Developing Economies, International Investment and Investor-State Arbitration: Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitration Awards in Nigeria

The purpose of this paper is to determine the extent to which Economic Development Agreements are amenable to arbitration as an instrumentality for the settlement of disputes arising between State Parties and private entities such as Transnational Oil Corporations (TNOC). Findings show that Economic Development Agreements are inabitrable and when awards are made, they lack finality because ownership of the subject-matter of such agreements inheres in the sovereign party and so within the public domain. Petroleum International Agreements (PIA) as a genre of Economic Development Agreements are ill-adapted to the Private Contract Model. The study also found that the principle pacta sunt servanda cannot apply absolutely under Petroleum International Agreements because supervening circumstances which render performance impossible may compel the review of the terms and conditions of the contracts in accordance with overriding public interest clausula rebus sic stantibus.