The Lagos Court of Arbitration hosted an event titled “LCA ADR SUMMIT” which had its opening ceremony on Monday 16 September 2019 taking place at its headquarters in Lagos, Nigeria, President of the Lagos Court of Arbitration (LCA), with a presentation titled “The Faith and Philosophy of Modern Dispute Resolution Architecture”.

Dr. Mohamed Hafez, Counsel and Legal Advisor to the Director of (CRCICA) was a panelist in the session moderated by Ms. Laura Alakija, Deputy Managing Partner ICC YAF Representative, Africa, Middle East and Turkey. Ms. Alakija initiated the session by emphasizing the important role played by African Arbitral Institutions and their development.

Several questions were posed by Ms. Alakija to the panelists, amongst them: How do we promote pro-national or pro-African choice and reduce the interference of national courts? Another question was: As AALCO member institutions set up at regional levels with status of international non-profit organizations, how has establishment of the Centre CRCICA as well as other international/supra-national arbitral institutions: Enhanced the growth of international trade and commerce on the continent and impacted delocalization of international commercial arbitration. Both questions were answered by Dr. Mohamed Hafez.

A final question was asked from the audience concerning the procedural irregularities which take place from Counsel in arbitration cases and the delay tactics deployed, as well as how do institutions deal with the delays caused by the arbitral tribunal and from the delays caused from the case managers in the arbitral institutions? Dr. Mohamed Hafez also contributed in answering such question.

The session was concluded with a signing ceremony of a cooperation agreement MOU between the LCA and CRCICA, which was signed by Mr. Charles Adeyemi Candide-Johnson and Dr. Mohamed Hafez respectively.