SOURCE:

Faculty: Law
Department: Law

CONTRIBUTORS:

Oladoyin, O. A.
Nwogu, K.

ABSTRACT:

Over time, arbitration has gained popularity as a means of resolving disputes due to its flexibility, speed, confidentiality and the use of experts in resolving disputes. Unlike other dispute resolution mechanisms, the aim of arbitration is to obtain a final, binding and enforceable decision known as arbitral award. However, an arbitral award has to be enforced within a specified period, otherwise it becomes statute barred. The limitation period for enforcing arbitral award in Nigeria is surrounded by controversies particularly because the Arbitration and Conciliation Act did not make specific provisions for it. The core aim of this research is to examine the legal and institutional framework for arbitration in Nigeria with a view to analysing arbitral award and its enforcement procedure. In doing this, the work focuses squarely on limitation of period within which to enforce an arbitral award in Nigeria considering the damaging impact of the lacuna in the Arbitration and Conciliation Act and unwholesome Court decisions in Nigeria to that effect. The research equally undertook a comparative analysis of the limitation period for enforcement of arbitral award in selected developed jurisdictions. The work adopted the doctrinal research methodology involving the use of primary and secondary sources of material in this field of law. The primary sources of material for this research are national legislations and case laws. On the other hand, the secondary sources of materials include international Treaties and Conventions. Relevant textbooks, journal articles, research reports and internet materials were employed. Data were collected from materials accessed from the internet, which are handy in order to keep abreast with the most recent development in the field. During the course of the research, it was found that there is a serious lacuna in the Arbitration and Conciliation Act with regard to the time limit within which to bring an application to enforce arbitral award in Nigeria. As a result recourse is often made to the limitation laws of the States. The research also found that many judges and practitioners do not possess requisite knowledge of arbitration proceeding but view the proceeding as an attempt to compete with the Court of its jurisdiction. Against this backdrop, this work has strongly recommended among other things, the insertion in the relevant section of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, specific provisions on the limitation period for enforcing both domestic and international arbitration in Nigeria.