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Secretary General, International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), John Denton has said the institution is determined to make private justice accessible.
He said that the ICC would deploy all tools necessary to achieve this as it would help spur economic development in regions and encourage young entrepreneurs.
He said this in Lagos at the seventh ICC Africa Conference on International Arbitration, themed, ‘International Arbitration and ADR: The African journey so far and looking forward’.
Denton stated that the institution can help bring justice to SMEs and people in the African region unable to get access to justice due to the cost.
“If we can provide access to private justice throughout the world, we can create additional economic development and we have the ability to give life to that promise,” he said.
Denton stated that he made a decision that the voice of Africa would flow through the ICC and help regenerate the institution.
“We didn’t have enough voices from the global South and I decided that in my time, the dominant voices in ICC would come from there.
“We now have ICC representation in over 170 countries and over 70 per cent of those countries are in the global South,” he said.
He added that through policy and conversations, they are currently reshaping the ICC to enable them to participate in the opportunity of incoming development for Africa.
Chairperson, ICC Nigeria, Commission on Arbitration and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), Mrs. Dorothy Ufot (SAN) emphasised that the international community should make Nigeria the seat of arbitration.
“We want African arbitrators to be appointed to huge arbitration cases. We also want Nigeria and Africa to be the seat and venue of arbitration proceedings,” she said.
President, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Yakubu Maikyau (SAN), said that legal practitioners are mandated to conduct themselves professionally and ethically for the advancement of their nation.
“There is a saying that a legal practitioner lives for the direction of his people and the advancement of the cause of his country. This can only be done if the practitioners conduct themselves professionally and ethically and that is the value the NBA is bringing to ICC,” he said.
Founder, Elumelu Foundation, Tony Elumelu, harped on the rule of law as a necessary requirement for economic growth and development.
“We need to handle adjudications and judgments quickly, because if you are going to invest in an environment, an important criteria to consider is the practice of rule of law in that country. If there is a business dispute, how do you resolve it? It is so critical,” he stressed.
On doing business in Africa, Elumelu said there is an emerging growth trend in areas of technology, manufacturing, financial services and payments.
He, however, said Africa needs to produce what it trades, which would drive respect, job creation and trade.
Stating the need to democratise wealth creation, he added that critical soft and hard infrastructural gaps should be addressed for the growth of the African economy.
Group Chief Executive Officer, Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE), Oscar Onyema, envisioned more investments into Nigeria, saying the presidential inaugural speech depicted market friendliness, especially in terms of exchange rate, and also policies to support reduction in double taxation.
According to him, in the last eight years, Nigeria has seen an outflow of foreign portfolio investment predominantly.
“So, more than half of our market is outside of the market. With these policy changes, you can understand why we are optimistic that the previous level of flow would come back and with it additional flow,” he said.
Onyema stated that it is becoming increasingly difficult to access quality talent due to the ‘japa’ syndrome.
The three days conference, which coincided with the 100-year anniversary of the International Court of Arbitration, had speakers address sailent issues around arbitration in Africa and the world.
-The Guardian
