The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Mediation

  • Mediation centre resolves 36,788 disputes

    The Lagos State Citizens Mediation Centre (CMC) resolved 36,788 disputes between January and last month, its Director, Mrs. Omotola Rotimi, has said.

    She spoke in Yaba, Lagos Mainland, at the weekend during a road show to mark this year’s World Tolerance Day (WTD).

    Rotimi said the resolved cases were from the 40,875 disputes handled by the centre.

    According to her, the resolved cases include landlord-tenant, property inheritance, marital and child custody disputes as well as monetary claims.

    The centre, she said, was interested in decongesting the prisons and police cells, adding that people had begun to embrace Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), rather than going to court.

    Rotimi said the WTD was celebrated to sensitise the public on the need for tolerance, which could be a tool for solving the problems of nations, cities, among others, if embraced.

    She said tolerance at home would reduce domestic violence, rape and child molestation and advised parents and guardians to embrace it.

    Tolerance at the motor parks, she added, would prevent hooliganism and clashes.

    Rotimi said: “There is need for tolerance at the workplaces because there is bound to be dispute. In the markets, tolerance will make traders to operate in peace and prevent fighting. Drivers too should learn to tolerate one another to promote peace.

    “Tolerance will save lives; it will prevent fathers from killing their children. With tolerance, we will reduce domestic violence.”

  • Industrial court takes over mediation

    THE National Industrial Court has taken over mediation in the dispute between the Federal Ministry of Health and the striking health workers under the auspices of the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) with a view to ensuring an amicable settlement of the dispute.

    The court’s presiding judge, Babatunde Adejumo, however, asked the striking health workers to first go and obey the earlier ruling of the court by returning to work, while the process of mediation will resume.

    However, JOHESU asked the court to give it till Friday, June 1, 2018 to meet with their members and inform them of the court’s decision.

    An NGO, the Incorporated Trustees of the Kingdom Human Rights Foundation (KHRFI), had obtained a court order against JOHESU mandating it to suspend their industrial action on May 21, 2018.

    The NGO had also filed a contempt proceeding against JOHESU, which was to be decided yesterday. But the judge ruled that in the interest of the suffering masses, who need medical services, he would refer the case to the Alternative Dispute Resolution Division of the court to mediate.

    He directed that the Minister of Labour and Employment and the Minister of Health should appoint representation to the ADR team, who will mediate and ensure an amicable resolution.

    At the time of this report, JOHESU leaders were meeting to decide on the next line of action, but there are indications that the ongoing strike may be suspended to give the National Industrial Court the chance to mediate.

  • Lagos seeks peace through mediation

    One of the priorities of the Akinwunmi Ambode administration is to ensure peaceful and harmonious co-existence among all Lagos residents and easy access to justice, Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Adeniji Kazeem has said.

    According to him, a conducive atmosphere is needed for human and infrastructural development.

    Kazeem spoke while inaugurating three units of Citizens Mediation Centres (CMC) in Eredo, Ikosi-Ejinrin and Epe Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs). Epe would serve as the base station for the three centres.

    He said part of the policy thrust of the state government is to ensure that, a unit of the centre is established in all local government areas and LCDAs in the state in line with Section 16 of the Citizens’ Mediation Centre Law of 2007 and to bring mediation services closer to the people, especially the indigent and at no cost to them.

    With the inauguration of the three new centres, he said the state now has 18 units of CMC centres spread across the state, with the head office at Motorways, Alausa.

    He expressed conviction that the presence of the three centres would encourage the people of Epe to take advantage of the free legal services offered by the centre in amicably resolving all disputes particularly land matters, family and inheritance disputes, marital and child custody disputes, monetary and commercial disputes among others.

    CMC Director, Mrs Oluwatoyin Odusanya, said the aim of creation of CMC centres across the state is to ensure that every citizen has direct access to justice in a less cumbersome and effective manner.

    She explained that the initiative became imperative in view of the understanding that many cases taken to court are cases that should ordinarily be settled in a way that both parties would get justice without any cost and still maintain peace and harmonious relationship at home.

    Making reference to a Yoruba adage, she said: “we don’t come back from court and retain friendship. But in our case, we not only settle disputes, but also ensure that cordial relationships that have been existing, or lacking are retained and provided.”

  • Mediation centres in Lagos councils

    The Lagos State government is to establish mediation centres in all its local governments to fast track dispensation of justice.

    The Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Adeniji Kazeem, broke the news yesterday at a media parley with reporters in his office at the Secretariat, Ikeja.

    The Attorney General, who outlined the ministry’s programme for the year, said the government is determined to make justice available for all.

    “We will open more mediation centres in each local government.  We want to have a ministry that touches the lives of people.

    “Justice is not a concept meant only for the rich. This administration will push for the protection of the weak and the oppressed,” he said.

    To further decongest the prisons, Kazeem said his ministry would encourage the courts to adopt more of community sentencing for lesser offences.

    “We will introduce the mobile courts through the use of specialised buses with magistrates on board.  We will also tackle the issue of cyber crime by creating cyber forensics teams and create a criminal data register.

    “If we have proper records of criminals, it will help the judges when they are deciding matters before them,” he said.

  • Biafra: try mediation, Kalu advises Buhari

    Biafra: try mediation, Kalu advises Buhari

    Former Abia State Governor Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to appoint traditional leaders and other leaders of thought from the Southeast as mediators with the Biafra agitators.

    Kalu said such discussions had become imperative because negotiation is an essential ingredient of democracy.

    Addressing reporters at the weekend on arrival from the United Kingdom at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Kalu said mediation was the best way to resolve the agitation for self-determination by members of the Movement for the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB).

    Kalu said though the agitators had a right in line with the United Nations Charter for Human Rights, it must be pursued within the boundaries of the law, rather than embarking on violence. He noted that any agitation for self-determination that promotes violence and destruction of public property is at variance with the conditions laid out by the United Nations (UN), which prescribes the conduct of a plebiscite by people of the areas to decide where they want to belong to.

    His words: “President Buhari, as a matter of fact, should engage traditional rulers and leaders of thoughts, with security and intelligence agencies, to resolve this potential trouble.

    “Resolving the agitation for self-determination needs an all-inclusive strategy, not force. Government needs to engage the agitators and make them realise that it is ready to resolve whatever issues they have raised. I must advise security agencies that using force to quell the agitation at this time is not the best strategy.

    “It is a wrong strategy hearing people saying that we will quench it by force, we cannot quench anything by force because it is their right to ask for self-determination.

    “As a patriotic Nigerian, I believe in the unity and indivisibility of this country. I love this country and will continue to push for its togetherness.”

    Kalu noted that addressing infrastructural deficit in the Southeast would douse the clamour.

    “Reasonably, this is a serious matter. Honestly, the state of roads in this zone is not good. The Enugu/Port Harcourt and Aba/Umuahia express roads have not been constructed. If I were the President, I will fix these roads in the next two years to quell this recurring agitation.

    “Oka-Onitsha Expressway, Umuahia/Ohafia/Arochukwu Road leading to Cross River should be fixed quickly as part of measures to resolve the agitation.

    “To sustain the unity of this country, government should look at these issues and resolve them. That is the truth and it must be said.”

  • Mediation Centre resolves 20,000 disputes in one year

    Mediation Centre resolves 20,000 disputes in one year

    The Citizens’ Mediation Centre (CMC) resolved about  20,000 of the about 28,000 disputes brought before it last year, the Solicitor-General and Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Justice, Mrs. Funlola Odunlami, has said.

    She spoke during a press briefing to kick-start the Walk for Peace/Legal Clinic, organised by the CMC and the United Nations (UN) to commemorate this year’s International Day of Peace.

    “I cannot give the statistics right now, but the Citizens’ Mediation Centre received about 28,000 disputes last year and successfully resolved at least 20,000 of this number,” she said.

    Odunlami, who represented Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, disclosed plans to set up Citizens’ Mediation Centres in all the Local Government Areas (LGAs) and Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs).

    “Currently, the centre has 14 units spread across the state with the head office at Motorways Centre, Alausa. Other sub-offices are located at Agege, Amukoko, Badagry, Bariga, Iba, Ibeju, Lekki, Ikorodu, Ikotun, Lagos Island, Alimosho, Ojo, Oshodi and Yaba.

    “However, part of the policy thrust of this government is to ensure that a unit is established in all Local Government Areas (LGAs) and Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) in Lagos State in order to bring mediation services closer to the people.”

    The CMC’s Core Pillars of Mediation, Odunlami said, include the preservation of existing and maintaining of the future relationship of disputing parties; confidentiality, neutrality and flexibility of process.

    The governor also announced that the state had, through the CMC, adopted the United Nation’s (UN) International Day of Peace, which is observed on September 21, every year.

    Participants at the event included Director, United Nations Information Centre (UNIC), Ronald Kayanja, who represented UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki Moon; Coordinator, African Women Lawyers’ Association (AWLA) Mandy Asagba; Clara Ibirogba, Director of Citizens’ Rights and a member of the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team (DSVRT), Dafe Ivwurie, Head, Media Relations and Events, Keystone Bank, among others.

    Governor Ambode noted that the theme of this year’s commemoration; “Partnership for Peace – Dignity for All”, highlights the importance of all segments of society to work together for peace.

    He said: “The UN has been able to achieve its laudable programmes through the thousands of partnerships each year with governments, civil society, the private sector, faith-based groups and other Non-Governmental Organisations.

    “In 1999, the Lagos State Government established the CMC to provide access to justice to indigent residents of the state. It is an initiative under the Ministry of Justice to serve as a non-adversarial dispute resolution centre through the use of mediation mechanism in dispensing justice fairly, speedily and without discrimination, fear or favour.”

    The governor added: “The Citizens’ Mediation Centre wishes to adopt this UN International Day of Peace as an annual event to propagate the ethos of peaceful co-existence among residents of Lagos State.”

    UNIC Director, Mr. Kayanja, speaking in his personal capacity, commended the state for its free mediation programmes through the CMC.

    He said the CMC’s intervention had resolved many disputes which could have led to a breach of the peace.

    He added that the CMC’s mediation programme was similar to the UN’s Preventive or Quiet Diplomacy.

    Mr. Kayanja said: “For Nigerians, the best example of that was when Prof Gambari was the country’s Special Envoy of the UN to Myanmar; that is the kind of work that the UN does, just like the CMC.

    “It does not so much capture headlines because we prevent conflicts and no one will ever know how many conflicts the UN has prevented, just like they won’t know how many the CMC has helped to prevent.”

    The Walk for Peace and Legal Clinic rally kicked off around 8:30am at the Bagulda Kaltho Press Centre, Lagos State Secretariat, Alausa, and terminated under the Ikeja Bridge.

    It was followed by the provision of free legal services to Lagos residents by lawyers from the state’s Ministry of Justice.

     

  • Mediation centre seeks to increase settlement rate

    Mediation centre seeks to increase settlement rate

    As part of activities marking its 15th anniversary, the Citizens’ mediation Centre (CMC), Lagos has launched a new strategic plan for another four years.  ADEBISI ONANUGA reports. 

    THE Citizens’ Mediation Centre (CMC), an agency of the Lagos State Ministry of Justice, has marked its 15th anniversary.

    The occasion, tagged a stakeholders’ conference, held at the Adeyemo Bero hall of the State Secretariat, Alausa, Ikeja. It coincided with the launching of  a new four-year (2014-2018) strategic plan of the agency.

    The agency was inaugurated in 1999 by  former governor Bola Tinubu.  It took off as a  unit from one room in the Directorate I of the Ministry of Justice. Since then, it has grown with the passing of Lagos State Citizens’ Mediation Centre Law 2003 and become a model for Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) for other states.

    Today, the centre boasts of offices in 14 locations in the state – Agege, Amukoko, Bariga, Ikotun, Ikorodu, Badagry, Ibeju Lekki, Ikotun, Iba, Ojo, Oshodi, Alimosho, Yaba and Lagos Island.

    For the CMC, its anniversary provided it with an opportunity to showcase its achievements.

    A beneficiary, the Olojo of Ojo Kingdom, Oba Adeniyi Rufai,   told the audience that about two years ago, he dragged some of his tenants to the agency for failing to pay their rents. He said the tenants, after the mediatory role played by the CMC, not only agreed to pay but that they left the place as his friends.

    Oba Rufai, who said the relationship between him and the tenants, had remained cordial since then, said the staff of  the centre were wonderful as they saved him the huge cost he would have incurred as professional fees for lawyers, if the matter had been taken to court.

    In a documentary on the achievements of the centre, Justice Latifat A. F. Oluyemi, recalled a case that had lasted 15 years in the court without  a resolution. She said when herself and her team took over the matter, they resolved it in three months. She said the beauty of the ADR was that the meetings were held behind doors and ensured confidentiality.

    Justice Sodoten Sosi Ogunsanya said cases go through the ADR process in Lagos and that mediation is held in a peaceful environment. She said mediation provides parties the opportunity of stating  their minds and getting their disputes resolved.

    A former Attorney-General of the state, Dapo Sasore, attested to the efficacy of the system and had  several land, tenant and property disputes resolved through mediation.

    Also testifying to the gains of the centre, Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN), in a keynote address,  disclosed that the centre recovered N1.5 billion on behalf of Lagosians, who sought the assistance of the agency, to recover their entitlements between January 2008 and August, this year.

    The governor, who was represented by the Commissioner for Commerce, Mrs. Olusola Oworu,  said this  year alone, the centre settled  14,297 cases.

    He noted that  but for the CMC, the cases would have ended up in court, thereby adding to the already congested dockets of the judges and contributing to justice delay.

    He said the number of cases handled by the CMC also represented the number of citizens, who, for reasons of poverty, ignorance or fear, would not have had access to justice despite that they have pecuniary claims and other enforceable legal rights.

    Fashola said his administration would remain committed to ensuring that no citizen of the state is deprived of justice on account of financial status or geographical location.

    He said this  decision was “anchored on the principle that injustice to one Lagosian that goes without redress is injustice to all Lagosians”.

    He said the principle of justice for all Lagosians would be achieved through the CMC, Office of the Public Defender (OPD) and other related agencies.

    The governor commended the director of the CMC and her team, as well as her predecessors and other support staff on how they worked  over the years, stressing: “Their constant commitment and sense of responsibility are highly commendable.”

    He expressed conviction that the stakeholders’ meeting would enable the centre “steps up to the next level and attain its full potential”.

    The Attorney-General, Ade Ipaye, who was represented by the Solicitor-General, Lawal Pedro(SAN), in a welcome address, said mediation has helped resolve many cases that would have ended up in courts, thereby taking a very long time to resolve.

    Pedro said the people of the state embraced mediation because of its benefits of ensuring confidentiality, particularly in family matters.

    Pedro said the system helps to create a win-win situation for both the aggrieved and the aggressor as they would leave the place as friends as against adversaries.

    The Director of CMC, Mrs. Oluwatoyin Odusanya, said the achievements of the centre within the 15 years of its existence attested to the fact that the aim of the government to ensure that the people of the state have access to justice was being achieved.

    Mrs Odusanya explained that the strategic plan sets out the modalities for training and re-training of the administrators to ensure that they are equipped to meet international standard, among other plans. The CMC director said the new strategic plan has three major goals.

    According to her,  the first goal is to become a household name in Lagos, recognised for speedy and free dispute resolution by 2018.  Under this goal, she said five new centres would be created, yearly, in the state by  2018 while there would be increased sensitisation  to reach all areas covered by the unit.

    Mrs  Odusanya said the plan, under the second goal, is to increase settlement rate and level of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) compliance by 25 per cent by 2018. Under this goal, she said they would develop standards for effective mediation, train 80 per cent of mediators and support staff by 2015.

    The director said the plan was to achieve 90 per cent user satisfaction of mediation as a viable means of dispute resolution by 2018.  This, she said, was being done to ensure that CMC units meet minimum agreed standards of facilities for user satisfaction, develop and implement  an operational  public complaints system by 2017 and to introduce staggered mediation appointment system in all units in order to reduce waiting time of users by about 80 per cent among others.

    The Head of Service, Mrs. Seyi Williams, attested that the people of Lagos have tested mediation and there was a great demand for the system to resolve their disputes.

    She said there was the need for sensitisation of the public on the benefits of mediation for the people who cannot afford the cost of litigation in court. She said a lot of people were still being maltreated but that they do not know where to get redress.

  • Mediation’ll promote peace, says Aregbesola

    Mediation’ll promote peace, says Aregbesola

    Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola yesterday inaugurated the State Citizens’ Mediation Centre, tagged O’Mediation.

    He said the centre would promote peace and justice in the society.

    Speaking at the ceremony, which was attended by top government officials, senior civil servants and traditional rulers, Aregbesola said the centre would have branch offices in the nine federal constituencies.

    He said the objective is for the centre to resolve 60 to 70 per cent of disputes and leave complex civil and criminal matters to the courts.

    The governor said Alternative Dispute Resolution (ARD) ensures that only about 15 per cent of cases end up in court.

    He said in developed countries, most cases are resolved through ARD mechanisms, such as conciliation, mediation, arbitration and pre-trial conciliation.

    Aregbesola said: “When we deny landlords and tenants; creditors and debtors; complainants and respondents the opportunity to ventilate their grievances in a structured manner and with a view to mutually acceptable resolution, we would have an explosion of court cases.

    “People would be frustrated with the judicial system, as cases may not be attended to with the speed the parties’ desire. This is aside the possible resort to self-help, which always leads to a break-down of law and order.”

    Explaining that mediation is not alien to the Yoruba and African cultures, he said village and palace squares have been known to be venues of dispute settlement.

    The governor said this manner of peaceful resolution of conflict is in tandem with the Omoluabi ethos that is being espoused by his administration, explaining that the concept goes to the root of “our very existence”.

    He said: “It is what we are as a race and it transcends our dialectal and communal boundaries as Yoruba people. It is the essence of the totality of our culture, beliefs, values and more.

    “Even in this modern age, the most elegantly drafted Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and other legal documents creating contractual obligations always have the arbitration clause. The reason for this is not far-fetched. It is the best way to resolve a dispute.

    “As a matter of fact, the Citizens’ Mediation Centre will not charge money for services rendered. Its services are free. It also helps parties to adopt a problem-solving approach to find a win-win outcome.

    “When a dispute is resolved through this process, there is no winner or loser as the parties agree to the solution. But in litigation, there is always a loser and even the winner goes back home exhausted physically, mentally and financially.”

    Commissioner for Regional Integration and Special Duties Ajibola Basiru said: “The centre we are inaugurating today will remove the bureaucratic bottlenecks encountered in conventional courts.”

    The Acting Chief Judge, Mrs. Adepele Ojo, said: “Mediation occurs when aggrieved parties agree to amicable settlements. This is a good development. Courts will have fewer cases to deal with because some issues would be resolved at the mediation centre.”

    House of Assembly Speaker Najeem Salaam hailed the governor on the establishment of the centre.

    He said it would strengthen the peaceful co-existence among the people.

    Salaam said: “I have been an advocate of peaceful conflict resolution without intervention of a court or the neck-breaking cost of litigation. With the inauguration of O’Mediation, the poor would no longer be marginalised in the dispensation of justice.”

    He urged the mediators to be fair in their duties.