Conflict Resolution: Expert Calls For Alternative Legal Measures

A fresh call has been made to the Rivers State Government  to legalise alternative conflict resolution as a way of settling disputes among warring communities and individuals.

The call was made by expert mediator and business consultant, Dr. Renny Cookey in a chat with journalists in Port Harcourt recently.

Dr. Cookey said the inability of parties to resolve their differences through peaceful mediation has always led to violence and killings as has been witnessed in the state in the past eight years.

The business consultant who is currently mediating in the Kula community crisis said unless such methods are adopted, communities would continue to attack each other by resorting to violence at any slightest provocation.

Aside the  courts, Dr. Cookey said individuals who are experienced in conflict resolution can mediate between communities, but that such exercise needed to be institutionalised so that individuals would respect it.

He also condemned a situation where government and multinationals engage foreign experts in conflict resolution saying most times such exercise failed because the mediators do not understand the terrain and culture of the people.

The second Vice President of the Port Harcourt Chamber of Commerce, Mines and Industry emphasised the need for people to embrace dialogue and also called on government to sensitise the people.

Dr. Cookey believed that when those in authorities imbibe the culture of dialogue it would be easy for the followers to copy as well.

He expressed happiness that after 28 years of kingship tussle, the people of Kula Kingdom in Akuku-Toru Local Government Area have finally embraced peace.

The expert called on Kula indigenes to support their new monarch recently recognised by the State Governments, HRM Amabibi Eleki-Sara, since the monarch has displayed the gesture of carrying the people along.

He added, “the wealth in Kula is so big that if all the people would unite it would still  be enough for all of them”.