COVID-19: Possible Defences to a Non-Performing Party in a Commercial Contract

Abstract

It is no longer news that the world is confronted with a common enemy today – the novel Coronavirus 2019 popularly known as COVID-19. The virus was first discovered in China and has today spread across over 190 countries around the globe. COVID-19 has disrupted the world economy and businesses across the globe are heavily hit by the operation of the pandemic. There is no gainsaying the fact that this novel coronavirus has surfaced in Nigeria with over 40 cases discovered so far as at the time of this article and still counting. The Nigerian Government, like other countries of the world have taken some measures to contain the spread of this virus in the most populous nation in Africa, which measures obviously is taking a hard toll on businesses, transactions and the economy at large. While the world continuously strives hard to put an end to this misery ravaging the whole world, it is almost certain that the post COVID-19 world would likely herald a bundle of commercial disputes possibly arising from breach of obligations as a result of the sudden outbreak of this disease. Thus, commercial lawyers would be called upon to review various commercial agreements and defaulting litigants would rely on commercial lawyers, to present a solid defence for them, to the breach of their obligations resulting from the COVID-19 disorder.