Lagos — A decade in the life of any organisation is an important milestone. It becomes more meaningful when such organisation provides free legal and dispute resolution services to the needy and ready citizens. It is on this basis that Citizens, Mediation Centre (CMC), a department in the Lagos State Ministry of Justice, rolled out the drum on Thursday to mark its 10 years of existence as provider of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR).

It was however not winning and dinning as expected; instead, the event was used to do a critical appraisal on the performances of the centre so far, particularly in the past two years, and to set a new agenda that would enhance its operation and efficiency. The CMC renders free legal mediation service on matters that bother on: landlord/tenant disputes, employer/employee disagreements, workmen compensation matters, family matters (including marital disputes and child custody), property inheritance, land matters, monetary claims, among others.

In 2007, CMC Governing Council, assisted by the Security, Justice and Growth Programme (SJGP) of the British Council launched a two-year development plan, with the aim of giving direction and focus to the CMC. This was assessed and reviewed while another two-year strategic plan running from 2009 to 2011 was reeled out. The new strategic plan has four goals, which are promotion of mediation as a potent conflict resolution process, collaboration with justice institutions such as NBA, Courts, Police and traditional institutions, among others, in the promotion through workshops and paralegal training as a means of dispute resolution as against litigation, provision of qualitative mediation services aimed at resolving disputes timely and courteously and identification of a range of additional potential sources of funding and support.

The targets of the plan include; increase in the number of complaints registered by the centre by at least 25 per cent as against 10 per cent achieved under the 2007/2009 strategic plan; reduction in the number of ,no parties, and ,incomplete parties, to 20 per cent and five per cent respectively as against 38 per cent and 12 per cent recorded in the plan; awareness level of ADR by the public to 60 per cent as against 43 per cent recorded in 2007/2009; 100 per cent customer satisfaction with performance and attitude of staff; 75 per cent of complaints resulting in the issuance of MoU as against 40 per cent recorded in the last action plan and linking of sub offices data base with that of the head office, among others.

In his remark at the event, which held at Ostral Hall, Ikeja, the state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Olasupo Shasore, noted that the centre holds a promise for Lagosians in the area of dispute resolution, stressing that the new Tenancy Law Bill and the Magistrate courts Law Bill would add verve to the work of the centre.

"The future looks even more auspicious. For example, the Tenancy Law Bill 2009 obliges a Magistrate before whom proceedings in relation to the Tenancy Law is pending to promote amicable settlement of such disputes. The Law therefore requires a Magistrate to refer any part of the proceedings to mediation specifically to a Citizens' Mediation Centre. Similar provisions are contained in Section 35 of the new Magistrates' Court Law Bill 2009, where the law requires a Magistrate to refer proceedings in relation to any action, part of or any matter arising out of it for mediation to the Citizens' Mediation Centre" the Commissioner, who was represented by Solicitor-General and Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice, Lawal Pedro (SAN), said.

He explained that the ,statutory, recognition of CMC was a re-assurance to the people of Lagos State of the commitment of the Lagos State Government to continue to deliver free ADR services to them. According to him, the direct implication of this is that commonplace disputes, such as those arising from everyday obligations and other contractual disagreements will be resolved freely, speedily and free.

"As a firm believer in ADR and given the quality of expertise in the Governing Council and the unique staff of the CMC, I am confident that the CMC will continue to render excellent service to the people of Lagos State and thereby remain relevant in the resolution of disputes in the next decade and beyond" he added.

The Chairman of CMC Governing Council, Aina Salami, described the event as a decade of landmark achievements, but maintained that the best was yet to come.

"That the Citizens' Mediation Centre is celebrating this year a decade of relevant impact on justice delivery mechanism in Lagos State is indeed a product of continuous metamorphosis of the growth of the centre in leaps and bounds and yet the centre is set for a new level in the years to come" he said.

He stated that the steady geometric growth of CMC has emphasised again and again how far a government policy formulated to meet the relevant needs of the people can go in the face of overwhelming reception by the people, who are the beneficiaries of such policy.

According to him, a very important reason for the centre's exponential growth is among others, the discovery by the public of the avenue for quick or faster resolution of disputes, which disputes are settled between parties at no cost to disputants.

Salami noted that from its humble beginning in 1999, the CMC, which was established by the administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as a pioneer mediation centre and the first of its kind in Nigeria, has grown successively with the visionary supervisory role of the then Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Professor Yemi Osinbajo.

And in the past two years that Babatunde Fashola has been in the mantle, Salami said the growth of the centre has been without doubt profound and that with the 2007 amendment of the CMC Law, envisioning the establishment of the centre's branches in every Local Government Council/Development Area, the sky is no more the limit, but the starting point.

He however stated that though the CMC services are provided free for indigent citizens of Lagos State, the services definitely come at huge cost to the state and with the able support of the centre's financial partners over the years.

In her speech, the Director of the Centre, Mrs. Atinuke Oluyemi, went down the sumemory lane, as she gave a brief history of the centre.

The CMC, she said, was created in 1999 as a unit under the Directorate of Citizens' Right (DCR) of the Lagos State Ministry of Justice by Osinbajo. It metamorphosed from the then Complaint Centre established in the late 90s by Mrs. Wonuola Folami, the immediate predecessor of Osinbajo to what it is now.

She explained that the creation of the CMC (and indeed the DCR) took place within the context of major justice sector reforms in the state.

"First, was to re-direct the mission of the ministry, as legal service provider to the government to imbibe ,justice for all, premised on the argument that the goal of provision of access to justice by government is comparable to the goals of provision of health care services and education; so that just as government provides for or subsidises cost of education or health services, so also it must pay for or subsidise the cost of justice for those who cannot afford it. Secondly, there was at that time a favourable political climate fostered by the populace preference for non-adversarial methods of dispute resolution (as against litigation which was considered expensive and often time consuming) characterised by the number of persons, who took advantage of the Complaint Centre to peacefully resolve their disputes" she said.

She disclosed that the sheer number of people seeking its services was a demonstration of the need for such a centre. The centre,s head office is at the Ministry of Justice Annex, Secretariat, Alausa - Ikeja, while it also has six offices spread across the state.