Thursday, 4th June, 2020 was a memorable day as we officially launched the COVID 19 Alternative Dispute Resolution Initiative (CADRI).
We received considerable support from prominent members of the legal profession, other various professional bodies and media houses both physically and virtually. Such support included that of Prof Oyewo Oyelowo (Honourable Attorney General of Oyo State), Hon. Justice M.L Abimbola (Chief Judge of Oyo State), Chief Bayo Ojo SAN (Former Attorney General and Minister of Justice of the Federal Republic of Nigeria), Mrs. Toki Mabogunje (President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce International Arbitration Centre LACIAC), and James South (Managing Director, Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution, UK) to mention a few.
CADRI is an initiative which seeks to resolution of various conflicts that have arisen and will continue to arise due to the COVID 19 pandemic with respect to commercial and contractual related transactions without recourse to the overwhelmed and beleaguered court system. CADRI is not intended to be domestic in nature but an internationally used mechanism to solve COVID- 19 related contractual and commercial disputes in a cost-effective manner.
The CADRI scheme covers the following categories:
- Contractual and commercial COVID-19 pandemic related disputes;
- Delayed ongoing litigation cases due to the negative impact of COVID-19 on court operations;
- Prospective litigation cases that will be delayed due to the COVID-19 impact; and
- Prospective COVID-19 related disputes where at least one of the parties is a business established in an African country.
