A Civil Society Organisation, Human Rights and Conflict Resolution Centre, has listed the factors impeding the flourishing of Alternative Dispute Resolution in Nigeria.
The Executive Director of Human Rights and Conflict Resolution Centre, George Etamesor, made the submission on Wednesday.
Etamesor listed this to include lack of professionals in the area, ignorance on the part of citizens, and budgetary and legitimacy issues.
He said this during a two-day Stakeholders Strategic Planning Workshop for the organisation in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital.
The workshop was aimed at harvesting stakeholders’ inputs towards reviewing the organisation’s mission, vision and action plan for the next five years.
Speaking to newsmen, Etamesor said his organisation considers Alternative Dispute Resolution a better option to litigation in conflict situations because it often results to a win-win for both parties who also remain to enjoy the benefits from the outcome.
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He maintained that although everyone seems to be involved in ADR, the practice was yet to be fully established in a more legitimate and organised way, adding that achieving that was part of what his organisation, HRCRC aims at.
He regretted that apart from lack of awareness and other factors, the government’s failure to adequately budget for peace building also plays a negative role.
Etamesor said: “The major impediment to alternative dispute resolution to me is the awareness.
“People are not aware that you can settle disputes away from litigation and still have the same validity as provided in the law court.
“Another is the legitimacy of it: Conflict resolution is very dicey and complex aspect of our existence which is also not new, but if anyone who is not qualified or does not have the requisite skills go into it, it can exacerbate the conflict and make it worse with lots of pitfalls.
“The practice is not yet fully appreciated, and the government budgets so much for war but often neglect the peace building aspect in the budget.
“Because of that, there is very little effort going into alternative dispute resolution.”
Speaking on the workshop, the Executive Director said a strategic plan is one of the very important documentations that organisations, especially CSOs, need to have in order to enable more efficient and effective results in their activities.
Etamesor explained: “What we had was due for a review so we can have a new one to guide us for the next five years in the interventions we carry out.
“And since we are not existing in a vacuum, we have to get our stakeholders involved in the planning process.
“The meeting incorporates the Strengthening of our governance system with the Board and Management and the actual Action Plan with stakeholders.
“These inputs that we have gotten from our stakeholders will be fine-tuned by the Strategic Committee, put together into a draft document, which will be signed by the Board and launched into a law guiding the operation of our organisation.”
Representing the Board of the Trustees, a Counsellor with the organisation, Rev. Fr Emmanuel Edet, said HRCRC, Abakaliki has over the years built a reputation for fighting against human rights abuses in Ebonyi State and beyond.
While decrying the failure of Nigeria to have achieved true democracy, Edet said part of the organisation’s values is to embody those ideals of being real democratic and transparent in all its dealings.
“We also want to get even our stakeholders to imbibe the idea of openness, transparency and commitment to the service of those who are most vulnerable in the society,” he added.
Other stakeholders who interacted with newsmen, including a royal father from Ikwo, Eze Dominic Alo; Coordinator, Ebonyi State Network of Civil Society Organisations, Oliver Chima Ajah; and representative of Ebonyi State Multi-stakeholders GBV response team, Augustine Onwe, applauded HRCRC for the meeting, which they described as quite rewarding.
Onwe stressed that every organisation that wants to thrive must have a strategy, adding that involving stakeholders in the review would make the organisation’s plan more holistic, encompassing and generally more credible.
The workshop consultant and facilitator, Eni Oko Elechi, expressed optimism that the resilience of the Executive Director and the commitment of the staff in their jobs and relationship with one another would be able to translate to their ability to ensure justice and fairness in all their engagements with all the beneficiaries of their interventions.
Elechi, the Programme Director, CARA Development Foundation, Owerri, Imo State, admonished all staff of the organisation to ensure that the core values are a part of their daily considerations in their program implementations.
He added: “I have no doubt that the strategic plan for the next five years would be implemented to the core, and I would advice HRCRC management and staff to create a platform for engagement without bias and prove to the society that justice for all is the focus of their programme implementation.”
HRCRC envisions a democratic society where justice and peace reign for all.
It has a mission to promote and protect human rights, rule of law and peaceful co-existence through advocacy, sensitisation, mediation and reconciliation, especially for the sake of vulnerable people in society.
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