Foreign Investment: Osibanjo Tasks Nigerians On Commercial Arbitration

The Vice President, Professor Yemi Osibanjo has urged Nigerian businessmen to embrace commercial arbitration for the desired speed in dispute resolution to attract international investors. The Vice President stated this while declaring the 1st ICC Africa Regional Arbitration Conference open in Lagos yesterday.

Osibanjo, who was represented by the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami, noted that with the robust dispute resolution mechanism like arbitration in place, the country will actualise her vision of becoming the next major destination for foreign investment.

The Theme of the confab was ‘Arbitration and Africa: Prospects and Challenges’. Osibanjo, noted that the availability of dispute resolution mechanisms was a factor in all investors’ decision. He further stated that the dispute resolution constituted a significant determinant of a country’s’ ranking in the ease of doing business, adding that disputes were common in the business environment.

“Every prudent society must design and constantly draw up process through, which disputes could be resolved in an amicable manner. “In the world of today, commercial arbitration is now recognised as a preferred method of resolving several commercial disputes.

Arbitration is now seen as not only possessing the desired speed but also aggregating competency and often times, the relationship is tied to this process,” Osibanjo explained. The Vice President however, urged the conference participants to take time to address the critical issues, which would expand arbitration as a desired tool for dispute resolution in Nigeria.

The President, ICC Court of International Arbitration, Paris, Mr. Alexis Mourre, commended Nigeria for hosting the 1st Africa Regional Arbitration Conference. Mourre noted that with more engagement and interactions on Arbitration, commercial practitioners would recognise arbitration; just like common law and civil law.

According to Mourre, ICC was one of the institutions that adopted arbitration and 70 per cent of the world’s arbitration comes from ICC. “Arbitration is booming in Africa. We hope that at the end of the conference, we will be seeing more arbitrators in Africa,” he emphasised.

Earlier in her welcome address, the Chairperson, ICC conference planning committee, Mrs. Dorothy Udeme Ufot, stated that the theme of the three-day conference, ‘Arbitration and Africa: Prospects and Challenges’ was chosen by the Planning Committee because Africa is the next major destination for Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs). She urged the international community to support Africa’s effort to promote economic growth and investment