ADR as panacea to prolonged litigation in courts?

Incessant adjournments of matters in law courts in Nigeria have been seen as unnecessary and irksome by litigants and their well-wishers, and many tend to hold lawyers or judges responsible for the delayed justice. This and high cost of legal services have  made ordinary people not to invest faith anymore in the judiciary even though […]

Incessant adjournments of matters in law courts in Nigeria have been seen as unnecessary and irksome by litigants and their well-wishers, and many tend to hold lawyers or judges responsible for the delayed justice.
This and high cost of legal services have  made ordinary people not to invest faith anymore in the judiciary even though it is popularly said that it is the last of hope the common man.
Parties usually have negative sentiments about lawyers who are thought to master mind delayed dispensation of matters or inflate legal services for selfish gains.
Take the case of one Ambrose Unwana somewhere in Cross River State whose elder brother, Innocent Unwana was brutally macheted for daring to insist on his right of cultivating his farmland but who a powerful  and well-connected politician had his thugs beat up and killed.  This incident happened way back in 2008, and it is learnt that due to incessant adjournments, and seeming inability to exercise money power, Ambrose abandoned the matter and hoped on God to act in His own time.
There is also the matter between a tenant and his landlady over ownership of property in Calabar which has suffered endless adjournments in the last ten years.  Some of the witnesses including the landlady have died.
People see adjournments of certain cases seen as insignificant as unnecessary and deliberately time consuming and wasteful.
This is why they tend to believe what a popular lawyer told his young son who wanted to show vibrancy in his appearances in courts.
The story is commonly recanted that a lawyer-father asked  the son who was always eager to dispense with all his cases in a hurry without necessarily adjourning them whether he knew why there was always a pot of soup in their house when he was younger. The young lawyer told his father that, of course, his salary afforded them.  The old lawyer said the salary was not always sufficient but because he was not always in a hurry to conclude any case; that each postponement the matter suffered afforded them fresh soups and new clothings.
But there is glimmer of hope as many legal practitioners in the country have individually expressed reservations towards this at some fora.
Few days ago, a renowned lawyer,  Femi Falana and other legal luminaries at a conference in Abuja spoke loudly against delayed justice and the need to ensure there is quick  delivery of justice using trending methods.
A former general manager of Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) Channel seven Lagos, himself  a senior legal practitioner, Dr (Bishop) Adedeji E. Ayinde at a law conference put together by Brotherhood International Lawyers Fellowship (BILF), said  he was worried about how the society perceives the learned profession in recent times.
“There are certain pointed questions about the legal profession and as lawyers we cannot and should not run away from them. For instance, have the laws or the lawyers failed society? Are the lawyers the causes of prolonged litigation in the courts? Counsels should avoid too many legal technicalities and procedures and critically look inwards so as to fashion a lasting positive legacy in developing the law for the future,”  he urged.
Harping on importance and increasing acceptance of modern methods of justice delivery through Alternative Dispute Resolution, Dr Ayinde  strongly advocated its promotion to help facilitate legal processes in the country.
He argued that the legal profession is uniquely placed to help harmonise dispute resolutions in society, saying it is a duty with inherent challenges.
On its effectiveness and relevant to society, Ayinde said:  “There are various socio-political and traditional dispute resolution mechanisms of proven effectiveness which have jointly or variously served society at different levels. They remain relevant today as ever and cannot be discountenanced in appreciating societal harmony. It is important for learned counsels to realise critical roles that different dispute resolution mechanisms have played and will continue to play in contemporary society.”
Calling on the authorities to recognise ADR to also help facilitate judicial process as in many countries, Ayinde said, “By whatever nomenclature, ADR  committees should be made up of distinguished members with clearly articulated mandates to promote peace and harmony among the members of the society, religions, associations.
He urged that ADR should co-exist with the legal systems as respected alternatives to the law courts, adding that Western countries like US, for instance, have since developed theirs, and that Lagos State has pioneered its development in Nigeria through its ‘Citizens Mediation Centre’.
To confirm that there are real and documented evidences that attest to the success and efficacy of ADR, a distinguished judge of the high court in Akwa Ibom State, Justice Archibong E. Archibong who is  the international president of the group, Brotherhood Lawyers Fellowship, said ADR has tremendously impacted litigants.
“I am a living witness. In most of my cases, the parties usually abandon their matters and decide to go for ADR mechanism,” he said.
As a way of averting elongated and tiresome court processes and frustrating adjournments, Justice Archibong stressed importance of judges having  pre-trial sessions with litigants as this would diffuse tension and save them from stress and huge legal expenditures.
According to him,  pre-trial sessions will afford the judge and litigants opportunity to mutually discuss the matter with both parties, telling them the advantages and disadvantages of  litigation and how costly and time consuming the matter can be if they insist on proceeding with  normal judicial processes.
At the end of such  judges’ meeting with the litigants, Archibong said the litigants have often seen reason why they need to live in peace and settle out of court.
“Many would feel very happy and relieved that such matters were resolved in such simple and amicable manner without proceeding to irksome legal procedures,”  the high court judge said.
Archibong said that there is need to emphasise on ADR mechanism as it would reassure confidence in the people as the court system has failed God and man.
A legal luminary in Calabar whose law firms have handled several civil and criminal matters, Chief Utum Eteng  agrees that ADR should be encouraged as it can help to amicably resolve cases and engender true peace.
Hear him: “ADR is better because if it is a resolution of a dicey matter through a judgment in court, the party that has won has a knife in its hands. He can decide to use it any time, that is enforce the judgment. But what if such judgment ought to have been for the complainant and was otherwise given to the defendant! Where you have disputes settled through the round table, there would not be victor or vanquished. Both parties will go back home happily and remain friends. Therefore, in my opinion ADR is good enough and should be encouraged.”
On his part, Justice Ahiakwo of First Royal Law Chambers in Calabar advocated for complete revolutionalisation of the legal system.