INVESTOR DISPUTES IN NIGERIA: ARBITRATION, LITIGATION AND ENFORCEMENT RISKS EVERY INVESTOR SHOULD UNDERSTAND

Abstract

Nigeria remains one of Africa’s most significant investment destinations, but investors who focus only on market entry may underestimate dispute-design and enforcement risk. The commercial value of a contract depends not only on the substantive bargain, but also on where disputes will be heard, the law that will govern them, the availability of interim relief, and whether an eventual award or judgment can be converted into recoverable value. This article evaluates arbitration and commercial litigation in Nigeria, including the Arbitration and Mediation Act 2023, choice-of-forum and governing-law clauses, recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards and foreign judgments, sovereign immunity, asset preservation, and practical barriers arising from court delay and uneven implementation. It uses Federal Republic of Nigeria v Process & Industrial Developments Ltd as a case study of fraud, corruption, procedural integrity and enforcement risk in international arbitration. The article argues that Nigeria’s modern statutory framework is materially pro-arbitration, but that the effectiveness of dispute resolution still depends on institutional capacity, careful contract drafting, early evidence and asset-preservation measures, and disciplined state and corporate governance.