International Trade Law and Nigeria’s Compliance with World Trade Organisation Obligations

This study examines Nigeria's record of compliance with its obligations as a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), investigating the key sectors in which Nigeria has faced dispute settlement proceedings, compliance challenges, and implementation gaps. Nigeria joined the WTO in 1995 and has undertaken commitments on tariff schedules, trade facilitation, and intellectual property protection, yet domestic policy frequently diverges from these multilateral obligations. Drawing on international regime theory and the two-level game framework, this research assesses Nigeria's WTO compliance behaviour from 2019 to 2024, focusing on the agricultural sector, customs procedures, and trade-related intellectual property rights. The study adopts a qualitative methodology, relying on WTO Trade Policy Review documents, dispute settlement records, Nigerian government policy papers, and academic commentary. Interviews with trade lawyers at the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment provide primary data. The research pays particular attention to the political economy of non-compliance, examining how domestic industry lobbying, revenue considerations, and capacity constraints shape Nigeria's trade policy posture. Findings are expected to show that compliance is partial and sector-specific, driven by domestic political economy factors rather than principled multilateralism. The study offers recommendations for building Nigeria's WTO compliance capacity. Keywords: WTO, trade compliance, Nigeria, international trade law, dispute settlement.