THE SCOPE AND RELEVANCE OF CUSTOMARY ARBITRATION IN THE 21ST CENTURY DISPUTE RESOLUTION IN NIGERIA (original) (raw)
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Dispute is a natural consequence of human interactions and dispute resolution mechanisms are critical to the peace and harmonious coexistence of every society. In pre-colonial times when there were no western styled public courts in many African societies, customary arbitration was an integral part of the dispute resolution mechanisms, and it is argued that it has remained even so today. In Nigeria, customary arbitration remains relevant and has received judicial approval by the Supreme Court in a plethora of cases. This paper discusses recent judicial developments on customary arbitration focusing on a recent judgment of the Nigerian Supreme Court-Umeadi v Chibunze and its implications on customary arbitration in the highly plural Nigerian legal system. Chibunze v Umeadi recognised the validity of traditional oath-taking as a feature of customary arbitration for parties who rely on it. This paper argues that customary arbitration remains one of the most common indigenous dispute resolution mechanisms in Nigeria. This paper seeks to interrogate the practice of customary arbitration in Nigeria, ascertain the conditions for its validity and evaluate the utility of traditional oath-taking as a constituent
Central to the issue of resolution of any disputes is the mechanism adopted in handling it. Customary arbitration is, thus, one of the recognised methods of resolving disputes among the indigenes of Nigeria. Unlike the Western adversarial method of settling disputes under which the winner-takes-all, customary arbitration aimed at reconciling the parties to disputes after effecting settlement. The question, however, is whether customary arbitration has any relevance among Nigerian indigenous communities and whether it has made any impact on the maintenance of societal equilibrium. This paper, therefore, examined the issues involved in customary arbitration such as the ingredients that make it work, conditions of its validity and its effect on the state of the society with a view to making it work more effectively among the indigenes.
COMMERCIAL DISPUTE RESOLUTION: HAS ARBITRATION TRANSFORMED NIGERIA’S LEGAL LANDSCAPE?
Journal of Advanced Research in Law and Economics,, 2018
The adoption of arbitration in the light of its well established attributes promotes confidence levels in the general businesses environment, enhances institutional trust, whilst also developing practical compromise resolution mechanisms. However, Nigeria, a developing economy has not matched policy intent with commercial realities, particularly in terms of broad based integration and utilization of arbitral tools. This trend is not sustainable in the light of the renewed efforts to promote enhanced justice delivery; lower administrative costs and the urgent need to optimize the capabilities of the judicial arm of government. The paper assessed specific arbitral provisions of selected, State High Court Civil Procedures Rules, and on this basis critiqued the arbitral visibility and incorporation relative to established legal processes. Amongst other salient issues, a robust application of arbitration is recommended especially in view of the peculiarities of Nigeria’s legal processes, judicial institutions, evolving political and social-economic indicators.
Constructing the Road to Arbitral Prevalence: The Arbitration Law of Lagos State 2009 in Perspective
Despite the rising profile of arbitration as an alternative means of commercial disputes resolution, Nigeria continues to grapple with consequences of the constitutional architecture under the 1999 Constitution in respect of legislative competence to make laws on the subject matter of arbitration. The position remains uncertain in the absence of any definitive pronouncement by the Nigerian Supreme Court. The conventional, but flawed, wisdom of a perceived dichotomy between international and interstate commercial arbitration and intrastate domestic arbitration, together with a misapplication of the Constitutional Law principle of “covering the field” to the debate, has the potential of stifling the tide in favour of arbitration as an alternative to litigation in Nigeria. This article contends that the initiative by Government of Lagos State of Nigeria in enacting the Lagos State Arbitration Law 2009 is a welcome development. It concludes that the Law, with its innovatory provisions, is valid irrespective of judicial pronouncements by the Nigerian Court of Appeal in an earlier case, which may seemingly cast doubt on the legislative competence of the state in passing the Law. It is, however, imperative that the uncertainty on this issue be resolved along the lines suggested in this article sooner rather than later.