Jude Igbanoi
26 May 2008
Lagos — The practice of arbitration in Nigeria has continued to grow in leaps and bounds, especially in the last few years. But the near absence of internationally recognised arbitration centres in the country has been a major challenge to practitioners.
The Lagos State Government has however taken the initiative of reviewing its arbitration laws in its determination to make Lagos a major international arbitration centre. The report was recently submitted to Governor Babatunde Fashola, SAN and approved by the State Executive Council. The State Executive Council in turn recently forwarded to the State House of Assembly, two draft bills: Lagos State Arbitration Law and Lagos Court of Arbitration Law. JUDE IGBANOI had a chat with Mr. Yemi Candide-Johnson SAN, Chairman of the Committee that reviewed the laws and he spoke about the challenges of his committee and the future of arbitration practice in Nigeria
You are Chairman of the Lagos State Arbitration Law Review Committee which just concluded and submitted its report to the Governor. What was the thrust of your committee's work?
Arbitration is of course a matter which is very much in the public perception now, with other initiatives. The idea is to develop within Nigeria that aspect of dispute resolution. It's a matter which the Lagos State Government has taken a critical look at and a keen interest in.
Of course, the point to realise is that in Lagos, legal issues are matters that are close to the heart of the Governor who happens to be a Senior Advocate of Nigeria. So many of these legal issues and initiatives that you are seeing have his hand-imprint and support. In the case of arbitration, he has enunciated the vision that Lagos should be an arbitration hub for the West African sub-region by the year 2010. It's a big challenge for Lagos, but one that obviously if the government enunciates its vision and applies recourses can be achieved.
In November 2007, the Governor directed the Attorney-General of Lagos State to set up an arbitration reform committee. I was privileged to be appointed to chair that committee. In fact, the panel of experts, the 11 people who formed that committee, are people who in their individual rights had a clear, strong contribution and desire to see that Lagos State had an arbitration law. That committee reviewed the Arbitration Law existing in Lagos State from the establishment of the territory of Lagos in the 19th Century. We reviewed the existing Arbitration and Conciliation Decree, 1988, which was in fact a creation of the military regime, which appears to operate across much of Nigeria. You may recall that it's a regime that is based on the United Nations UNCITRAL model law. That was the time that Prince Bola Ajibola was Attorney-General under Babangida.
In 2006, the Attorney-General under (former President olusegun) Obasanjo, Chief Bayo Ojo, SAN a leading international arbitrator set up a committee at the federal level to review the law on arbitration in Nigeria. That committee was headed by Dr. Olakunle Orojo, also a distinguished international arbitrator. That committee submitted its report to the Attorney-General, which proposed substantial amendment to the law in Nigeria. It also proposed that the states adopt what it termed 'Model State Arbitration Laws.' All these are materials which we considered.
In embracing these initiatives, Lagos State Government considered that it ought to determine for itself the operability and effectiveness of what had been done in the past, which of them to adopt and which it would enhance for its own use. This is because of its unique contribution to the commerce of Nigeria.
Our committee submitted its report in February, 2008. We proposed a new draft Arbitration Law for Lagos State. We also proposed the establishment of the Lagos Court of Arbitration. The law itself, we drew from the UNCITRAL model law, we drew from international arbitration laws like the 1996 English Arbitration Law and we looked also at the Singapore Arbitration Act 2001. Singapore is an emerging arbitration jurisdiction which is attracting increasing amounts of arbitration work to its jurisdiction against the competing and well established ones like New York and London, which have over the years dominated the business. The Court of Arbitration itself is modeled on the London Court of International Arbitration.
The model which we have adopted is one which will require Lagos State to establish legal structures. Primarily it is intended to be a private sector run and organised endeavour. These are part of the review which we made in the proposed Lagos law which should secure its integrity.
Since the Federal Government already set up its own Arbitration Law Review Committee, was your Committee meant to complement it and if not, what areas of differences are there in the recommendations?
The first point that you have raised silently, is the power of Lagos State to make such a law. This is very important and critical because it's a matter that has been discussed in the federal reports. The federal reports had difficulty in determining how to resolve the apparent lack of legislative competence of the Federal Government on arbitration. The view that we reached on this matter after a great deal of study of the matter is that Lagos State does have the power to enact its own arbitration law. After all, arbitration law is no more than the regulation of contracts, dispute resolution and the procedure of the courts in respect of states; so, that is part of the legislative competence, which is an important foundation.
It should be understood that Lagos State is not trying to reinvent the wheel. We therefore embraced every possible development in arbitration within the territory of Nigeria, including that which is the initiative of the Federal Government. We were not looking to strike off on a tangent. Indeed, many of the proposals made by the federal review committee of which some of the members of the committee were members of our own committee as well, were those which primarily had the same intention - to reduce the capacity of courts to interfere in the process, to strengthen the attorneys of the parties in their choice of arbitration as dispute resolution, to simplify the language, to simplify the procedure and to make it easier and more attractive for parties to come to Lagos to have their disputes resolved by arbitration.
What level of support did you receive from the Lagos State Legislature since they will the ones to pass the law?
In fact, we received great support from the Lagos State Government for a start. The executive set up this committee. Two weeks ago, the Executive Council of Lagos State approved that the report be sent to the House of Assembly with the recommendations of the Government of Lagos State to be passed.
In the course of seeking the approval in the enactment by the Lagos State House of Assembly, I understand that a whole series of activities are planned to sensitise those concerned in this endeavour. The Lagos State legislators are interested in the future and development of Lagos. I have no doubt that this is such a proposal that they will have no difficulty in embracing. What about structures? Did your committee take into consideration the issue of infrastructure? Arbitration requires specialised facilities, like meeting rooms, electronic recording systems, libraries, trained personnel and power supply. Did you have these at the back of your mind? Does Lagos State have the structures currently?
You know, this is very important. It's easy for you to have an ambition, but when you set yourself a goal you have to draw up a plan to achieve it. You also have to identify whatever is required and how to pursue it. Since the initiative of the Lagos State Government was announced it has received publicity from across the world. I was reading materials published online by international arbitrators. They said that the proposal of Lagos State Government to improve access to arbitration in Nigeria has been received with skepticism by international practitioners. Some of them say Lagos is not secured and some say we don't have roads and that it's too hectic as there is no power and infrastructure. These are problems that we have to identify.
For me, what is most important to recognise is that Lagos State generates 60% of the local and international commercial transactions in the country. This is the heart of Nigeria's industrial heartland. This is the place where every single bank is represented. 60% of all disputes resolved in Nigeria are resolved in Lagos. In fact, we have the activity and we have the market.
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