Nigeria Content Online

The Oyo State
governor, Adebayo Alao-Akala, has urged judges in the state to use
their powers to influence settlement of cases outside the court in
order to save time, cost and reduce litigations in the courts.

Mr Alao-Akala, who
made the recommendation in Ibadan while commissioning an ultra modern
mediation centre at the state’s ministry of justice, reiterated his
government’s commitment to saving the time of courts across the state
by getting them to shed such litigations that could be solved through
mediation.

Besides, the
governor said, the government is reacting to the global trend which
favours peaceful resolution of conflicts to ensure that relationship
between and among parties remain unhurt after the settlement.

“Part of the
reasons why my administration has shown keen interest in this Mediation
Project is that it will go along way in decongesting our courts and
prisons,” he said. “We envisage that if the concept is fully understood
by our people, only very serious civil cases will be taken to court and
as such our courts will concentrate more on criminal matters and very
intricate civil cases which they are created.”

According to him,
the state has specially trained legal officers under it to administer
the centre, adding that it is also established to develop the field of
alternative dispute resolution system of justice ‘to show other states
of the federation the right way to do it.

“The goal of
mediation is not fault finding, but fence mending. Its language is more
amenable to our culture and tradition,” he said, as he enunciated part
of the essence of the centre.

The foundation of
the centre, which costs the government N71. 1 million, was laid in 2006
during the governor’s 11 months stint in office.

Try mediation

Abdulsalam Ladi
Abdulah, the state attorney-general, sought for the assistance and
cooperation of private legal practitioners and judicial officers in the
operation of the centre.

He observed that
many of the cases in court are suitable for mediation and not
litigation for which the courts are created, asking the lawyers to
refer them to the mediation centre for appropriate action.

He said further that the officials assigned to work in the centre
will be exposed to periodic trainings that will keep them abreast of
information and happening in the field of mediation across the globe.