LMDC PROGRAMMES

A. The Lagos Settlement Week (LSW)

The LSW is a week set aside in the Judicial Calendar of Lagos State in which hundreds of cases which have been referred to the LMDC are mediated. The LSW was initiated in 2009 and its aim is to create an avenue for the decongestion of courts and awareness of the ADR concept. The event takes place 3 times a year (with one held in a magisterial district). The growth of the programme is evidenced by the increase in the number of cases mediated yearly.

B. The ADR Track

Order 5 Rule 8 of the High Court of Lagos State (Civil Procedure) Rules 2019 provides that every civil process will be screened for suitability for ADR and referred to the LMDC or any appropriate ADR institution or practitioner for the application of ADR mechanisms for the resolution of the dispute. By virtue of this provision, the LMDC became the official operator of the ADR Track from its offices at the Lagos and Ikeja Judicial Divisions. Matters for the Ikorodu and Badagry Divisions are currently processed from the Ikeja Division while matters from the Epe Division are processed at the Lagos Division, until those centres are opened for business.

C. ADR Skills Development

In 2012 the LMDC was appointed as consultant under the Justice for All (J4A) programme of the British Council, which is sponsored by the Department for International Development (DFID). The LMDC was required under the programme to develop a novel mediation skills training programme for the Citizens Mediation Centre (Nigeria). The pilot programme was executed over a period of six months for sixty mediators of the CMC, Lagos State. The programme was replicated in Kano and Enugu States..

Other training programmes by the LMDC include Mediation Skills Training (MST), Mediator Skills Coaching Programme (MSCP) and ADR Awareness Programmes which are organized by the LMDC for various organizations. The LMDC also organizes bespoke and residential trainings for the directors and top management of various institutions.