By The Senate Committee on Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, on Wednesday, held a public hearing on seven bills.
Two of the bills tabled for consideration were sponsored by the Senator representing Lagos East Senatorial District, Tokunbo Abiru. They are the Federal High Court Act (Amendment) Bill, 2021 and The Franchise Regulation Bill, 2022.
Senator Opeyemi Bamidele (Ekiti Central), who heads the Senate Committee on Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, appreciated all invited stakeholders who were present and urged them to make necessary inputs into the bills.
Presenting a synopsis of the two bills he sponsored, Abiru pointed out that the bill that seeks to amend the Federal High Court Act will address the obvious shortcomings inherent in the Principal Act to make provisions for the regulation of the award of pre-judgment interest to ensure the attainment of substantial justice, particularly in relation to claims bothering on commercial transactions.
The Lagos East Senator, who is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Industries, argued that in commercial claims, particularly the ones for recovery of debts, the claimant should ordinarily be entitled to prejudgment interest on the principal debt sum should he succeed in his claim. However, entitlement to such a pre-judgment interest is not as easy as it seems, at least as far as the numerous decisions of our appellate courts are concerned.
“A legislation and legal framework is desirable to deal with the glaring shortcomings in the law and practice on award of pre-judgment interest and this is the reason he came up with the bill,” he said at the hearing.
On the Franchise Regulation Bill 2022, Abiru stated that the bill seeks to create a framework for the regulation of franchising and to guide the relationship between franchisors and franchisees and for matters connected therewith.
He said, “Franchising in Nigeria has evolved over the years from not being properly utilised and understood to now being employed across various sectors.
“However, as of today, there is no single statute that regulates franchising or guides the relationship between franchisors and franchisees. Since there are no laws the basic principles of contracts and intellectual property law are applied to franchises in Nigeria especially in the event of a dispute.”
He further encouraged the stakeholders who have more specialized information and experience in this sector, to avail the Committee with the benefit of their expert position, views and inputs so that a robust legal framework is put in place to regulate the very important emerging business strategy.
