Understanding Investor-State Dispute Settlement in Nigeria

Nigeria is one of Africa’s largest recipients of foreign direct investment and, increasingly, a source of outbound capital. Both positions carry exposure to the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) system; the framework of treaty protections and arbitral mechanisms through which foreign investors bring claims directly against sovereign states. Eight such claims are known to have been brought against Nigeria with the most recent registered in June 2026.

In the opening instalment of the TEMPLARS ISDS Series, TEMPLARS Partner, Adewale Atake, SAN, and Managing Counsel, Orji Agwu Uka examine how the system works and where Nigeria stands within it. The publication traces the development of investment treaty arbitration from bilateral investment treaties and the ICSID Convention through to the present regime, sets out the substantive protections available to investors and the grounds on which host states defend claims, and reviews Nigeria’s own record.

For investors structuring entry into Nigeria, for Nigerian businesses investing abroad, and for the public institutions whose regulatory decisions may be tested before an arbitral tribunal, the questions this series takes up are no longer theoretical.

This is Part 1 of a five-part series. Subsequent instalments will address the individual protection measures and the defences available to host states.

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