The Nigerian Institute of Chartered Arbitrators (NICArb) will kick off this year’s annual conference at the Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos, on November 28.
The two-day hybrid conference and investiture/award ceremony, with the theme, “Transformation and Interventions: the evolving trends in arbitration & ADR Practice in Africa”, has Prof. Yusuf Ali (SAN), FCArb, as Chairman of the conference and Mrs. Dupe Ajayi Gbadebo, FCArb, as Co-Chair, as well as Chair of the Fund Raising Committee.
The open session of the conference is expected to be a first of its kind that will bring together different generations of Arbitration and ADR practitioners to share their experiences on the evolution of Arbitration and ADR across the years.
Among others, speeches and presentations by renowned global speakers and quality contributions from stakeholders, government representatives, investors, and corporates, which will, in turn facilitate recommendations for policy reforms, are expected at the event.
The objective of the event is for participants to assess the role of Government in Investor/State trade disputes in the African extractive industry and consider lessons learnt and the way forward as well as discuss the impact of the Protocol on Investment to the AFCFTA on the settlement of Investor/State disputes and trade integration in Africa.
Participants will also consider the impact of AI on the practice of Arbitration and other ADR mechanisms and examine potential professional and ethical considerations and how they can be addressed and encourage collaboration and networking among Arbitration and ADR Practitioners, Regional Institutions and organisations, Legal Institutions, Governments and International bodies.
They will be able to identify opportunities for knowledge sharing, information exchange and partnership, which will advance Arbitration and ADR in Africa.
Prof. Ali, a Notary Public and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) is a member of many professional bodies, conferred with many fellowships, such as Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, (FCIArb) (UK) and the Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb) (Nigeria).
The Life Member, Body of Benchers, is currently the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Fountain University, Osogbo, Osun State and was the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council, Osun State University (2016-2023) as well as Chairman of the Committee of Pro Chancellors of State Owned Universities in Nigeria (2021-2023).
He also served as Member, Council, Commonwealth Lawyers Association, member, Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee of the Body of Benchers, Vice Chairman of the International Bar Association Committee on Damages and Negligence and Chairman, Judiciary Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association.
Mrs. Dupe Ajayi-Gbadebo, a Cambridge University Nuffield Press Fellow, is also a Fellow of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) as well as a Fellow of NICArb.
A former Special Assistant to a one-time Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SA/SGF), she holds three Masters’ Degrees and a Post Graduate Diploma: Masters of Communications Art, University of Ibadan (UI), March, 1984; Master of Business Administration (MBA), University of Ibadan (UI) June 2007; Master of Law (LLM), University of Lagos (UNILAG) June, 2014 and a Post Graduate Diploma in International Relations and Development from the Institute of Social Studies (ISI) at The Hague, The Netherlands, April, 1988. She was called to the Nigerian Bar, September, 1999.
The journalist and lawyer started her journalism career in 1979 as a reporter in the Punch Newspapers. She was Editor of the Happy Home Magazine, Political Correspondent attached to the then Senate in Lagos, before she joined the Guardian Group of Newspapers at inception in 1983. She rose to the position of Political Correspondent, Diplomatic Editor and later the Political Editor.
She moved to the Daily Times Newspapers Group in 1989 as Political Editor and later served as Deputy Editor/Acting Editor, founding Editor of the Weekend Times and Group Political Editor.
Ajayi-Gbadebo, who was appointed the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of the Sketch Newspapers, Ibadan, on June 1, 2000, once served as Member, in the Board of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN).
