Foreign investment is a major source of the capital that Nigeria and other developing markets need to promote economic activities and drive economic development. While profit mainly drives the decision to invest abroad, such decisions are also influenced by the safety of any actual investments made. Thus, investors are interested in the laws and regulations that offer them protection against corporate insider opportunism. In Nigeria, the relationship between corporate actors is mainly regulated by the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA). This article investigates the corporate legal and regulatory protection for corporate shareholders in Nigeria and the UK. Comparing the corporate regulatory regime in the two jurisdictions, this article argues that the identified weaknesses in the Nigerian regulatory framework negatively impact the growth of foreign investment in the country. In view of these weaknesses, the article suggests a major review of CAMA and other regulatory instruments with a view to addressing the protection of small investors and “outsiders”, such as foreign investors.

外国投资是尼日利亚和其他发展中市场促进经济活动和推动经济发展所需的主要资本来源。尽管利润主要是决定进行海外投资的决定，但此类决定还受到任何实际投资安全性的影响。因此，投资者对法律和法规感兴趣，这些法律和法规为他们提供了防范公司内部人机会主义的保护。在尼日利亚，公司法人之间的关系主要受《公司和联合事项法》（CAMA）监管。本文研究了尼日利亚和英国对公司股东的公司法律和法规保护。比较两个司法管辖区的公司监管制度，本文认为，尼日利亚监管框架中已发现的弱点会对该国的外国投资增长产生负面影响。鉴于这些弱点，本文建议对CAMA和其他监管工具进行一次重大审查，以期解决对小投资者和“外部人”（例如外国投资者）的保护问题。