Of arbitration and dispute resolution in Nigeria

A review of Collins Ebi Daniel’s book, Arbitration and Dispute Resolution in Nigeria: Practice and Procedure, by Solomon T. Ebobrah.

THE field of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) is becoming increasingly popular in the Nigerian Legal System. Consequently, the number of texts on different aspects of the field have equally increased. The present text: ‘Arbitration and Dispute Resolution in Nigeria: Practice and Procedure’, by Collins Ebi Daniel is one of the newest entries into this growing field. This increase in available works means that the expectations from the reading audience in this area have naturally increased several folds. In such a crowded (or maybe crowding) field, a new entrant must have some additional value if it must survive. Having read the text by Collins Ebi Daniel, I make bold to say that this book has some additional value to earn a place in the field.

In reviewing this book, I asked myself five basic questions which I believe were necessary for me to answer the broader question whether this new text deserves attention. In no particular order, the five questions are: i) Does the book cover the areas and topics that are relevant in the field? ii) Is the author qualified to make a contribution to the field? iii) Is the text accessible and user-friendly? iv) Does the author’s voice come out distinctly – in other words, does the author merely repeat what is already known in the field? v) Is the book searchable in terms of the quality of its table of content, index, cases cited, instruments examined etc. It is the answers to these questions that brought me to the conclusion that the book is a useful contribution.

Arbitration and Dispute Resolution in Nigeria: Practice and Procedure is a text of 504 pages divided into nineteen (19) chapters, comprising a general introduction, seventeen (17) substantive chapters and a conclusion. The book also contains a useful bibliography and appendices that collate some of the most significant materials relating mostly to arbitration. In setting the tone for the rest of the book, the author lays a fairly robust foundation in chapter 1 where concepts are clarified and the range of dispute resolution mechanisms are briefly but adequately presented. The author problematizes the definitions he privileged in this chapter and narrows down the focus to arbitration. The reader would find that the presentation in this and all the other chapters is in very accessible language.

In chapters 2 to 14, the book engages a vast range of topics on arbitration. From the basic principles and laws that govern the practice of arbitration in Nigeria, the author takes the reader through a discussion of the nature and scope of arbitration and a consideration of types and forms of arbitration, the arbitration agreement, and other issues critical to the practice of arbitration till he gets to a discussion of the role of the courts, the Ministries of Justice and lawyers in the practice of arbitration. In these thirteen (13) chapters, the author (either deliberately or unwittingly) shows that arbitration is closer to litigation in form and practice than it is to other alternate forms of dispute resolution. In essence, while the author makes a good effort at demonstrating the benefits of arbitration, the focus on legal rights (akin to the legal rights based structure of litigation) comes out strongly to the detriment of the focus on interest tilting forms of dispute resolution. In fact, the book so privileges arbitration that it gives a single chapter each to negotiation (chapter 15) and multi-door court house (chapter 17). In chapter 16, conciliation and mediation are treated jointly. Chapter 18 raises and addresses some problems the author considers to be associated with the practice of arbitration and ADR generally, in Nigeria.

A major attraction of the book is the author’s ability to blend the materials in such a way that both the novice and the seasoned practitioner of arbitration would be able to take something away. The practical experience of the author comes out in the pages dedicated to the actual workings of arbitration proceedings, as attention is paid to details that one would ordinarily only expect to find in a practitioners’ manual. Overall, I find this text a useful addition to knowledge in this field.