Judges Urged to Join Lagos Court of Arbitration Membership Programme

Executive Secretary/CEO of Lagos Court of Arbitration (LCA), Megha Joshi; ADR Training Consultant, Olusola Adegbonmire and Honorable Chief Justice High Court of Lagos State, Chief Justice Ayotunde Phillips at 2^ndJudges’ Training in Lagos State by LCA at Epe Resort and Spa in Lagos

The Lagos Court of Arbitration (LCA) has urged the legal practitioners in Lagos State to take advantage of the promotional membership rate and join the LCA membership programme which has been developed to focus interest on knowledge and educate individuals interested in commercial arbitration and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR).

This assertion was made by the Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer of the Lagos Court of Arbitration, Ms Megha Joshi, during the second edition of Judges’ training in Lagos. According to Joshi, the benefits of LCA membership are numerous, in line with the growth of the institution.”As a new and emerging arbitration centre, we have adopted best practice methods with guidance from established arbitration centres across the world, to ensure we begin operations at internationally recognised standards of excellence.’

Speaking on the decision to enhance the use of arbitration courts in Nigeria, President of the LCA, Mr. Babajide Ogundipe, stated that there is a strong need to promote arbitration in Nigeria given the current situation in the courts and the number of years it takes to resolve cases in the Nigerian courts.According to Ogundipe, the LCA is committed to supporting and promoting alternative dispute resolution in Nigeria through the use of the Lagos Court of Arbitration by aggrieved parties.

‘The LCA fuels faster resolution of disputes, minimises to the highest level the amount of time spent on ensuring dispute resolution and that all concerned parties are satisfied with the judgment by the panel of arbitrators,’ he advised.

Some of the Judges, who participated at the training, agreed that the judiciary had been over flooded over the years with a lot of cases that ordinarily should have been referred to arbitration.They agreed that ignorance of the existence of arbitration among litigants and absence of competent institutions by stakeholders has led to the current situation facing the justice system where cases can drag on for up to 10 years.

Lagos State Chief Judge, Justice Ayotunde Phillips said, “LCA is a fantastic idea, this is just the beginning and in no time, we will attain the level other countries have attained in ADR. LCA has the personnel, tools and all that is needed to function properly. Lots of applications come before the court requesting for the court to choose the arbitrator in certain matters and the LCA can always be appointed by the court to do that. In my capacity as the chief judge, some agreements state that the chief judge should choose an arbitrator and I could do that too. We could even refer matters that come before us that cannot be settled by mediation to LCA who will handle it for us.”

‘There is a lot that can be done. We also have the multi-door court that does something similar. So both of them work hand in hand to solve issues using ADR,’ she emphasised.

The training focused on the invaluable importance and benefits of commercial arbitration and mediation in dispute resolution, as opposed to the commonly-used litigation.

The training team was led by Mrs Sola Adegbommeri, LCA’s ADR Training Consultant working with the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, Board Members of the LCA and Mr. Charles Nairac from White and Case, and the International Senior Lawyers Project.

Commenting on the training, Nairac said, ‘I am very impressed with the Lagos Arbitration Law and optimistic about the future of the LCA. It is encouraging to see such enthusiasm from the judiciary in supporting arbitration and the passionate debates surrounding it.’