Chairman of the Institute of Chartered Mediators and Conciliators Lagos Branch, Dr. Adeyemi Agbelusi has called on churches and indeed Nigerians to embrace the Alternative Dispute Resolution to resolve disputes rather than spending their time and resources going to court, which in many instances are already congested.
Agbelusi who was recently elected the chair of ICMC after the expiration of the tenure of Mr. Godwin Omoaka, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, made the call in a chat with Church Times on Thursday, November 5.
He said the regular court system has been bogged down by too many cases pointing out that there is a need for institutions and individuals to embrace alternative dispute resolution methods like mediation and arbitration as a means of resolving disputes.
According to him, the Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanism which is cost-effective and less stressful and can be enforced as a consent judgement of the court.
Dispute: ADR good way of resolving a dispute
immediate past chairman of ICMC, Lagos Chapter, Mr. Godwin Omoaka, National Deputy President, Abm Dr. Ayibaemi-Ken Fashola and Dr. Adeyemi Agbelusi, Chairman of ICMI, Lagos Chapter after the handover ceremony
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“As far as I am concerned, the best thing that can happen to the church or any organised institution and even individuals is for them to embrace this alternative means of resolving conflicts.
“The beauty of this is that the parties in the dispute will not face the bottlenecks inherent in the justice system. Already there are too many cases in the regular courts. Time and money are being spent to pursue cases that could come under the alternate dispute mechanism. That is why I feel obliged to encourage people to embrace the services of ICMC,” Agbelusi said.
He reasoned that the Church stands a better chance of benefiting from this service because the Bible encourages Christians not to go before civil courts to seek justice without exhausting none adjudicative processes.
“What we do in the ICMC is that the disputes that are from the Church are handled by Church people who understand what obtains in the church system while disputes from other religions are also attended to by people of their religion who can understand their operations. But in the regular courts, you can’t determine who will sit over your case.” He said.
Beyond that, he said disputes under ADR can be attended to privately and confidentially by independent and impartial Neutrals. “We can come to your office, your house, your church, just anywhere that will be convenient for parties involved in the dispute.
“There are people that have been certified to attend to different disputes. What you get in ADR is not different from what you get in the court because after we must have mediated in the dispute parties can still get the seal of the court to authenticate the judgement.
As the Chairman of ICMC, Dr. Agbelusi will bring on board a wide range of experience having served as a member of the Exco of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators UK, Nigeria Branch, and contributed as a member in various capacities on several committees.
He has worked assiduously for the promotion of Alternative Dispute Resolution and currently serves on the panel of various ADR institutions in Nigeria and abroad.
An alumnus of both the University of London and the University of Lagos, Agbelusi is also a Fellow of the SALS, University of London, and several professional bodies. He teaches Mediation, Arbitration, and Online Dispute Resolution.
Agbelusi promised that he would build on the good work of his predecessor and cooperate “with the judiciary for effective and efficient access to justice delivery and decongestion of our Courts”
