Re-Examining the Theoretical Foundations of Contract Enforcement in a Digitalised Nigerian Economy

The digitalisation of commercial activity in Nigeria has created a new contractual environment in which traditional doctrines of offer and acceptance, consideration, intention to create legal relations, and written instrument requirements are being applied to fundamentally new forms of commercial interaction, requiring comprehensive theoretical re-examination. This study re-examines the theoretical foundations of contract enforcement in a digitalised Nigerian economy, drawing on original empirical research into digital commercial disputes, comparative analysis of contract law responses to digitalisation in Singapore, the European Union, and Kenya, and a comprehensive theoretical review of contract law scholarship from 2018 to 2024. Using a mixed theoretical methodology combining doctrinal analysis with 90 interviews drawn from fintech operators, e-commerce companies, digital contract practitioners, and judges in Lagos, Abuja, and Kano, the research evaluates how existing contract doctrine responds to algorithmic contracting, smart contracts, artificial intelligence-mediated transactions, and digital platform standard terms. The study advances an original theory of Digital Contract Enforcement (DCE) as a theoretical contribution, which proposes a new framework for classifying, interpreting, and enforcing digital contracts in the Nigerian legal context without dismantling foundational contract principles. Findings reveal that Nigerian courts have been applying pre-digital contract doctrine to digital transactions with inadequate adaptation, creating systemic enforcement gaps. The DCE framework provides a theoretically coherent and practically workable solution. Recommendations include a Digital Contracts Act, smart contract regulatory guidelines, and judicial technology training. Keywords: digital contracts, contract theory, smart contracts, digitalisation, algorithmic contracting