CDD and Katsina Government strengthen mediation to ease court congestion

The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) and Katsina State government have reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening Alternative Dispute Resolution as a strategy to improve access to justice, reduce court congestion and promote peaceful settlement of disputes.

The commitment was made during a capacity-building training on Alternative Dispute Resolution for 35 lawyers and senior government officials of the Katsina State Ministry of Justice.

Speaking at the training, Fadila Dikko, the Katsina State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, described ADR as an indispensable component of modern justice administration, saying litigation was no longer the only pathway to resolving disputes.

“Whether we like it or not, ADR has come to stay. We have seen so many advantages of Alternative Dispute Resolution. Before, there was this impression that litigation was the only way, but now we have all come to understand and appreciate that ADR is an important tool in justice administration,” she said.

Dikko noted that the training would equip lawyers in the ministry with the skills required to effectively deploy mediation and other ADR mechanisms in resolving disputes.

She explained that ADR has already been integrated into Nigeria’s legal framework through provisions such as plea bargaining under the Administration of Criminal Justice Law.

“Even in our Administration of Criminal Justice Law, we have seen the recent introduction of the plea bargain, which in essence is another form of ADR,” she said.

The commissioner also disclosed that Katsina had enacted an Alternative Dispute Resolution Law to institutionalise mediation in the state’s justice system.

“There is a law that has been passed recently by His Excellency, the Executive Governor, on the ADR law. This is something that we need to appreciate that we have entrenched ADR in our legal system,” she said.

Earlier, John Dash Lazing, the CDD Regional Manager for North-West, said the training formed part of the organisation’s sustainability plan for the mediation centre recently established at the Katsina State Ministry of Justice.

According to him, CDD had previously supported the ministry by facilitating ADR training, assisting in the development of the state’s Mediation Law and providing office equipment and operational materials for the mediation centre.

He said the latest intervention followed a request from the Attorney General after the recruitment of new lawyers into the ministry.

“This training becomes necessary because it is part of the sustainability plan of CDD for the recently established mediation centre at the Ministry of Justice.

“Upon an on-site visit to review the progress of the centre, a request was placed to the organisation by the Honourable Commissioner that more lawyers had been employed and they needed capacity building, as well as refresher training for those who had previously benefited from ADR training.

“The goal of the training is to enhance the capacity of those who already have the skills and also build the capacity of those who are newly employed in the ministry. Our overall focus is to ensure that the mediation centre functions effectively,” he said.

Lazing said the initiative was inspired by the positive impact already recorded by the state’s mediation centre. Quoting the Chief Judge of Katsina State, he said the mediation centre had demonstrated its effectiveness in reducing the burden on conventional courts.

“He said he was very happy with the mediation centre because immediately the mediation centre and the Multi-Door Courthouse were established in Katsina State, within one quarter they resolved cases that the courts had not resolved in one year,” Lazing said.

Nigeria’s ADR framework was strengthened by the enactment of the Arbitration and Mediation Act 2023, which replaced the Arbitration and Conciliation Act of 1988.
The law provides a unified legal framework for arbitration and mediation, while Multi-Door Courthouses established across several states continue to promote faster, less adversarial and more cost-effective resolution of disputes.