By Umar Bayo Abdulwahab
Ilorin
A Professor of law at the University of Ilorin, Muhammed Mustapha Akanbi, yesterday recommended that non-lawyers who specialised in other professional disciplines be encouraged to take part in arbitration practices in Nigeria, saying they do better than some trained lawyers and retired judges without or no relevant training.
The university teacher who is of the department of business law of the university, said “unlike judges, arbitrators need not to be qualified lawyers.”
Akanbi also advocated for the amendment of Section 34 ACA 1988 to conform to the constitution.
Delivering the 152 inaugural lecture of the University , titled: “Contending Without Being Contentious: Arbitration, Arbitrators And Arbitrability,” Akanbi said though there had been arguments for and against the appointment of judicial officers as arbitrators, the conventional judicial process which they were used to and being adopted in the institution of arbitration was causing damage to it.
“As already noted, in recent times, there is a preference for the use of retired judges and practising lawyers as arbitrators in the arbitral process instead of professionals or technical men who are experts in the field of concerning the contract. Having majority of arbitrators as lawyers of retired judges has led to the gradual legalisation of the arbitrary process and in turn adversely affected the way arbitration proceedings are conducted in Nigeria.
“The long periods spent in the courtrooms by the retired judges and lawyers have made them to become so ingrained with strict legal principles to the resolution of disputes. They appear to have developed an innate faculty of approaching the exercise of arbitral functions which requires flexibility in procedures and decision-making, from the same adjudicative stance.
“It is unfortunate that these practitioners, whether for tactical purposes, inexperience or for other reasons, seek to raise pedantic procedural points that are inimical to efficient dispute resolution.”
