Just a thought!

In order to improve access to finance for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) while maintaining a strong prudent lending policy, the Central Bank of Nigeria under the leadership and authority of the governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, a workshop was organised in Kaduna State as well as two other states,  inviting stakeholders to discuss and […]

In order to improve access to finance for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) while maintaining a strong prudent lending policy, the Central Bank of Nigeria under the leadership and authority of the governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, a workshop was organised in Kaduna State as well as two other states,  inviting stakeholders to discuss and analyse a draft regulation for the establishment of a collateral registry and ancillary matters, the regulation seeks to provide a registry to make it possible for debtors to collect loan from financial institutions with moveable properties.
From the comments of the bank representatives present, I got to understand that financial institutions are more comfortable with easier and faster ways of debt recovery than resorting to the conventional litigation that takes longer time and is more expensive, which got me thinking that our courts should not be flooded with suits that ordinarily can take few months to settle amicably.
The upside to this observation is that parties (would be plaintiffs and defendants), can decide to settle certain civil disputes through alternative methods other than trials.  This is possible where parties choose for themselves to refer any of their disputes to ADR centres instead of regular courts and where negotiation or arbitration fails, either party is at liberty to approach the court for the determination of the dispute.
What then is alternative dispute resolution? According to NY Courts gov, “Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) refers to a variety of processes that help parties resolve disputes without a trial. Typical ADR process includes mediation, arbitration, neutral evaluation … These processes are generally confidential, less formal and less stressful than traditional court proceedings.”
The provisions of Section 251 (d) 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) has excluded matters relating to any dispute between an individual customer and his bank in respect of transactions between the individual customer and his bank from the exclusive jurisdiction of the Federal High Court. This means where a bank and a customer voluntarily submit and agree to be bound by the decisions of a judicial or non-judicial tribunal other than courts then such condition must be met before the activation of the jurisdiction of the trial court, see AGALA v EGWERE {2010} ALL FWLR (part 532) 1609 S.C. and ONWARD ENTERPRISES LTD v MU ‘MATRIX’ {2010} ALL FWLR (part 543) 1817 C.A.
This has clearly opened the floodgate to alternative dispute resolution being resorted to by parties without breaching the provisions of the law. In the Nigerian legal system, there exist ADR centres in most High Court complexes; some are functional with less activity while some are yet to be operational but with facilities to provide amicable means to solving disputes, yet we still find frivolous suits that can be cured by ADR still bugging the court system.
A young wig should understand that not all civil claims need waste the precious time of the court, instead opt for easier, less expensive and less time consuming methods of satisfying clients; get the rules governing the ADR centres closest to you (e.g Lagos High Court Civil Procedure Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Project Practice Direction) and test its applicability.
The courts even favour alternative dispute resolution than resorting to litigation as parties to litigation can still settle their disputes through any of the ADR methods outside the court room.
The Arbitration and Conciliation Act is a Federal legislation put in place to provide a unified legal framework for the fair and efficient settlement of commercial disputes by arbitration and conciliation, this is an opportunity that I feel is worth developing by a young lawyer for the future of the legal profession in Nigeria as it would help reduce court congestion in the future. Someone said, “Nigeria has one of the best policies on paper but implementation is the problem.”  The legal framework should be expanded to free up the unnecessary burden placed on the courts. Some young wigs have qualification in mediation and negotiation but are yet to put this skill to effective use because ADR and its less cumbersome methods of resolving disputes are still under-utilized in Nigeria.
Certain civil suits should be referred to the multi-door court house for timely and cost effective access to justice.
Do send your comment(s), observation(s) and recommendation(s) to [email protected] or follow on twitter @bulussdan.