Can Two People who got married in Nigeria and have left the Country Still Conduct their Divorce in Nigeria?
Yes.
INTRODUCTION
The requirement to be able to bring an action in divorce in Nigeria is not based on physical presence but on domicile. The law considers a person who might have lived in Nigeria before migration to still be domiciled in Nigeria except the person has exercised any intention and desire to no longer be so domiciled and has taken telling actions in that regard.
It is important to note that domicile as a concept is different from residence and citizenship. While residence is determined most times by physical presence, citizenship is determined by some level of allegiance or some other constitutional or legal affiliation or definition. Domicile generally is determined by actions and intention to still be associated with a particular place or country. So that if a person still desires to be domiciled in Nigeria, the person is considered to be so domiciled.
Relatively, the cost of carrying out divorce proceedings in Nigeria is largely cheaper than its counterparts in other countries of the world. In further fact, if it is to be carried out in other countries, it will make the Nigerian marriage a foreign marriage in that other country and therefore a bit more complicated because it will be treated as a marriage that is not local to their own territory and will take extra processes/procedures other than if it were one that was conducted in their own country and under their indigenous statutes or customs.
Divorce in Nigeria: Modernizing Courts for a Globalized, Post-COVID Era
Conducting of proceedings in Nigerian Courts now acknowledges the realities and complexities of economic world and the fact that the world is now a global village and migration is a complex reality of the present generation. Our Courts used to be a huge stickler for the fact that Witnesses must present themselves in a witness box in open court and give their testimony therefrom. The migration of the thinking of Our Courts in this regard is largely shifted by the impact of the Covid-19 virus and the devastating effect it had with physical and proximate interactions between humans.
AUTHOR; JUSTICE OJIENOH