NIGERIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Tayo Oyetibo LP
2.8 Damages Damages in Nigerian law are broadly classified into general damages and special damages and the prin- ciples governing their assessment are well settled. General damages are those which the law presumes to flow naturally from the wrongful act complained of. They are not capable of precise quantification and, accordingly, need not be specifically pleaded. Typical heads of general damages include pain and suffering, loss of amenities of life, loss of expectation of life and, in appropriate cases, future losses. In assessing general damages, the court exercises its discretion to make a global award, taking into account the totality of the harm suffered. The court is not obliged to itemise the award under specific heads. The guiding principle is that the award should repre- sent a fair and reasonable compensation for the injury, which is the natural and probable consequence of the defendant’s wrongful conduct. Special damages, on the other hand, represent spe- cific and quantifiable losses actually incurred by the claimant. These must be specifically pleaded and strictly proved by credible evidence. The court’s role in this regard is circumscribed: it may only award such sums as have been clearly particularised and estab- lished by the evidence. It is not open to the court to speculate or make its own assessment in respect of special damages. In summary, while general damages are assessed broadly and at the discretion of the court based on the circumstances of the case, special damages are awarded strictly in accordance with what has been specifically pleaded and proved.
dentiality, procedural flexibility, neutrality and the rela- tive ease of enforcement of arbitral awards. Arbitration is particularly prevalent in commercial and technical sectors, where parties often require special- ist expertise and a neutral forum for dispute resolu- tion. It is commonly adopted in industries such as: • oil and gas; • telecommunications; • banking and finance; • construction and infrastructure; • real estate; and • consumer goods and general commercial transac- tions. In practice, most disputes arising from commercial contracts, especially those with cross-border ele- ments or significant financial value, are routinely referred to arbitration where the underlying agreement contains an arbitration clause. 3.2 Restrictions on Use of Arbitration Arbitration is widely recognised and utilised in Nigeria; however, its application is subject to certain limitations grounded in the doctrine of arbitrability. As a general rule, arbitration is best suited to disputes arising from commercial and contractual relationships and its scope does not extend to all categories of disputes. Certain matters are regarded as non-arbitrable because they implicate public rights, statutory obliga- tions or issues reserved exclusively for judicial deter- mination. These include: • criminal matters, which by their nature involve the enforcement of public law and cannot be resolved privately; • matrimonial causes, including the dissolution of marriage and related reliefs; • Election petitions and constitutional matters, which are governed by specialised statutory and constitu- tional regimes; • questions relating to the title to land, particularly where they involve determinations in rem affecting third-party rights; and
3. Arbitration 3.1 Prevalence
Arbitration has become an increasingly prominent and widely utilised mechanism for the resolution of com- mercial disputes in Nigeria. In recent years, there has been a clear and sustained shift towards arbitration, driven by its perceived advantages, including confi-
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