An Original Investigation of the Relationship Between Corporate Law Reform and Economic Development in Post-Colonial Nigeria: A Historical Institutionalist Analysis

The relationship between corporate law and economic development has been theorised through law and finance scholarship, yet the specific historical mechanisms through which Nigerian corporate law reform has shaped or been shaped by economic development trajectories, from independence to the post-CAMA 2020 era, has not been systematically investigated through a historical institutionalist lens. This study conducts an original historical institutionalist analysis of the relationship between corporate law reform and economic development in Nigeria across five historical periods from 1960 to 2023, drawing on primary archival sources, legislative history documents, and jurisprudential analysis alongside economic development indicators. The theoretical framework employs path dependency theory, critical juncture analysis, and institutional complementarity theory to explain why certain corporate law reforms produced developmental consequences while others did not, despite ostensibly similar legislative intent. Original contributions include identification of three critical junctures in Nigerian corporate law development, a Corporate Law-Development Interaction Model specific to the Nigerian political economy, and an original methodology for distinguishing de jure from de facto corporate law quality using compliance and enforcement data. The study draws on archival research at the National Archives Ibadan, Companies Registration Office records, and Supreme Court archive from 1963 to 2023. Results identify the 1968 Companies Decree, the 1990 CAMA, and the 2020 CAMA as three critical junctures with distinct but inadequately realised developmental potential. Institutional complementarity between corporate law and financial sector regulation emerges as the decisive developmental mediating factor across all periods studied.

Keywords: corporate law reform, economic development, historical institutionalism, path dependency, Nigeria