Energy and Infrastructure Disputes: Where They Start

Inside the Room: A Full Day at the 10th ICC Africa Conference | ICC Africa Conference Day 2

Day one of the main conference. Lagos. Six sessions, six panels, six completely different conversations - and somehow, by the end of it, they all connected. In this debrief I take you through the full day at the 10th ICC Africa Conference on International Arbitration. We start with the ICC Court President in conversation with two Nigerian energy executives - and the line about trees that framed everything that followed. We move to the bench, where four African judges gave honest accounts of what their courts are actually doing with arbitration - including a Ghana story that stopped the room. Then I tell you about the session I cannot report on - and why that matters for every English-speaking African practitioner who has ever sat in a room where the conversation was happening in a language they could not follow. After that: expedited arbitration nine years on, the new highly expedited procedure that delivers awards in three months, and the uncomfortable question about whether traditional arbitration will still exist in its current form in ten years. Then the professional standing session - Dorothy Ufot SAN tells the story of how she walked into a CIArb examination she knew nothing about in 1999, and what happened next. And we close on digital economy disputes, where in-house counsel from Interswitch and MTN Nigeria tell you what dispute resolution actually looks like when USD 2 billion worth of airtime disappears in an hour. This is a long one. It earns the length.

Inside the Room: ICC Advanced Training on Drafting Enforceable Awards | ICC Africa Conference Day 1

I spent today at the ICC Institute of World Business Law Advanced Training on Drafting Enforceable Awards in Lagos - and I am bringing everything back to you. In this debrief, I cover what the sessions taught about drafting style, the civil law versus common law divide, and the six building blocks every award must contain. I go deep on the sections practitioners get wrong most often - jurisdiction, damages, interest, and costs - including a real example of a Nigerian enforcement attempt that failed because three words were missing from the award. I also take you inside the ICC scrutiny process in a way most practitioners never get to see, and walk you through a mock court session where our working group tore apart a defective draft award line by line. If you draft awards, appear before tribunals, or advise clients who need those awards enforced - this episode is for you.

Interim Measures: Getting the Order Is Not the Hard Part

In this Season 1 finale, Augusta Shahin breaks down interim measures in arbitration and explains why success is not just about getting the order, but about whether the order arrives in time, can be enforced, and actually changes the risk. With a practical Nigeria-based lens, this episode looks at tribunal relief, court support, emergency arbitration, enforcement, and the strategic gaps that can make urgent relief ineffective. Relevant for arbitrators, mediators, counsel, in-house teams, and government lawyers.

BITs in Plain Terms: What They Cover and What They Don’t

In this episode of The Dispute Brief, Augusta Shahin breaks down bilateral investment treaties, or BITs, in clear practical terms. She explains what BITs actually protect, what they do not protect, and why that matters for arbitrators, mediators, in-house counsel, government lawyers, policy actors, and commercial lawyers working around cross-border investment and regulated sectors. The episode looks at the difference between contract rights and treaty rights, the core protections often found in BITs, and how disputes in energy, infrastructure, licensing, tax, foreign exchange, stabilization, and regulatory change can move from ordinary commercial disagreement into treaty territory. If you work around dispute risk, public regulation, or investment-facing projects, this episode gives you a sharper way to think about where commercial issues end and treaty exposure begins.

Online Dispute Resolution: What Works for Nigeria

Most online dispute resolution efforts stumble because they neglect one critical factor: process design. In Nigeria, where the law is supportive but practice still lags, simply moving hearings online can turn efficiency into chaos and risk undermining justice. Augusta Shahin breaks down precisely what makes online dispute resolution work in Nigeria and what sinks it. You'll discover how legal frameworks support remote arbitration and mediation but fall short without the right structure. She reveals the real challenge isn’t the law; it's creating a process that ensures fairness, security, and credibility in a digital environment. We break down: * The legal nuances of online proceedings under Nigeria’s Arbitration and Mediation Act 2023 * Practical limits of online hearings: connectivity, witness control, cybersecurity * The key functions that succeed online: case management, mediations, electronic filings * Critical pitfalls like credibility issues in witness evidence and infrastructure gaps * A proven checklist for designing effective online dispute resolution processes, from platform protocols to hybrid hearings Why does this matter? Because ignoring these nuances risks turning online arbitration into a legal minefield. Yet, with proper structure, Nigeria can harness the true potential of digital dispute resolution; saving time, costs, and opening cross-border opportunities. Perfect for dispute resolution professionals, legal practitioners, and arbitrators aiming to future-proof their practices. If you want to turn online disputes into real outcomes, this episode makes the case that success hinges on process, not just technology. Let Augusta guide you through building resilient, fair, and efficient online arbitration in Nigeria and beyond.