Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN)

The President, Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami (SAN), and former AGF, Bayo Ojo (SAN), have canvassed an enhanced application of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms (ADR) in dispute resolution.    Speaking last week at the opening of the third Biannual African Arbitration Roundtable organized by the International Centre for Arbitration and Mediation (ICAMA), they canvassed prompt resolution of business disputes through ADR as a way of luring foreign direct investments.  They also believed the approach will enhance the success of government’s policy aimed at ensuring ease of doing business in the country.  

With the theme, growing and sustaining domestic arbitration and ADR in Nigeria, other speakers, including the President, National Industrial Court, Babatunde Adejumo, Chairman Senate Committee on Justice, Human Rights and Legal Services, David Umar and the Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Justice, Razaq Atunwa, held similar view.  Bulkachuwa noted that it was time Africa developed its ADR capacity, including providing skilled hands to drive the process in view of the increasing numbers of arbitration cases involving African businesses.   She urged that Africans put behind them, the era when arbitral disputes were exported to other continents for settlement.  Bulkachuwa further disclosed that appeal court would, by the end of the year, commission its ADR centres in Abuja, Lagos and two other divisions, as a way of activating the provision of Order 16 of the Court of Appeal Rules 2016.  She stated that under the arrangement termed: Court of Appeal Arbitration Process (CAAP), where the ADR mechanism pursued under the Court of Appeal Rules 2016 succeeds, the court shall adopt the agreement reached by parties as judgment of the court.Source: Guardian Newspaper