According to Orojo, the history of Nigerian Company Law could be briefly traced to the Joint Stock Companies Act 1855 which introduced the principle of limited liability of Companies and the role of Deed of Settlement which was highly practiced in the United Kingdom.

company law
company law
With the reception of English laws into Nigeria due to Colonialism, the first legislative attempt was made in 1912 to stem the practice of going to England for the position of the law on controversial Company issues. However, the Companies Ordinance of 1912 was only in force in the colony of Lagos. The amalgamation of Southern and Northern Nigeria in 1914 brought about the extension of the Ordinance to the entire Country
The Companies Decree 1922 repealed both 1912 and 1917 Ordinances. The 1922 Ordinance was based on the United Kingdom Companies Act 1929. In 1968, a new Companies Decree was promulgated to replace the 1922 Companies‟ Ordinance. The Company Act 1968 was mainly based on the United Kingdom Companies Act 1948 as part of the recommendations of the Jenkins Committee. The 1968 Companies Act being a federal law was listed in the Exclusive Legislative list of the 1979 constitution. To boost the innovations of the Companies Act 1968, the Nigerian Enterprise Promotion Act 1977 and the 1968 Act made copious provisions for the first time on matters such as mandatory provisions for accounts and greater accountability of Directors and Part X made inputs towards checking the excesses of company officers...get the full gist at http://www.infodailies.com/the-history-of-nigerian-company-law-viz-a-viz-the-incidence-of-incorporation/