ESQ Legal Practice Magazine JUNE 2014 EDITION | Page 58

Arbitration Act expressly
provides that a Court may in
cases of urgency; grant an
order of injunction for the
preservation of an asset or
evidence pending the hearing
and determination of an
arbitration. Section 44 (5) of
the English Act goes further
to provide that a Court would
only have the powers to grant
an order of injunction pending
arbitration where the arbitral
tribunal lacks the power to
grant the order of injunction
or where the tribunal is for
any reason, unable to grant
same.
The provisions of the English
Arbitration Act above
therefore make it crystal clear
that the power of the English
Courts to grant injunctive
reliefs pending arbitration is
not in doubt.

the Power to Grant an Order
of Injunction Pending
Arbitration?
Generally, the position of the
law is that, where a dispute is
pending before an arbitral
tribunal, the arbitral tribunal
shall have the powers to grant
interim and injunctive reliefs
in favour of any of the parties
pending the determination of
the arbitration. (Section 13 (a)
of the Arbitration and
Conciliation Act
Unlike the English Arbitration
Act, the Arbitration and
Conciliation Act, does not
contain any provision, which
expressly endows the
Nigerian Courts with the
power to grant an injunctive
relief pending arbitration.
Notwithstanding this
omission in the ACA, it is our
view that this lacuna is cured
by the provisions of Article 26
Does A Nigerian Court Have (3) of the Arbitration Rules,

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contained in the First
Schedule of the Arbitration
and Conciliation Act1which
provides that a Nigerian court
can grant an order of interim
or preservative injunction
pending the hearing and
determination of an
arbitration proceeding.
Thus, since the Rules of the
Arbitration and Conciliation
Act presumes that a party can
make an application to the
Court for interim measures
notwithstanding the presence
of an agreement to arbitrate, it
is submitted that it simply
goes without saying that a
party to an agreement to
arbitrate, can approach the
Court for an order of interim
measures in rare cases where
the arbitral tribunal has not
been constituted due to no
fault of the Applicant or where
the arbitral tribunal is unable
to hear and grant an

application for interim
measures due to a logistical
conundrum.
Furthermore, the power of a
Nigerian Court to grant an
order of injunction pending
arbitration is traceable to the
provisions of Section 13 of the
Federal High Court Act and
Section 18 of the High Court
of Lagos State Law, which
endows both the Federal and
State High Courts with the
powers to grant an order of
interim injunctions where it
will be just and convenient to
do so.
Judicial Attitude to
Applications for Injunction
Pending Arbitration
The attitude of the Nigerian
judiciary to applications for
injunction pending arbitration
can be categorized into two
schools of thoughts. The first
school of thought believes that
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