ESQ Legal Practice Magazine JUNE 2014 EDITION | Page 61

ENHANCING
AFRICA AS THE
ARBITRATION HUB
Chief Mrs Tinuade Oyekunle has contributed immensely to
the development of Arbitration in Africa. Lere Fashola paid
her a courtesy visit recently and she bears her mind on some
of the most critical issues facing African Arbitration today.
Africa seems to be recording huge developments in investments and the economy but
can Africa Now Attract International
Arbitration?
conomic Development of any
Country or region depends
on its investments capacity
both inwardly ( i.e within its
territory) or outwardly (i.e by
its interrelationship with the
nationals of other countries).
Consequently, in other to enhance
economic growth it is important that

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61 I EsQ legal practice

there should be a vibrant increase
An expert recently observed that the
appointment of arbitrators, conciliators and
committee members at the International Court
of Arbitration has been skewed in favour of
Europe and America. She noted while Western
Europe, which contributes just one per cent
cases has 47 per cent Arbitrators and North
America and Canada with similar percentage
of case generation contribute 23 per cent of
the Court's arbitrators, Africa which generates
16 per cent of cases, provides two per cent
arbitrators. What factors account for this and
what effort is in place to change the tide?

A simple definition of 'an arbitrator' is 'a
person chosen to settle a dispute between
two parties'.
The classification as to percentages posed
by your question may (or may not) be
true, but the factors responsible for the
inequality of the respective percentages
should not be seen as due to some
prejudice. Arbitration has a long history
of use in various countries of the world.
Even in Nigeria customary arbitration

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