Arbitration Reform In Nigeria

In May of last year, the Nigerian Senate passed the Arbitration and Mediation Bill 2022 (the "2022 Bill"), representing the most significant reform of its arbitration law in over thirty years (assuming it is not affected by the upcoming general election).¹ The legislation it replaced, the Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1988, based on the 1985 edition of the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration (the "1988 Act"), has come under significant criticism in recent years.

Criticisms of the 1988 Act

A particular point of criticism has been the lack of provisions for interim relief in support of an arbitration, as under the 1988 Act, only an arbitral tribunal may grant interim relief, and this is only in respect of a pending arbitration. ² This lacuna has occasionally caused issues for parties seeking injunctive relief before the Nigerian courts, as illustrated in the case of NV Scheep v MV S Araz (2000)³, where the Nigerian Supreme Court refused