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How time flies! Since we last met on this column, there have been a number of developments in the world of alternative dispute resolution that would be of interest not only to the maritime industry, which is regulated by the Nigerian Shippers Council, but the larger commercial and civil community. Similarly, there has been a change of leadership in the administration of the Nigerian Shippers Council which powers this column.
Only a few weeks ago, the President, Muhammadu Buhari appointed Mr. Emmanuel Jime as new Executive Secretary/CEO of the Nigerian Shippers Council. Mr. Jime who comes to the saddle with very robust credentials as a lawyer, technocrat and former Speaker of the Benue State House of Assembly, replaces Barrister Hassan Bello, who has left his footprints in the maritime sector not only as a corporate strategist for seamless commercial transactions but an iconic promoter of alternative dispute resolution.
The advent of COVID-19 in the year 2020 changed the entire socio-economic operations and circumstances of mankind. Though all sectors of the global economy were negatively impacted, it would be no exaggeration to state that our areas of interest – transport and justice delivery were the worst hit.
It is a credit to mankind that the absence of conventional justice delivery through the courtrooms did not usher in any significant measure of chaos. There were bottled up anger, business losses, interpersonal hurts that could not be immediately assuaged because the courts were under lock and key and the lawyers temporarily out of jobs.
While the above scenario subsisted, a new and vibrant opportunity was opened up to humanity through technology. Since we could not interact one on one, we could at least do so online…and boom, zoom was born! Did I just say zoom was born? That’s not true. That online service and a lot more of its kind or competitors had all along been in existence. Just that no one appeared to take notice.
Technology, through the means of online communication, brought so much relief and business adaptations that will in no way ever go off the way we do things. Corporate meetings, mega business transactions and many more can now be done online and in real time without anyone leaving the comfort of their homes and offices. No more can excuses be made for delays and late coming to functions which most times were blamed on transportation. Though this new normal has had impact on the business of human transportation, it has not in any way hampered cargo and haulage business which have only now been enhanced by the speed of concluding contracts to effect local and international carriage of goods.
The boost that COVID-19 gave to technology also brought out the best in alternative dispute resolution. Adherents of this process of dispute resolution, who had, in several marketing campaigns spoke about the flexibility of the process, now had a new unique selling point added to their bouquet of benefits of the process. We had, for years, marketed the fact that unlike the jurisdictional restrictions on civil and criminal justice, alternative justice resolution as represented by mediation (its flagship) has no borders. Jurisdiction is inherent in the parties to the dispute. In legal practice, complainants are restricted to filing their suits against individuals and entities in the areas where the event giving rise to the dispute arose or where parties reside and do business. This jurisdictional restriction does not apply in dispute resolution through the process of mediation. The only restriction of this nature is what individual parties decide to do. That is why two residents of Kano who have an ongoing dispute may, of their choice, decide to approach a multi-door courthouse in Kaduna or Lagos for an amicable resolution. What COVID-19 did was to expand the possibilities of jurisdictional freedom for parties across nations. Now parties are able to mediate online through a process that is branded as ODR (Online Dispute Resolution) – how so convenient!
Attempts have been made and indeed are still being made on how to adapt this technology to civil and criminal processes in the conventional court. The obvious challenges and drawbacks in the conservative and traditional styles of the courts, the obvious issues of jurisdiction stand out clearly where disputes will arise in different jurisdictions. Aside this, issues of fair hearing may also be raised where parties would claim that trial was disrupted by technology glitch or that they are not familiar with the online process.
The clear distinction between litigation and mediation is the fact that mediation and other alternative dispute resolution processes provide justice without borders. All parties get to be actively involved in finding practical solutions to the issues in dispute. It is true that there will be drawbacks to the use of online dispute resolution, particularly in our clime. With so much inefficiency in the power sector, there are bound to be lots of disruption in this process.
