Source: NICArb Legal Unit
The Nigerian Institute of Chartered Arbitrators held her 2nd Webinar for the year, themed: Enforcement of Domestic Arbitral Award, on the 3rd of March, 2022.
The Webinar explained and proffered answers on Enforcement of Domestic Arbitral Award by Seasoned Legal Practitioner both from the inner Bar and the Bench.
The programme had Mr. Adeleke Agbola, SAN, FCArb as the Facilitator; with Hon. Justice Ayotunde Phillips (Rtd), FCArb, Hon. Justice Theresa Uzokwe (Rtd), FCArb, and Hon. Justice A. M Lawal, FCArb as Panelists.
The opening remark was done by the Registrar/Chief Executive Officer of NICArb, Mrs Shola Oshodi- John, FCArb.
Thereafter, Mr Adeleke Agbola, SAN, FCArb, ticked off the discussion through his presentation, where he made an insightful presentation on the followings:
- Applicable requirements as to the form of arbitral awards.
- Are there provisions governing modification, clarification or correction of an award?
- Applicable procedural law for the enforcement of domestic arbitral awards
- Which court has jurisdiction over an application for enforcement of an arbitral award?
- Steps counsel should undertake in enforcing domestic arbitral award.
The second segment of the Webinar had Honourable Judges, both retired and sitting High Court Judges, who had a Roundtable discussion on the Challenges/Pitfalls in the Enforcement of Domestic Arbitral Award based on their experience from the Bench.
Hon. Justice Ayotunde Phillips (Rtd), FCArb, expressed her dissatisfaction with the Arbitration processes in Nigeria. She noted that lawyers are bringing the delay tactics in litigation into Arbitration. My Lord also raised the issue of fees. She said parties now deliberately refuse to pay the Arbitration fee, all in disguise of lack of funds as a way to delay the proceedings.
The former Lagos State CJ went further to narrate the Post Arbitration Proceedings, which cover party challenging the arbitration award in a court system of ours faced with many cases. She concluded that all these makes a party end up frustrated at reaping the fruits of the Arbitral Award.
Hon. Justice Theresa Uzokwe (Rtd), FCArb, started by raising the question, why are arbitration award court intervened and experienced so much delay? She answered by saying arbitrators themselves cause the primary reason for such delays and intervention, which is pinned down on the Professional Ethics of Arbitrators. She noted that due diligence is lacking amongst some Arbitrators, where issues raised by parties in the arbitration proceedings are not fully covered in an Award, or the Arbitrator not proofreading an Award to check for errors and the issue of arbitrator being bias.
My Lord also stated that some state High Courts lack enough workforce to accommodate the volume of enforcement cases of an Award. She said this also causes delays in the Enforcement of an Award.
Another challenge faced in Enforcement of Domestic Arbitral Award is the pressure from clients, says Hon. Justice A. M Lawal, FCArb, talking from his experience when he was at the Bar, using the SHELL v. IMANI case. My Lord said some bottlenecks on enforcement of an award are from the clients and lawyers themselves. He noted in resolving this, legal practitioners should stand on their professional grounds in dealing with clients.
My Lord concluded by differencing the two methods used to enforce an arbitral award. The first is via S 31 of ACA and the second is via Common Law through the filling of a writ, which is commonly used for Customary Arbitration.
The Webinar ended with questions and answers.
