AfCFTA roundtable brought together business leaders, academia, government representatives, trade, and legal experts to discuss and deliberate on dispute issues in implementing the agreement in Nigeria.
Ahead of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) implementation in Nigeria, the Nigerian Institute of Chartered Arbitrators and other stakeholders are seeking dispute resolution mechanisms that will address concerns of non-state entities.
Nigerian labour unions and civil society organizations have urged the government not to assent to the ECT, explaining that the Treaty contains provisions for an Investor-State Dispute System (ISDS), which accords investors obscene privileges.
The Nigerian Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, has called for the establishment and strengthening of more arbitration institutions in Africa in line with international standards.
Nigeria has completed all three of its accession reports but the Energy Charter Conference placed restrictions on ECT accession finalization procedures, placing Nigeria’s accession path into a state of pause.
Nigeria has unleashed one of the most spectacular legal attacks on one of its key oil and gas investors, to an extent previously unseen in the country’s more than 60 years of hydrocarbon production.
Shell, empêtré dans de nombreuses affaires de pollution dans le delta du Niger, a été condamné à verser des dommages-intérêts, mais semble vouloir régler le contentieux à l’amiable, d’où la sollicitation d’un arbitrage.