Anambra to get arbitration courts, says CJ

TOWARDS a quicker and more efficient dispensation of justice, the Chief Judge of Anambra State, Justice Peter Umeadi, yesterday disclosed that arbitration courts would soon be established in the state.

   Umeadi, while interacting with a group of certified arbitrators who paid him a courtesy visit in his office in Awka, also directed that specialised court halls for Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) be included in the ongoing construction of the new judiciary headquarters at Agu-Awka in Awka South local council.

   He charged the arbitrators to take advantage of the increased volume of criminal and civil cases emanating from business transactions to advance the practice of ADR. 

   “I had many times openly questioned why the aspect of the dispute resolution we spent time studying is not being felt as a concomitant part of our justice delivery system, which is now relegated to the background,” he noted.

   Calling for a better collaboration between legal practitioners and members of the body to ensure the actualisation of set objectives, he assured that “the judiciary in Anambra State is ready to do all that is possible to enable the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators of Nigeria reach their full potentials.”

   He further reminded them that the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Mahmud Muhammed, has directed that henceforth, cases dispensed through ADR would be considered as part of the cumulative rating of judges throughout the country, a development, he observed, holds better prospects for the nation’s judiciary system.

   Quoting Muhammed, who was reported as saying that cases done under the ADR procedure would now count in the quarterly return of judges, Umeadi said it meant that a silent revolution of a gargantuan dimension has begun in the Nigerian justice delivery system.

   Earlier, head of delegation of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators of Nigeria, Mr. Damian Okoli, said the visit was to explore opportunities of building synergy between members of the bar, the bench and the arbitrators towards ensuring that the practice of ADR commences in the state.

   According to him, the delegation came to discuss modalities of establishing arbitration courts as well as ADR panels to fast track the state’s justice delivery system. Okoli noted: “The partnership would engender peaceful resolution of conflicts rather than the adversarial system of litigation currently being practiced in the country.”