A maritime arbitration ex
pert, Chief Gbola Akinola, last Tuesday urged the National Assembly to enact new arbitration laws that would reflect the realities in the Nigeria business environment.
Akinola who is the President, Maritime Arbitrators Association of Nigeria, told  newsmen in Lagos that the nation’s inability to repeal the existing arbitration laws had made it difficult for new law to be established.
The current arbitration law of Nigeria is the Arbitration and Conciliation Act of 1988. Under the law, an arbitration agreement must be in writing or must be contained in a written document signed by the parties.
According to him, “It is obsolete because it is like this: England made a law; Nigeria adopted it and made it its own arbitration Act; England has reviewed that law more than once.
“They (the English) have modified it, they modernised it. We are still stuck with what they started with many years back. So the law has moved on.  “Why would you bring your business to a place where if there is a dispute it is an obsolete law that will be applied to it.
“That is why the seat of arbitration, a lot of people contest it being in Lagos or in Nigeria; they will rather go abroad where they know that the system is faster, the rules are more friendly, the rules are more modern and more efficacious,’’ Akinola said.
He said that Chief Bayo Ojo, a former Attorney General of the federation had constituted a panel that harmonised and revamped the arbitration law but it could not be reviewed because of what the Nigerian law says.
“But the Nigeria system says the National Assembly must pass it as an act before it can repeal the old act.
“They have not done any such thing. So they have a modern law before them, they have failed to promulgate it,’’ he said
Akinola said that the Lagos State arbitration act had become the most modern and effective law in the country because it had reviewed the federal arbitration act.
He said it was regrettable that when awards were given by arbitrators, some people would look for loophole to ensure that the award was circumvented.
He urged the people to ensure that if they subscribed to arbitration, they should adhere to the culture of process of arbitration.