Compensating Victims of Personal Injury in Tort: The Nigerian Experience So Far

AuthorOluwakemi Mary Adekile
PositionPhD, BL, Senior Lecturer, Department of Private and Property Law Faculty of Law, University of Lagos, Akoka, Nigeria
Pages144-158
JURIDICA
144
Compensating Victims of Personal Injury
in Tort: The Nigerian Experience So Far
Oluwakemi ADEKILE
1
Abstract: Objectives: This paper is a critica l evaluation of the compensation system for p ersonal
injury tort in Nigeria. The present compensation system under the law of tort leaves many victims of
personal injury unco mpensated in Nigeria. This stems f rom many factors, including the fact that
traditional tort theory of no liability without fault has continued to be the principal basis for liability.
This is in s pite of the heavy criticisms of the tort regime as an ineffective mode of compensation.
Through an analytical a ssessment of selected core heads of claims in tort, the paper reveals the
inadequacy in the foundations of tort law and its regulation of claims for personal injury in Nigeria.
Implications: It finds that fault as the p rimary foundation of tort law in Nigeria creates a large
volume of uncompensated plaintiffs, who, without an efficient alternative social security t o fall upon,
have to personally bear their losses. In the light of this, the paper uses examples from other
jurisdictions to recommend that tor t law in Nigeria is in need of more legislative intervention. Value:
The paper recommends that the provision of a sustainable compensation system for personal injury is
imperative for social justice in Nigeria.
Keywords: Fault, Compensation, Tort law, Negligence, strict liability
1. Introduction
As one of the two core interests recognized as protected by tort law, protection
from personal injury has been significantly inefficient in Nigeria. It can hardly be
said that tort law has met either of the goals of corrective justice or deterrence. This
is disturbing when it is realized that a high proportion of the Nigerian populace are
victims of personal injury and even death. Usually, the mode of legal regulation of
personal injuryis a reflection of ideological positions shared between
communitarian ideals of collective responsibility and social welfare on the one
hand and individualistic ideals focused on the coercive mechanism (li ke the tort
system) for enabling those injured to claim compensation if they want to on the
1
PhD, BL, Senior Lecturer, Department of Private and Property Law Faculty of Law, University of
Lagos, Akoka, Nigeria. Gsm: +234 803 302 4357. Corresponding Author: oadekile@unilag.edu.ng.
AUDJ, vol. 9, no. 2/2013, pp. 144-158

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