Abimbola Akosile
14 August 2007
opinion
Lagos — I am on summer vacation. I am also helping the World Bank and several governments in Nigeria on their plan to improve on conflict resolution in Nigeria through Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) under the auspices of my organisation Corporate Mediators which pioneered the professional practice of ADR in 1995.
Business brings me to Nigeria regularly. I was last here in February to help train new mediators.
Observed Growth & National Devt
Within the space of 4 months there has been a change, a new air of hope. People seem more confident about doing business in and with Nigeria. Economically we are at the beginning of a new era and business men being acute preceptors of opportunity are cashing in on that.
Nigeria has reached, economically, a point of no return positively, especially with the new government. I expect progress in industry from now on. This of course impacts on national development. Nigeria is as strong as its industry, be it banking, manufacturing or services.
There are areas that political leadership is still working out i.e. fallout of the last election, but they are at a stage of maturity that makes them sensitive enough to look at the outstanding conflicts from an all-inclusive perspective - economic, political and social.
Corruption Factor
You cannot thrive on corruption. If all that the new government does is understudy and respond to corruption we would have taken a quantum leap economically. The menace of corruption in Nigeria has gone beyond a mere crime. It is socio-political.
Respected Nigerians including fellow lawyers have criticised plea bargaining which is a kind of criminal mediation. But it is the best for now. Bring all the money back. But the next step must be taken. Sit down with those who have taken money out, whether prosecuted or not and strike deals to bring other monies back, and to work out an arrangement that prevents further leakage.
The other problem is endemic corruption. Every petty official is now tempted to defraud both government and everyone that comes within sight. But endemic corruption only feeds on corruption at the level of political leadership.
If we get our leaders to work out a strategy that would make corruption an unnecessary option for them, then we would have begun to solve the problem of corruption holistically.
ADR & Conflict Resolution Impact
The difference between Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and Conflict Resolution (CR) is the difference between six and half a dozen. ADR specifically means conscious effort, either corporate or personal, to look at conflict as systematic rather than problematic.
Everyone of us, organisations, governments and individuals are not only in relationship with one another, we live on relationships. Human life comes to a standstill if we take out the concept of relationship.
So when we have conflict, we are not bad people, we are only telling one another, "this relationship is not working, it needs fine-tuning". The tool for fine-tuning problematic relationship is what we call ADR.
If we have effective conflict resolution a.k.a. ADR, we would not stop doing business because we have a conflict, just as you would not commit suicide just because you have a fever.
The fever is not evil, it's just saying you need an analgesic, or parasite suppressant or any other in the array of alternative medicines that can effectively respond to the symptom we call fever. We observe that unnecessary or unresolved conflict in the work environment adversely affect productivity. There are two types of conflict, creative tension and destructive conflict.
Creative tension is not conflict per se, it is the tension created when ideas are brought together and some fusion is needed to synthesise the emergent idea. Destructive conflict refers to tension or out right misunderstanding, which has degenerated so that work plan or organisational project is hampered.
Conflict results in missed deadlines, employee turnover and innovation attrition. These factors subtly and ultimately affect growth and bottom-line development.
$4bn Diaspora Remittance
I would imagine that we remit more. What is more important is that all of us abroad feel very strongly about Nigeria. We are very concerned about the rate of development. We are frightened by a seeming inability of political leadership to harness Nigeria's incredible human resources both locally and globally.
$4bn is infinitesimal compared to what we in Diaspora can contribute. But we are also business people and hardworking scholars and professionals. We would not want to come into a system that thrives on corruption and where only might is right, where rule of law is observed as an exception.
But there is a new air of political freedom and economic liberalisation and I think things can only get better from now on. Essentially, we need a police force that is not stigmatised by so much poverty that its officials have to rely on motorists and parties in dispute to make ends meet.
We need a conflict resolution regime that is sensitive to global advances, we need an IT base that is commensurate to the huge size of Nigeria. All these foundational necessities and more are what the leadership should place on a fast-track if we must experience the weight of Nigerians abroad.
Business Process Re-engineering
Business processes are simply a set of activities that transform a set of inputs into a set of outputs (goods or services) for another person or process using people and tools. We all do them, and at one time or another play the role of customer or supplier.
Improving business processes is paramount for businesses to stay competitive in today's marketplace. Over the last couple of years companies have been forced to improve their business processes because customers are demanding better and better products and services. And if we do not receive what we want from a business, we have others to choose from.
Many companies began business process improvement with a continuous improvement model, which attempts to understand and measure the current process, and make performance improvements accordingly.
The designers of business processes disassociate themselves from today's process, and focus on a new process. You can then create a plan of action based on the gap between your current processes, technologies and structures, and where you want to go. It is then a matter of implementing your solution.
It is imperative that Nigeria companies adopt this cutting edge strategy to leapfrog their processes to conform and able to compete with international standards. This will position any organisation better to take a larger share of the market. It would also enable us compete regionally and globally.
Social Security & Employment Creation
Social security should be tied to responsibility. Don't just give people money because they are unemployed. Invest more in getting them back to working rather than turn them into liabilities. Unemployment is a conflict. Social security is only one alternative. It should mix with others.
Yes, we must provide for the weak. That is the hallmark of civilisation. The best social security is however an educated mind.
Most Nigerians doing well by themselves and for the country now benefitted from free education from primary to tertiary level. We should go back to that. A properly trained mind creates jobs for himself and others.
Training with World Bank
The training was done under the sponsorship of the Lagos Metropolitan Development and Governance Program (LMDGP). LMDGP, a World Bank/Government initiative to modernise Lagos proactively envisages challenges with its good intentions and has wisely engaged us to train mediators to provide ADR services in times of any conflict that might arise.
Corporate Mediators and Consensus Building Institute (CBI) from Cambridge Massachusetts, USA, collaborated to deliver the training. Selem Consult - Corporate Mediators Synergy
Selem Consult is respected in America because they are taking a sound and insightful initiative. Nigeria does not lack good businessmen and professionals. Selem Consult is addressing these and other economically salient questions and issues.
We at Corporate Mediators and our colleagues abroad are partnering with Selem both because they are pioneering an area of service delivery that is beneficial to Nigeria and business.
The current partnership between Selem and Corporate Mediators is geared towards creating a forum, a conference at Cambridge Massachusetts this fall, to address issues of importance to key stakeholders in the Nigerian economy: how can they appreciate better their strengths, but also challenges.
How can they optimise the peculiar advantages of doing business in Nigeria but also how can they proactively deal with the peculiar challenges of doing business in Nigeria. Very importantly, how can they synergise while growing their brands. Finally, how can they resolve corporate conflict better, both internally and with customers, so as to boost business in time of conflict rather than suffer as a result.
FG Devt Priorities
We need to prioritise. Government needs to sit down and determine which area of economic growth drives other areas. Power is key. If in the next 4 years we can copy Ghana of 1995 and begin to celebrate uninterrupted electricity, Nigeria would have toed the path of irreversible development.
However, let's have an economic stakeholders' conference and do what they advise us to do. There's no point making suggestions that costs the professionals and businessmen involved a lot of time and not implement their good suggestions that would definitely take Nigeria forward.
Conference for Change
The leading change conference is a strategic summit being organised by Selem Consult, Corporate Mediators and CBI. It would provide for Nigerian businesses, the latest management tools pertaining to organisational culture, resolving intra organisational conflicts arising from change implementation.
This has become crucial for companies to stay competitive and profitable. Conference would also focus on business negotiation skills. Public administrators and organisations currently engaged in resolving intensive extractive industry/host community conflicts would also benefit greatly from this summit.
We have leading international thought leaders from Harvard and MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), who would speak at this summit and is billed to take place mid-November at MIT in the United States.
Olagunju & Corporate Mediation
Olajide Olagunju, a lawyer, is currently a World Bank training consultant on alternative dispute resolution (ADR). He has worked with several State governments' departments of justice to successfully set up mediation centers across Nigeria.
He is one of the founding members of the Commonwealth Mediation Association London and is president of Corporate Mediators Nigeria since 1995. He currently serves as an international outreach coordinator for the Consensus Building Institute in Cambridge, MA.
He holds law degrees from the Universities of London, Ife and the Nigerian Law School and an advanced degree in Co-existence and Conflict from Brandeis University in Massachusetts, USA. Mr. Olagunju is a PhD candidate in legal anthropology at Brandeis University. Olagunju is an Associate Lecturer in Peace Education at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife Nigeria. Mr. Olagunju founded World Peace Institute (WOPI) in 2004 to promote global peace through local capacity building.
Corporate Mediators (CM), an access to justice and mediation consultancy outfit has been working with local and international governments and agencies, notably Canadian Fund for Local Initiative, the US Democracy and Governance Program, Britain's Access to Justice Program and several governments in Nigeria to improve on access to justice and effective conflict resolution in Nigeria.
Corporate Mediators has supported several governments in the North and South of Nigeria to fully establish and run access to justice programs. It is currently planning to network all the various government initiatives across the country and especially in the Niger Delta to use their synergy and experience to intervene in public disputes.
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