Public Policy Exception in the Enforcement of Arbitral Awards in Nigeria

Abstract

In contemporary times, the value of international commercial transactions in goods services has increased alongside globalisation and consequently translated on the flip side to increased prospects of commercial disputes. Although litigation through the court processes has hitherto been the default mechanism for the resolution of commercial disputes, it is manifestly clear that in the present era of globalisation and digital age, it is not always the most effective and efficient way of dealing with commercial disputes. In Africa, arbitration has gained traction and increasingly used to resolve international commercial disputes within and outside the continent. Regardless of its inherent strengths, international commercial arbitral awards are enforceable only through the domestic legal systems and to the extent that the arbitral awards are compatible with national laws and standards including public policy. In view of the foregoing, this work undertakes, from a comparative perspective, an in-depth analysis of the public policy exemption to the enforcement of arbitral awards in Nigeria. The significance of this research that concentrates on the public policy exception to the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards in Nigeria, as against other aspects of international commercial arbitration, is because the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards are the most important and crucial part of the whole process of international commercial arbitration. It also intends to analyse public policy defence as articulated in several enforcement conventions and laws, particularly the New York Convention on Recognition and Enforcement of Arbitral Award, the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration and the Nigerian Arbitration and Conciliation Act.