On Tuesday, 10 May 2022 the Nigerian Senate passed the Arbitration and Mediation Bill (“the Bill”), which will repeal the Arbitration and Conciliation Act Chapter A.18, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 which became law on 14 March 1988. The Bill now awaits the assent of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
With the fluid landscape of international arbitration, international trade and foreign investment, Nigeria was long overdue for a modern arbitration and mediation legislation which caters to the complexity of the times. Understandably, a thirty-four (34) year-old enactment is incapable of completely meeting the present intricate issues of arbitration.
The Bill passed provides a unified legal framework for the fair and efficient settlement of commercial disputes by arbitration and mediation and expressly codifies the recognition of foreign arbitral awards in Nigeria.
The innovations in the Bill include the following changes:
Electronic communication can now form an arbitration agreement if the information contained therein is accessible so as to be useable for subsequent reference.
The default number of arbitrators where unspecified is now one (1) arbitrator.
Emergency arbitration is permissible where a party seeks urgent relief.
Provisions on the issuance of interim measures of protection by Courts expressly included as well as recognition and enforcement of interim orders made by a Tribunal.
Permits consolidation of arbitrations.
Permits joinder of parties.
Expressly codifies the recognition of foreign arbitral awards.
Provides guidelines for the award of interest by a Tribunal where parties do not agree on interest.
Costs of arbitration are expanded to include institution’s fees and third-party funding (the latter implies the legitimisation of third-party funding of arbitration in Nigeria).
The limitation period for enforcement of awards now excludes the period when the arbitration was ongoing. (This partly deals with the controversy about the time for enforcement of arbitral awards running from the accrual of the cause of action).
Tribunals and arbitral institutions are expressly permitted to place a lien on final awards pending full payment of arbitrators’ fees and institutions’ expenses by the parties.
Parties may agree to a review of the final arbitral award by an Award Review Tribunal, which shall endeavour to render its decision as an award within sixty (60) days from the date on which it is constituted.
The default appointing authority is now the Regional Centre for International Commercial Arbitration, Lagos, Nigeria.
While we await the assent of the Nigerian President, the incoming Act is demonstrably more commercially aware. This will undoubtedly improve the fortunes of Nigeria as a seat of arbitration as the above changes accord more with international best practices in arbitration.
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Read the original article at ǼLEX.