CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2016
| Author | Iheme, Chima Williams |
|---|---|
| Title | Towards Reforming the Legal Framework for Secured Transactions in Nigeria: Perspectives from the United States and Canada |
| Summary | This thesis rests on the presumption that ease of access to credit is the cornerstone of every country’s economic development, as no country may have any meaningful economic development if those willing to startup businesses or expand them, cannot obtain sufficient credit to do so. The sufficient availability of credit to business entities especially the small and medium scale entrepreneurs (SMEs) is interconnected with the nature of a country’s legal framework on secured transactions. A modern secured transactions law entails the use of personal property to secure credit, while an unreformed one – like Nigeria’s, amongst other shortcomings like lack of public notification system, focuses mainly on the use of real property as collateral. This is however a big problem and quite unsuitable for economic development because most SMEs and other forms of business organizations in Nigeria may not always have sufficient real property collateral to secure credit – and as a result, do not always meet up with credit requirements from banks and other lending institutions. A secured transactions law which allows for the use of personal property as collateral, provides comprehensive rules of creation, perfection, priority, as well as judicial and self-help enforcement channels, creates confidence in lending by ultimately ensuring predictability, which no doubt makes credits sufficiently available for entrepreneurs. Nigerian secured transactions law lacks the main features of a modern one because it provides no detailed rules (from creation to enforcement) on the non-possessory use of personal property to secure credit. It is not yet fully recognized in Nigeria how much detrimental it is that its secured transactions law is compartmentalized – what inherently makes the system unpredictable and not trustworthy to financiers. The summary effect of all this is that there is no sufficient flow of credit in the economy and this leads to economic underdevelopment. This thesis therefore seeks to come forward with solutions that might significantly address some of Nigeria’s economic problems, especially those that emanate from insufficient availability of credit. In looking for solutions, the thesis takes a critical look at the UCC Article 9, and is of the firm view that its unitary structure could offer a good example for Nigeria to follow in the reform of its secured transactions law. However, rather than rely exclusively on the US law, the thesis also takes a critical look at the Ontario Personal Property Security Act because in many respects, Canadian (Ontario) laws and the linked economic structures used to be closer to Nigeria’s than those of the US. It is therefore the position of this thesis, that through a comparative analysis that points out the commonalities and discrepancies between the two systems, the thesis will analyze those elements of UCC Article 9 and Ontario PPSA that could conveniently be adapted to suit Nigeria’s local conditions. The idea is not to suggest the unaltered transplantation of the more suitable version of any one institution or rule, but rather to see why there was a need to, and how the Canadians managed to adjust the US transplants to local conditions – this comparative analysis would hopefully offer valuable tools to the Nigerian lawmakers towards the reform of Nigeria’s secured transactions law. |
| Supervisor | Tajti, Tibor |
| Department | Legal Studies PhD |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2016/iheme_chima-williams.pdf |
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