Court of Appeal embraces alternative dispute settlement

For 17 years, a former vice president, late Dr Alex Ekwueme, was involved in a dispute in Lagos in a sale of land in his capacity as chairman of an investment corporation. But when the matter was referred to the Lagos Multi-Door Courthouse (LMDC) for mediation, it was resolved in one day – between 10:00 […]

For 17 years, a former vice president, late Dr Alex Ekwueme, was involved in a dispute in Lagos in a sale of land in his capacity as chairman of an investment corporation. But when the matter was referred to the Lagos Multi-Door Courthouse (LMDC) for mediation, it was resolved in one day – between 10:00 am and 8:30pm. 

There was also a dispute involving two Kano-based businessmen over a debt of N12.9m. When the matter was referred to the Kano Multi-Door Courthouse (KMDC), it was resolved in one sitting and both parties were able to re-build their commercial relationship. 

The President of the Court of Appeal (PCA), Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, narrated these stories during the inauguration of the Court of Appeal Mediation Centre in Abuja on June 28. Thus, emphasizing the need for appellate mediation in the Court of Appeal for the first time in West Africa.  

“With today’s event, litigation will cease to be the only method of determining appeals in the Court of Appeal. Parties before the court can now choose between litigation and mediation. This signifies an opportunity by parties as well as their counsel to enjoy the full flavour of Order 16 of the Court of Appeal Rules 2016,” she said. 

“The Court of Appeal Mediation Centre would provide a platform that will encourage disputing parties in reaching an expeditious resolution of their disputes in good faith; and in a fair and efficient manner. The centre will improve access to justice, user confidence in the court system, lighten the court’s docket and invariably afford the conventional court ample time for such matters or issues that are best solved through litigation,” she added. 

Considering the high number of cases at the Court of Appeal, the benefits of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) at the appellate level cannot be overemphasised. For a court where thousands of cases are filed annually, hearing through the regular procedure clogs the system, delays conclusion for years and wears down the judges sitting over them.  

But through the mediation process, all the ADR methods such as: conciliation, mediation, arbitration, neutral evaluation and settlement conferences are adopted to quickly hear and dispense with the matter. Through this, relationships are maintained, costs are cut and disputes are speedily decided. 

To this end, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen commended the Court of Appeal for the “novel introduction of the Appellate Mediation”, which he said will “improve the efficiency in the court system, promote conflict resolution and thereby provide a more effective justice delivery in our Appellate Court.” 

The CJN, who was represented by Justice Olukayode Ariwoola of the Supreme Court added: “No doubt in other climes, there has been an appreciable progress in the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution, even at an appellate level, over the past decades.” 

While emphasizing the need for all heads of courts to make practice directions to discourage litigants instituting legal actions without first exploring the arbitration clauses in contracts, he said the Multi-Door Court House has been introduced in courts across the country to make ADR mechanism easily accessible to litigants to engender timely disposal of cases.  

Emphasizing the need for mediation, the chairman of the Corruption Trials and Monitoring Committee (COTRIMCO) of the National Judicial Council (NJC), retired Justice Suleiman Galadima said the fact that the courts with about 1600 jurists in superior courts and with full dockets, makes it necessary to de-emphasize the technicality of appeals in litigations. 

“I have come to realise that far from being a poor cousin of litigation, it is fast superseding the traditional adversarial jousting as commerce is driving the move to a more amicable adjudicatory system,” Justice Galadima said. 

Also speaking the President of the Negotiation and Conflict Management Group (NCMG) International, retired Justice Mohammed Uwais, represented by Kehinde Aina, commended the Court of Appeal President, Justice Bulkachuwa for the “revolutionary wave towards improving access to justice for all.” 

The Presiding Justice of the Court of Appeal, Ilorin Division, Justice Mojeed Owoade in his speech, quoted Justice James Ogoola of Ugandan, who stated that: “The future of judiciaries of Africa is in ADR. The benefits of ADR headed by expedition, efficiency and cost-effectiveness are all too self-evident. The unwieldy, expensive and inefficient traditional adversarial system of dispute resolution must be reviewed and overhauled in its profound proportions.” 

He thus listed the objectives of the Court of Appeal Mediation Centre to include: a) to promote a just and speedy determination of civil, interim or substantive and matter relating to the breach of contract, liquidated money demand; matrimonial causes, child custody, parents actions, inheritance, chieftaincy or personal actions in tort or such other matter as may be mutually agreed by the parties; b) assist the parties in reaching an expeditious resolution of their disputes in all good faith in fair and efficient manner. 

Others are:  c) encourage disputing parties and their counsel to strive towards reducing the cost of litigation and associated delays thereby facilitating a fair and just resolution of disputes with limited animosity amongst parties; d) promote mediation and other alternative dispute resolution mechanisms as veritable tools of dispute resolution in the court and the judiciary as a whole; and e) improve access to justice, user confidence in the court system and afford the justices ample time for such matters or issues that are best resolved through litigation.  

It is expected that when fully utilized by the public, the Court of Appeal’s mediation centre will help improve the administration of justice in Nigeria.