Ocean law reform: A multi-level comparative law analysis of Nigerian maritime zone legislation (original) (raw)
Recently, Nigeria introduced a Bill in the House and Senate that aims at modernizing its maritime zone legislation to enable it to maximize benefits it has received from the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, 1982. Although Nigeria has been a party to the Convention for many years, the legislative initiative was triggered only recently by a mixture of events, including a submission to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf and the delimitation of maritime boundaries and adoption of joint development zones with neighbouring States, including the implementation of a judgment of the International Court of Justice. This article discusses how a comparative law approach to law reform was used by benchmarking Nigeria's legislative initiative against its treaty rights and obligations and the maritime legislation of selected States in