INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE
Telefax (070- 364 99 28). Telex 32323.
Communiqué
unofficial
for immediate release
No. 92/3
12 March 1992
Bew Member of the Court to make his solemn declaration
Hearings in new cases submitted by Libya
Further to Press Communiqué No. 92/2 dated 6 March 1992, the
following information is communicated to the Press by the Registry of the
International Court of Justice:
On Thursday 26 March 1992. at 10 a.m. the Court will hold a public
sitting for the purpose of enabling Judge Bola A. Ajibola (Nigeria), who
was elected to be a Member of the Court by the General Assembly and the
Security Council of the United Nations on 5 December 1991, to make the
solemn declaration provided for in Article 20 of the Statute of the Court.
After a short break the hearings on the Libyan requests for the
indication of provisional measures in the cases it brought against the
United Kingdom and the United States will begin.
*
Judge Ajibola has been elected to fill the vacancy left by the death
on 14 August 1991 of Judge Taslim Olawale Elias (Nigeria). His term of
office thus extends until 5 February 1994.
A biography of the new Member of the Court is annexed hereto.
*
Following the election of Judge Ajibola, the composition of the
Court is now as follows:
President: Sir Robert Yewdall Jennings (United Kingdom)
Vice-President: Shigeru Oda (Japan)
Judges: Manfred Lachs (Poland)
Roberto Ago (Italy)
Stephen M. Schwebel (United States of America)
Mohammed Bedjaoui (Algeria)
Ni Zhengyu (China)
Jens Evensen (Norway)
Nikolaï K. Tarassov (USSR)
Gilbert Guillaume (France)
Mohamed Shahabuddeen (Guyana)
Andrés Aguilar Mawdsley (Venezuela)
Christopher G. Weeramantry (Sri Lanka)
Raymond Ranjeva (Madagascar)
Bola A. Ajibola (Nigeria)
1686f Annex to Press Communiqué No. 92/3
Judge Bo1a A. Aiibo1a
(Member of the Court as of 5 December 1991)
Born on 22 March 1934.
Called to the Bar, Lincoln's Inn, 1962 (Barrister-at-Law);. Legal
practitioner for 23 years, mostly in Lagos and also in all ether parts of
Nigeria; Principal Partner of Bola Ajibola & Co., with offices in Lagos,
Ikeja, Abeokuta and Kaduna (Specialization: commercial law practice with
particu1ar bias for international arbitration).
President of the Nigerian Bar Association (1984-1985); Chairman of the
Body of Benchers (1989-1990); Chairman of the Body of Senior Advocates
of Nigeria (1986 to date); President of the Association of Arbitrators
of Nigeria; Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee of the Bar; Chairman
of the General Council of the Bar; Chairman of the Advisory Committee on
the Prerogative of Mercy; Member of the Nigeria Police Counci1; Member
of the Advisory Judicial Committee; Member of the Judicial Service
Committee (Abuja); Chairman of the Task Force for the Revision of the
Laws of the Federation (1990); Attorney-General and Minister of Justice
of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Member of the Nigerian Delegation to the United Nations General Assembly
(1986); Temporary President of the United Nations General Assembly at
its seventeenth special session on narcotic drugs (1990); Member of the
International Law Commission.
Member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (The Hague); Member of the
International Chamber of Commerce Court of Arbitration; Member of the
International Maritime Arbitration Commission, Paris; Member of the
Panel of International Arbitrators of the London Institute of
Arbitrators; Member of the International Advisory Committee of the World
Arbitration Institute, U.S.A.
Initiated the first ever African Law Ministers Conference, Abuja (1989)
(attended by 32 African countries); Chairman of Meeting of ECOWAS
Council of Law Ministers, Lagos, Nigeria (1990), where the Treaty
Establishing the Court for the Economie Community of West African States
was drafted, and agreed to by ECOWAS Law Ministers; Member, ECOWAS
Steering Committee for the review of the ECOWAS Charter; Leader of the
Nigerian Delegation to the Ethloplan All-Party Conference on Peaceful and
Democratie Transition; Chairman of the First Meeting of the Working
Committee, All-Africa Law Ministers Conference, Caire (1991).
1686f - 2 -
Vice-President of the International Contractual Relations Commisslon of
the International Chamber of Commerce; Vice-President of the Institute
of International Business Law and Practice, Paris; National Chairman of
the World Peace Through Law Centre; Represented Africa in the
demonstration trial on the law of the sea at the World Peace Through Law
Conference (Manila, 1970); Fellow of the Chartered Institute of
Arbitrators; Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal
Studies; Friend of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, London.
Member of the African Bar Association; the International Bar
Association; the Association of World Lawyers; the International
Chamber of Commerce; the Commonwealth Law Association; the World
Arbitration Institute; and the Society for the Reform of Criminal Law.
Editer, Nigeria's Treaties in Force, 1970-1990; Editor, All Nigeria Law
Reports, 1961-1990; Editor-in-chief, Justice (a monthly journal of
co~temporar lygal problems); General Editor of the Federal Ministry of
Justice Law Review Series (FMJLRS) (now in seven volumes).
Publications include:
Principles of Arbitration, 1980; Hew Concepts in the Resolution of
Disputes in International Construction Contracta, 1981; Work Paper on
International Commercial Arbitration, 1982; Arbitration and State
Enterprises - Case Study of Nigerian Cement Transactions, 1983;
Modernization of National Arbitration Laws in Aid of International
Commercial Arbitration. 1984; The Law and Settlement of Commercial
Disputes, 1984; Law Deve1opment and Administration in Nigeria, 1987;
Towards a Better Administration of Justice System in Nigeria, 1988;
Integration of the African Continent Through Law, 1988; Narcotics; Law
and Poli cy in Nigeria,. 1989; Compensation and Remedies for Victims of
Crime, 1989; Banking Frauds and Other Financial Malpractices in Nigeria,
1989; Womenand Chi1dren under Nigerian Law, 1990; Scheme relating to
Mutual Assistance in Crimina1 Matters and the Control of Criminal
Activities within Africa, 1990; Human Rights in Africa (awaiting
publication in the Mélanges in Honour of Judge T.O. Elias).
1987 Wor1d Jurist Award (under the auspices of Wor1d Peace through Law at - --
Seoul); Senior Advocate of Nigeria; Recipient of 1986 Ogun State of
Nigeria Outstanding Citizen Merit Award; Life Member, Nigerian Institute
of Internation.al Affaira-; Life Member, Body of Benchers, Nigeria.
l686f
New Member of the Court to make his solemn declaration - Hearings in new cases submitted by Libya