By John Austin Unachukwu
PresIdent, Institute of Chartered Mediators and Conciliators (ICMC), Emeka Obegolu, has called for synergy among Alternative Disputes Resolution (ADR) institutions.
He spoke last week in Abuja while delivering a goodwill message at the launch of the Janada International Centre for Arbitration and Mediation (JICAM), Arbitration and Mediation Rules.
Obegolu urged Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) institutions to support each other.
He said there were over 10 ADR institutions in Nigeria, and that they should leave their mark on the dispute resolution landscape and contribute to effective resolution of disputes.
Obegolu said: “To achieve this united goal, we must see ourselves not as competitors, but as partners in this dynamic field of Alternative Dispute Resolution.”
In support of this statement, he announced that the institute was partnering over 20 ADR institutions in Africa, and beyond, to deliver her first-ever African Mediation Conference with the theme “Transnational commercial mediation: Leveraging options and intersections in Africa.”
Some of the organisations ICMC is partnering include Janada International Centre for Arbitration and Mediation (JICAM); International Centre for Arbitration and Mediation, Abuja (ICAMA); Lagos Court of Arbitration (LCA); Lagos Chamber of Commerce International Arbitration Centre (LACIAC); Abuja Chamber of Commerce Dispute Resolution Centre (ACC-DRC); Oyo State Multi-Door Courthouse; Mediation Training Institute (Nigeria); Mediation Training Institute (East Africa); Institute of Chartered Mediators and Conciliators (East Africa); African Arbitration Association.
Others are: West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP); International Mediation Institute (IMI); Tanzania Institute of Arbitrators; iResolve; Kigali International Arbitration Centre; Nairobi Centre for International Arbitration; ODR Africa Network; Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (UK) Nigeria Branch; Conflict Dynamics (South Africa); SEDIN-NICOP, GIZ Nigeria; Panel of Neutrals and Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU)
Obegolu added: “The Institute of Chartered Mediators and Conciliators happily extends a hand of partnership to the many outstanding ADR institutions in Nigeria, and in Africa, to partner her to interrogate the issues and developments surrounding the business of Mediation and International Commercial Mediation in Africa.
“The Institute of Chartered Mediators and Conciliators is the professional body of dispute resolution practitioners with the mandate to regulate the practice of Mediation, train prospective ADR practitioners, and encourage organisations and institutions to adopt Mediation and Conciliation as the primary means for resolving disputes..’’
The ICMC’s African Mediation conference is scheduled for December 1.
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