THE LEGALITY OF ONLINE ARBITRATION AGREEMENT UNDER NIGERIAN LAW

Abstract

Generally, to engage in an arbitration procedure, parties must first enter into an arbitration agreement. The arbitration agreement constitutes the basis upon which the disputing parties resort to arbitration. Therefore, arbitration agreement is the bed rock of all arbitrations. It is the arbitration agreement that gives the tribunals the power or jurisdiction to arbitrate the dispute for the disputing parties. Nowadays, as society steadily moves online in all areas of human endeavours, various agreements are entered into expressly or impliedly online. Online arbitration agreement is the founding source of all online arbitrations. Its legality is sine qua non to the initiation of valid online arbitral proceedings in Nigeria. The aim of this work is to appraise the legality of online arbitration agreement in Nigeria with the objective of evaluating the Nigerian Arbitration and Conciliation Act 2004 with some selected international treaties to know whether online arbitration agreement can be considered valid under those laws. The work adopted doctrinal research methodology through library based and internet materials. The research found that online arbitration agreement is not well covered by the Nigerian legislation. It is recommended that Nigeria Legislation on arbitration should be amended to accommodate online arbitration agreement under them.