Abstract

Arbitration is a procedure in which a dispute is submitted by agreement of the parties to one or more arbitrators who make a binding decision on the dispute. In choosing arbitration, the parties opt for a private dispute resolution procedure instead of going to court. Arbitration is usually regarded as a domain exclusively reserved for private law. The Arbitration Act is governed by the Arbitration and Conciliation Act CAP18 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004. Inevitably, however, certain criminal matters and allegations might creep into arbitral proceedings. Arbitration and criminal law appear to live on two distant planets, and their paths do not seem ever to have to cross each other. Yet, because criminal law rules might have an impact on both the arbitral proceedings and the solution of the dispute, these two disciplines have more points of connection than could be suspected from the outset. The dispute itself could be fictitious, a screen for money laundering, or the underlying purpose of alleged consultancy might be bribery. Testimony or expertise offered before the tribunal might be false. In such cases, arbitrators can either address the criminal matters or turn a blind eye to them. The aim of this paper is to analyze the concept and purpose of arbitration in criminal matters. The findings of this paper recommends that ADR should be mainstreamed into Nigeria’s criminal justice system on a more holistic and systematic basis rather than the piece-meal approach that the criminal justice system is currently witnessing.