A CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF THE ARBITRATION AND MEDIATION ACT 2023

ABSTRACT

Conflict is bound to arise when individual are involved in activities or when there is an existing relationship between persons. It is important to handle such occurrences of conflict with skill, fairness and justice in order to preserve the existing relationship. The ability to effectively manage such conflict is dependent of the dispute resolution mechanism that is employed by the disputing parties. The formal court process that follows recourse to the courts by parties is generally referred to as litigation. While recognizing the inherent benefits of litigation, it is evident that some categories of disputes are better resolved by other dispute resolution mechanisms. This realization has led to the conceptualization of a broad tool kit consisting of different dispute resolution mechanisms know as Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). ADR entails various means of settling disputes other than resorting to the formal court process of adjudication. It consists of methods such as arbitration, mediation, conciliation, negotiation, mini-trial, expert determination, early neutral evaluation, hybrid processes amongst others. ADR has become attractive in the dispute resolution industry because of the benefits associated with the methods, which the court process may not provide for disputants. Some of which include, faster means of resolving disputes, less rigorous and formal way to resolve disputes, cost- effective benefits and ability to preserve the relationship between disputants. However, there are still some issues that may abound in the use of ADR, such as the non-bindingness of some processes and counter-productivity. This has prompted the enactment of legislations to address these issues and ensure for the smooth operationalization of ADR. The Arbitration and Mediation Act 2023 was enacted on the 26th of May 2023 which repealed the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, Cap. A18 LFN 2004. This new Act has attracted the attention of the arbitration community all over the world because of its forward thinking 2 provisions. Thus, this long essay seeks to investigate the provisions of this Act, alongside existing judicial principles on how it plans to solidify the practice of ADR in Nigeria. Also, this long essay will undergo a comparative analysis of this new legal regime and other jurisdictions with the aim of identifying Nigeria’s effort to meet international standards and best practices. In addition to this, this long essay will proffer adequate recommendations on how this new legal regime will address future issues that arises.