Investors will continue to avoid long-term commitments in Nigeria unless courts enforce contracts consistently, commercial disputes are resolved promptly, and government policies stop undermining existing agreements, legal and business leaders have warned.
The caution dominated discussions at the third annual Multi-Door Courthouses and Alternative Dispute Resolution Stakeholders Summit 2026, held in Lagos on October 19 and 20 under the theme “Investor Confidence and ADR: Strengthening Nigeria’s Investment Climate.”
Managing Partner of Candide-Johnson Law, Charles Adeyemi Candide-Johnson, SAN, put the issue starkly: “Actually, capital goes where it is safe.”
Senior Advocate of Nigeria Bode Olanipekun, Managing Partner of Wole Olanipekun & Co, said investors worry as much about losing their capital as about earning returns. “Everybody has heard of ROI, return on investment. At the back of our minds, I want us to use two forms of ROI this morning: ROI as return on investment and ROI as return off investment,” he said.
“As an investor, I don’t want my investment to diminish; I want my investment to grow. That’s return on investment. Now, there’s return off investment. As an investor, I don’t want to lose my investment. I don’t want my money to get lost.”
Olanipekun cited a commercial dispute that stretched nearly a decade. One company obtained ex-parte orders from a second judge after another court had refused them. The Court of Appeal discharged the orders, the Supreme Court affirmed their impropriety, and a High Court later awarded more than N71 billion in damages—yet recovery remains pending on appeal. “What really will be the status of Company B today, 10 years after, if it has not recovered a dime from that loss which the court had found that it did suffer?” he asked.
He also referenced a 2023 Seplat Energy case in which shareholders holding less than 0.002 per cent of the company’s shares obtained ex-parte orders restraining the CEO, executive management and board—orders suspended by the Court of Appeal within days.
“People of commerce would prefer commercially skilled and knowledgeable independent arbiters who understand their businesses to resolve their disputes,” Olanipekun said. “The more a jurisdiction can provide this quality of arbiters, the more confident investors would be to commit capital to such destinations.”
Candide-Johnson stressed that investors need certainty that contracts will be enforced as written. “If they can say with certainty that if my disputes come to these courts, the contracts will be enforced as we intend it, without influences outside of precedent, they will be confident to invest,” he said. “To be honest, there’s no reason why a contract should not be enforced as it appears in the fine print, except there’s some extenuating factors of illegalities and all of that.”
He noted that no one expects to win every case: “What people expect is an experience that they can say is fair and not influenced by considerations of relationships.”
President of the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce, Abimbola Olashore, added: “In truth, the capital will go to where it is welcomed and where it is treated well.” He recalled an American airline executive who ruled out Nigeria for direct flights despite strong commercial potential because of doubts over aircraft lease enforcement. “He said he had made up his mind that, as far as he was concerned, Nigeria was not a place where you could do business because they were not sure about enforceability.”
“The issue about people investing is that when I cannot price the risk, I would rather not invest,” Olashore said. “When there is uncertainty even at the end of the 20 years, I will not invest.” He linked the dominance of short-term capital to this lack of trust.
Chief Executive Officer of the American Business Council Nigeria, Margaret Olele, identified breaches of contractual commitments and inconsistent regulation as further deterrents. “One major concern is the sanctity of contracts,” she said, citing cases where new state administrations altered existing agreements and where inconsistent application of free-trade-zone rules disadvantaged local manufacturers.
Speakers agreed that stronger alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, predictable commercial justice and consistent policy would be essential if Nigeria hopes to attract the long-term capital it needs.
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