REVIEW OF THE INGREDIENTS OF CUSTOMARY ARBITRATION IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Customary arbitration has existed in Nigeria even before the coming of the colonial masters. Indigenous people then had disputes and they had their indigenous and peculiar ways of settling such disputes. The coming of the English adversarial justice system somehow affected the operations and evolution of customary arbitration. Ingredients of customary arbitration are the elements and particulars that must be present in any customary arbitration proceedings for its arbitral award to be considered valid and binding on the disputing parties. This article exposes the courts’ inability to have a uniform standard as regards the ingredients of a valid customary arbitration and its arbitral award. The Court of Appeal and Supreme Court have over the years in many cases given conflicting judicial decisions. Jurists and proponents of customary arbitration have opined that this confusion has limited the scope and growth of customary arbitration in Nigeria. Many authors have done their own researches and given their own recommendations on how to remedy the situation. We shall see the three (3) compulsory tests every custom must undergo before it is judicially noticed. We finally distilled about Seven (7) ingredients from decided cases and explain their stance on customary arbitration of disputes and recommended that the courts need to give consistent judgments as regards the ingredients of a valid customary arbitration and that traditional rulers should be involved in the judicial process of the customary courts itself.