Introduction

Interim reliefs in aid of arbitration are readily available to parties in Nigerian arbitration proceedings either as—(i) interim reliefs obtained from the arbitral tribunal, or (ii) interim reliefs obtained from the Nigerian courts. The right to obtain interim relief has been preserved and expanded in the new Arbitration and Mediation Act, 2023 (AMA).

Interim reliefs in pre-2023 arbitral proceedings

The old arbitration law, the Arbitration and Conciliation 1998 (ACA) empowered an arbitral tribunal to order interim measures of protection (Section 13 of the ACA). Article 26 Rules (1) and (2) of the Arbitration Rules (the ‘Rules’), First Schedule to the ACA, also provided that the tribunal could provide interim measures of protection, including ‘measures for the conservation of the goods forming the subject-matter of the dispute’ in the form of an interim award.

Although the ACA did not expressly empower the courts to make interim orders such as injunctions pending arbitration, that lacuna