APPRAISAL OF RECOGNITION AND ENFORCEMENT OF ARBITRAL AWARDS BY THE INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR SETTLEMENT OF INVESTMENT DISPUTES

APPRAISAL OF RECOGNITION AND ENFORCEMENT OF ARBITRAL AWARDS BY THE INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR SETTLEMENT OF INVESTMENT DISPUTES (ICSID) IN NIGERIA

Nigeria is blessed in terms of population1 and material resources.2 With a bristling economy that is twice the economy of many African countries put together. Nigeria remains number one destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) in Africa, with the highest inflow at $7.03bn3 as at 2012, but dipped by 21.4% to $5.5b in 2013.4 The size of the economy coupled with the scale of commercial, business and investment activities in various sectors including oil and gas, energy, banking and finance, development projects, construction, transportation, reconstruction of the railways, ports and airport concessions, aviation and international trade, and more recently the power sector, dictate the pace of growth and size of economic activities.

Since the return to democracy in 1999 it has been in the heart of the economic programs of successive administrations to encourage foreign direct investment (FDI). Nigerian business class is encouraged to also invest in other countries usually with direct support from the government. These investors compete for prime relevance in the Nigerian economy and are often faced with many obstacles in the conduct of their businesses. These obstacles include unforeseen change in government policies, delay in the execution of contracts, inevitable variation of terms of commercial agreements occasioned by inflation and lack of performance by the parties, and in recent times insecurity, among others. These factors often result in breach of the terms of commercial agreements between parties. The breach in turn leads to dispute between the parties and consequent invocation of arbitration clauses.

Arbitration has been in the Nigerian legal system for over a century.5 Its relationship with the courts has fluctuated from time to time ranging from suspicion and opposition to open support for same.6 This mechanism for settling commercial disputes is growing fast7 due to the fact that, one would, today, rarely find any contract between domestic or international parties without an arbitration clause or agreement of some sort, whether ad hoc or institutional, to be conducted under the auspices of the world‘s leading arbitration institutions.8

International investment arbitration is an alternative means (to court room litigation) of settling disputes arising from breach of foreign investment agreements.

TOPIC: APPRAISAL OF RECOGNITION AND ENFORCEMENT OF ARBITRAL AWARDS BY THE INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR SETTLEMENT OF INVESTMENT DISPUTES

Chapters: 1 - 5
Delivery: Email

Number of Pages: 76

Price: 3000 NGN

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