The Place of Arbitration Practice in Resolving Ethnic and Religious Violence/Conflicts in Nigeria (Published)
Disputes/conflicts/violence is generally an inevitable part of human interaction. They have a common place in the affairs of men and are bound to arise at one stage or the other in all human interactions like matrimonial, socio-political, industrial, family, ethnic, religious and commercial disputes/conflicts/violence. One thing is clear and that is that disputes/conflicts/violence certainly occur daily in our private and public life. No contract is totally without problems. No two parties are ever totally agreed on everything that arises in connection with whatever it is that binds them together. Conflicts/violence/disputes have to be resolved. In some circumstances many are resolved amicable before they even cross inter party’s borderline. In others, an unbiased third party has to intervene in the resolution of the disputes/conflicts/violence. Different methods exist for the resolution of disputes/conflicts/violence namely litigation, negotiation, mediation conciliation and arbitration. We are concerned here mainly with arbitration practice which has a vital role in resolving ethnic/religious crisis in Nigeria. Nigeria has suffered a lot of ethnic/religious crisis since 1960 till date. Examples are: the Biafran war, Niger Delta crisis, Boko Haram crisis etc and other minor ethnic/religious crisis. Arbitration has played a vital role in resolving some of these crises. In this paper we will be looking at the meaning of arbitration, types of arbitration, and the place of arbitration over litigation in resolving ethnic/religious crisis in Nigeria, examples of where arbitration practice was used in resolving ethnic/religious crisis in Nigeria and the recommendations on how to manage ethnic/religious violence/conflicts through arbitration practice. The method that will be employed in undertaking this research exercise will be mainly the primary sources. Emphasis will also be placed on oral interviews, questionnaires and data analysis. Materials will also be sourced from the literature texts, articles in journals, judicial decisions, statutes from within and outside the Nigerian jurisdictions for the legal analysis of the subject matter of the topic. Articles published in relevant journals in Nigeria, papers presented by eminent scholars on the area and judicial decisions from superior courts throughout Nigeria will be used. The internet will also be used for accessing relevant materials and data wherever available throughout the world.
Keywords: Arbitration Practice, Religious Violence, Resolving Ethnic, conflicts.