‘My Appointment as CSAT President, Announces Nigeria’s Legal Profession Worldwide’
eminence amongst the Judges of the Commonwealth Tribunal. This underscores the title of His Excellency attached to my office.
The Commonwealth Secretariat Arbitral Tribunal, is not at par with other Commercial Arbitration panels.
The CSAT is established by the 56 Commonwealth Nations to hear and determine any application brought by:
(a) A member of staff of the Commonwealth Secretariat itself.
(b) The Commonwealth Secretariat itself.
(c) Any other person who enters a contract with the Commonwealth Secretariat, and there is allegation of non-observance of a contract.
The CSAT is also competent to hear and determine applications involving an international or intergovernmental Commonwealth body or organisation, which meets the requirements as set out in the statute of CSAT. Cases could originate from London, Geneva or New York - centres, where Commonwealth Offices are located in the world.
The role of the President of CSAT is enormous and encompassing. Mark you, the Tribunal consists of eight members, including the President, and all are nationals of the Commonwealth member States.
As President, it is my responsibility to constitute the Panels of three for every case, and I must preside over the case and write the Judgement also. If there are applications for review by either of the parties, it is also the duty of the President to set up a review panel of five and the President shall determine the most senior member of the panel of five preside over the review case.
Both the statute and rule of the CSAT place a lot of administrative and judicial burden on the President of CSAT, and to this extent, the President is the live wire of the Tribunal. This requires demonstrating leadership, and being the moral compass for the activities of the tribunal.
Your appointment will certainly be an advertisement to the world, that Nigerians are not only serious about
Arbitration and ADR, but that we have world class Arbitrators here. How did you get to this point, especially seeing as Arbitration practice is yet to be fully entrenched in Nigeria? Kindly, share with us, your journey to becoming the President of the Commonwealth Secretariat Tribunal London
To a large extent, my appointment announces Nigeria’s legal profession to the world. But, there are so many before me like the Elias’s Ajibola’s, Onyeama’s etc. These were strong representatives of Nigeria, at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). We
have a host of Nigerians, who have excelled as world class Arbitrators. But, the CSAT is not another form of Arbitral Panel. As representatives of various countries and given the limited number of Judges at any point in time, the quality of Judges is expectedly very high. Judges of CSAT are of high moral character and must have held, hold or be qualified to hold high judicial office in a Commonwealth country or be juriconsults of recognised competence with experience as such for a period of not less than 10 years. The President and other members of the Tribunal shall be selected by Commonwealth Governments on a regionally representative basis, with an appropriate gender balance.
Yes, Judges of the Tribunals can be knowledgeable in Arbitration and ADR, but, they must also be qualified to be Judges of the CSAT.
My Appointment is purely at the pleasure of the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I was nominated and had to scale the regional hurdle, and this means getting the whole of Africa to endorse my candidature. Africa had to sell my nomination to
the rest of the Commonwealth Governments, before I could be appointed. This was first in 2015, and I was reappointed again in 2019 going through the same process. My appointment to the Presidency is on the recommendation of my colleagues to the Board of Governors, and ratification of Heads of State and Governments of the Commonwealth of Nations.
Of what advantage would you say your headship of this august institution will be to Nigeria and Nigerian Arbitrators?
My Presidency is of the Commonwealth Tribunal and the advantage is for the whole of the Commonwealth, and not for Africa alone (my Region) or for Nigeria (my country). Indeed, the code of conduct for judicial officers of the CSAT enjoins us to be loyal to the Commonwealth, and not to our respective member countries.
But, certainly, the knowledge I have gained in the past eight years, both as an international public servant and a Judge of the international Administrative Tribunal, is one that I will continue to share with students and my mentees. I look forward
“The CSAT is also competent to hear and determine applications involving an international or intergovernmental Commonwealth body or organisation, which meets the requirements as set out in the statute of CSAT”