INTRODUCTION
Towards the end of 2019, an audacious and non-discerning virus christened COVID-19, quickly transcended into a global pandemic. Its spread has forced governments worldwide to impose stringent but imperative measures which curtailed civil liberties, with unprecedented global socio-economic consequences.
People and corporate entities affected by disputes that emerges as a result of any action or inaction taken in response to COVID-19 would suffer personal, financial and economic losses.
It is our belief that those who have to enforce their rights as a result of COVID-19 related circumstances should not be subjected to the analogue vagaries of our slow-wheeled civil justice system.
The COVID-19 ADR Initiative (CADRI) is expected to improve access to justice so that the pains and aches of COVID-19 does not have to breach known boundaries and incur into the justice delivery space in the dawn of the new reality.
If ever there was a time for our ADR skills to be put to use, it is now. This is an open invitation to ADR practitioners world wide to contribute to the fight against the effect of COVID-19 by joining the CADRI Panel of Neutrals.
At this time, what the world requires are simple, cost-effective and efficient dispute resolution processes, and this is what CADRI seeks to offer.
For the full text of the Visioner’s statement, visit the website www.cadri.org.ng
Why CADRI?
The world is experiencing economic slowdown and market trades are at all time low. An important step businesses should take in giving effect to their business sustainability plans is to ensure that there is a stable means of settling all the disputes that have arisen or likely to arise as a result of the pandemic. They cannot afford to spend too much time and money on resolving disputes.
Therefore, as the saying goes, necessity they say, is the mother of invention. COVID-19 ADR Initiative (CADRI), is a dispute resolution platform created to cushion the losses caused by the pandemic through timely, cost effective and efficient settlement of all COVID-19 related commercial and contractual disputes by ADR.
These are disputes that:
1. arose as a result of COVID-19 and measures put in place to combat it,
2. are locked up in courts that cannot progress as a result of COVID-19,
3. cannot be taken to court because most courts cannot function because of the measures that must necessarily be adopted to avoid the adverse effects of COVID-19.
A core CADRI principle is that Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) is the best option for resolving commercial and contractual transactions disputes.
The CADRI ADR mechanisms are negotiation, mediation, arbitration and adjudication. All conducted by ADR experts ready to help in the fight against COVID-19.
