bank account of a judgment debtor can become considerably more interesting after judgment.
But there is an important legal caution. Not every account or every fund can simply be swept away because somebody has obtained a judgment. The court must follow the statutory and procedural requirements, and the garnishee may raise legitimate objections.
There is an even more important rule where the money is in the custody or control of a public officer. Section 84 of the Sheriff and Civil Process Act imposes a special requirement concerning money or property in the custody or control of a public officer. The requisite consent of the appropriate authority must be obtained before the court can make the relevant garnishee order.
This is one reason why enforcement against government funds is not always as straightforward as garnisheeing an ordinary private bank account.
There is another familiar method called fi. fa., short for fieri facias. Do not be frightened by the Latin. It simply refers to a writ used to enforce a judgment by directing the Sheriff to levy execution against the judgment debtor’s property.
Imagine that Mr Bernard owes you ₦15 million pursuant to a judgment but has no sufficient money in his bank account. However, he owns valuable goods, vehicles or other property capable of being lawfully seized and sold. Subject to the law and the applicable procedure, the Sheriff may levy execution against eligible property and the proceeds may be applied towards satisfaction of the judgment.
In other words, the law does not merely say, “You have won; congratulations.” It provides machinery for turning the judgment into actual recovery.
There is also the Judgment Debtor Summons. This becomes relevant where the creditor seeks to bring the judgment debtor before the court to examine his financial position. The debtor may be required to answer questions concerning his income, assets and means of satisfying the judgment.
Consider the man who tells everyone, “I have no money to pay the judgment,” but arrives at a social event in a brand new Range Rover, while his company continues to receive payments and his business appears to be flourishing.
The law is not necessarily interested in the noise. It is interested in the facts.
A judgment debtor who genuinely lacks the means to pay is not in exactly the same position as one who has the means but deliberately refuses to comply. Depending on the applicable law and circumstances, the court may make appropriate orders concerning payment, including instalments. Committal consequences may arise in legally permissible circumstances, but imprisonment is not a substitute for proving the statutory requirements for enforcement.
This distinction is extremely important because Nigeria is a constitutional democracy. A person does not become a criminal merely because he owes a civil judgment debt. Enforcement must remain within the boundaries of the law.
Now, let us consider another situation.
Suppose you obtained judgment in London, Accra, New York or another foreign jurisdiction. Can you simply carry the foreign judgment to a Nigerian bank and demand your money? No.
A foreign judgment does not automatically become executable in Nigeria merely because it was validly delivered abroad.
There are legal procedures for recognising and enforcing foreign judgments in Nigeria. Depending on the country involved and the circumstances, the applicable framework may include the Foreign Judgments Reciprocal Enforcement Act, the older Reciprocal Enforcement of Judgments Ordinance in appropriate cases, or the common law rules governing recognition of foreign judgments.
Ordinarily, the foreign judgment must first be brought within the Nigerian enforcement framework before execution can proceed against assets in Nigeria.
So, if a Nigerian businessman loses a case abroad and believes that hiding his Nigerian assets will make the judgment disappear, he may need to think again. Likewise, a foreign creditor who obtains a valid judgment against a Nigerian debtor cannot simply bypass Nigerian enforcement procedure.
There are also time requirements and procedural conditions governing registration and enforcement. The statement that every foreign judgment can simply be enforced in Nigeria within six years should therefore not be treated as a universal rule without examining the particular statutory regime, country of origin, nature of the judgment and applicable Nigerian procedure.
And here is the larger lesson. A court judgment is not merely a piece of paper. It is a legal command backed by enforcement machinery. But that machinery must be properly activated.
This is why litigation should not end in the courtroom on the day judgment is delivered. A competent lawyer should be thinking about enforcement strategy from the beginning, especially where there is a real risk that the judgment debtor may dissipate, conceal or move assets.
The Nigerian who says, “I don’t need a lawyer; I have won already,” may discover that winning the judgment and recovering the money are two different battles.
The first battle establishes your legal right. The second battle converts that right into reality.
So, if you have obtained a monetary judgment and the debtor refuses to pay, do not spend your time threatening him on WhatsApp or announcing to the whole neighbourhood that “the court has disgraced him.”
Go back to the law. Find out where the debtor’s attachable assets are. Consider whether garnishee proceedings are appropriate.
Consider whether execution against property is available. Consider whether a Judgment Debtor Summons is appropriate.
And if the debtor has assets in another country, obtain proper advice on the applicable foreign judgment enforcement regime.
Because in law, a judgment is victory, but enforcement is victory translated into money.
And perhaps this is the part many Nigerians do not know: the person who wins a case does not become a debt collector with a hammer. The Sheriff, the court and the applicable statutory machinery perform that function.
Your job is to obtain the judgment.
Your lawyer’s job is to advise on the appropriate enforcement route.
The court provides the authority.
And the law provides the machinery.
So, when next somebody tells you, “I won the case but the man has refused to pay me,” do not immediately conclude that the judgment is useless.
Ask a more useful question:
“What enforcement step has been taken?”
Because sometimes the problem is not that justice was denied.
Sometimes justice has already been delivered.
It is simply waiting to be enforced.ing to Mr B but held by a third party, usually a bank.
The bank is called the garnishee.
The judgment creditor ordinarily first seeks an Order Nisi. In simple language, this is the court saying to the garnishee, “You appear to be holding money belonging to this judgment debtor. Come to court and explain why this money should not be used to satisfy the judgment.”
The garnishee is therefore given an opportunity to show cause.
If there is no valid reason why the money should not be attached, the court may make the order absolute, directing the garnishee to pay the attached funds in satisfaction of the judgment.
This is why the bank account of a judgment debtor can become considerably more interesting after judgment.
But there is an important legal caution. Not every account or every fund can simply be swept away because somebody has obtained a judgment. The court must follow the statutory and procedural requirements, and the garnishee may raise legitimate objections.
There is an even more important rule where the money is in the custody or control of a public officer. Section 84 of the Sheriff and Civil Process Act imposes a special requirement concerning money or property in the custody or control of a public officer. The requisite consent of the appropriate authority must be obtained before the court can make the relevant garnishee order.
This is one reason why enforcement against government funds is not always as straightforward as garnisheeing an ordinary private bank account.
There is another familiar method called fi. fa., short for fieri facias. Do not be frightened by the Latin. It simply refers to a writ used to enforce a judgment by directing the Sheriff to levy execution against the judgment debtor’s property.
Imagine that Mr B owes you ₦15 million pursuant to a judgment but has no sufficient money in his bank account. However, he owns valuable goods, vehicles or other property capable of being lawfully seized and sold. Subject to the law and the applicable procedure, the Sheriff may levy execution against eligible property and the proceeds may be applied towards satisfaction of the judgment.
In other words, the law does not merely say, “You have won; congratulations.” It provides machinery for turning the judgment into actual recovery.
There is also the Judgment Debtor Summons.
This becomes relevant where the creditor seeks to bring the judgment debtor before the court to examine his financial position. The debtor may be required to answer questions concerning his income, assets and means of satisfying the judgment.
Consider the man who tells everyone, “I have no money to pay the judgment,” but arrives at a social event in a brand new Range Rover, while his company continues to receive payments and his business appears to be flourishing.
The law is not necessarily interested in the noise. It is interested in the facts.
A judgment debtor who genuinely lacks the means to pay is not in exactly the same position as one who has the means but deliberately refuses to comply. Depending on the applicable law and circumstances, the court may make appropriate orders concerning payment, including instalments. Committal consequences may arise in legally permissible circumstances, but imprisonment is not a substitute for proving the statutory requirements for enforcement.
This distinction is extremely important because Nigeria is a constitutional democracy. A person does not become a criminal merely because he owes a civil judgment debt. Enforcement must remain within the boundaries of the law.
Now, let us consider another situation.
Suppose you obtained judgment in London, Accra, New York or another foreign jurisdiction. Can you simply carry the foreign judgment to a Nigerian bank and demand your money?
No.
A foreign judgment does not automatically become executable in Nigeria merely because it was validly delivered abroad.
There are legal procedures for recognising and enforcing foreign judgments in Nigeria. Depending on the country involved and the circumstances, the applicable framework may include the Foreign Judgments Reciprocal Enforcement Act, the older Reciprocal Enforcement of Judgments Ordinance in appropriate cases, or the common law rules governing recognition of foreign judgments.
Ordinarily, the foreign judgment must first be brought within the Nigerian enforcement framework before execution can proceed against assets in Nigeria.
So, if a Nigerian businessman loses a case abroad and believes that hiding his Nigerian assets will make the judgment disappear, he may need to think again. Likewise, a foreign creditor who obtains a valid judgment against a Nigerian debtor cannot simply bypass Nigerian enforcement procedure.
There are also time requirements and procedural conditions governing registration and enforcement. The statement that every foreign judgment can simply be enforced in Nigeria within six years should therefore not be treated as a universal rule without examining the particular statutory regime, country of origin, nature of the judgment and applicable Nigerian procedure.
And here is the larger lesson.
A court judgment is not merely a piece of paper. It is a legal command backed by enforcement machinery.
But that machinery must be properly activated.
This is why litigation should not end in the courtroom on the day judgment is delivered. A competent lawyer should be thinking about enforcement strategy from the beginning, especially where there is a real risk that the judgment debtor may dissipate, conceal or move assets.
The Nigerian who says, “I don’t need a lawyer; I have won already,” may discover that winning the judgment and recovering the money are two different battles.
The first battle establishes your legal right. The second battle converts that right into reality.
So, if you have obtained a monetary judgment and the debtor refuses to pay, do not spend your time threatening him on WhatsApp or announcing to the whole neighbourhood that “the court has disgraced him.”
Go back to the law. Find out where the debtor’s attachable assets are. Consider whether garnishee proceedings are appropriate. Consider whether execution against property is available. Consider whether a Judgment Debtor Summons is appropriate.
And if the debtor has assets in another country, obtain proper advice on the applicable foreign judgment enforcement regime.
Because in law, a judgment is victory, but enforcement is victory translated into money.
And perhaps this is the part many Nigerians do not know: the person who wins a case does not become a debt collector with a hammer. The Sheriff, the court and the applicable statutory machinery perform that function.
Your job is to obtain the judgment. Your lawyer’s job is to advise on the appropriate enforcement route. The court provides the authority. And the law provides the machinery.
So, when next somebody tells you, “I won the case but the man has refused to pay me,” do not immediately conclude that the judgment is useless.
Ask a more useful question: “What enforcement step has been taken?” Because sometimes the problem is not that justice was denied. Sometimes justice has already been delivered.
It is simply waiting to be enforced.
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