CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Abraham Lincoln, a former President of the United States once said: Discourage Litigation. Persuade your neighbours to compromise whenever you can. Point out to them how the normal winner is often the loser – in fees, expenses and waste of time. As a peacemaker, the lawyer has a superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough.1 In the process of interacting with one another, disputes are bound to arise. One of the major functions of law, therefore, is to provide reliable and objective systems for members of the society to resolve their disputes. These dispute settlement systems which differ from one society to another are from time to time evaluated and assessed with the goal of introducing reforms that can improve the system. Integrating Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) into the court system as done in jurisdictions such as the United States of America and the United Kingdom is one approach that those societies have adopted to improve their systems of dispute resolution. Nigeria (beginning with Lagos State and the Federal Capital Territory), has started taking steps to introduce ADR into the court system. The focus of this research therefore, is to examine why and how ADR should be implemented in the Nigerian Civil System of Administration of Justice. Man has in the past, and it continues till date tended to by nature, settle disputes/differences by resorting to violence2 Conflict is human and ubiquitous, human diversity with our varied needs and desires makes it a given that conflict is bound to arise.3 The term conflict has been described rather than defined by scholars. Thomas refers to it as ‘the processes that begin when one party perceives that the other has negatively affected or is about to negatively affect something that he or she cares about

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