-BY: Yemi Alesh
The Faculty of Law, University of Ibadan partnered with Nigerian Institute of Chartered Arbitrators (NICA) in a bid to train its students for a career in arbitration. The training programme, which was intended principally for the penultimate and final year students of the Faculty of Law, was open to other interested students as well.
A sensitization programme was held by the said faculty in order to keep the students abreast of facts about the profession. The programme, which held on Wednesday, May 23rd at the faculty large lecture theatre, was chaired by former Dean of Law, Professor Yemisi Bamgbose, FCArb, and was graced with the presence of the Acting Dean, Dr. Toyin Akintola.
The special guest of honor, Mrs. Shola Oshodi-John, the C.E.O. of Nigerian Institute of Chartered Arbitrators, spoke at great length on the importance of arbitration, its history, relationship with litigation (court suits) as well as the attitude of the court to it. According to her, even though arbitration has some relationship with colonialism, it had been in existence before the coming of the colonialists. She equally expressed her satisfaction at the directive of the Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Walter Onnoghen, last year, in stating that arbitration cases should not be attended to by courts of law any longer, but that “if it is arbitration, it should go to arbitration”.
At the close of the sensitization programme, students interested in a training in arbitration penned down their names and contacts. The chairman of the occasion emphasized that the training programme is open to both law students and non-law students.
