The Institute of Chartered Mediators and Conciliators (ICMC) on Tuesday conferred Fellowship awards to some prominent Nigerians from different works of life as a Fellow of the Institute.

The investiture of new Fellows at the 20th Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) conference of the Institute which held at the International Conference Centre, Abuja, had Justice Amina Adamu Augie, JSC, of Supreme Court, Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho, Chief Judge of Oyo State, Justice Abimbola Muktar, Kaduna Chief Judge, Justice Muhammad Lawal Bello, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Air Peace Limited, Chief Allen Onyema are personalities within the legal community that were inducted as Fellows.

Other inductees were the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige; the President, Pro Value Humanity Foundation, High Chief Obiora Okonkwo and the Chief Commissioner, Public Complaints Commission, Hon. Chile Igbawua; a former Commissioner, Political Affairs, Peace and Security, ECOWAS, Dr. Salamatu Suleiman.

The rest are the Director-General, National Orientation Agency (NOA), Dr Garba Abari; the Director-General, Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR), Bakut Tswah Bakut; National President, Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Hajiya Saratu Aliyu; and the President, Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), Hon. David Alabi.

Speaking on behalf of the inductees, High Chief Obiora, who commended the Institute for the honour bestowed on them, pledged to assist the Institute to achieve its goals.

On his personal note, he said the award is a wake-up call for him to do more in the area of human development and peaceful co-existence.

The founding President of the Institute and the United Nation Resident Coordinator and Representative of the UN Secretary-General in the Kyrgyz Republic, Dr. Ozonnia Ojielo, during his keynote speech emphasized the importance of mediation to create peaceable societies.

According to him, mediation seeks to manage differences and conflicts in communities through established mechanisms based on their lived experiences for minimizing, overcoming and resolving tensions, disputes, conflict, and violence.

Dr. Ojielo, speaking on the theme of the conference ‘ICMC at 20: A Trajectory of Mediation Practice and Grassroots Conflict Transformation in Nigeria’, lamented that the country was witnessing a breakdown of the social contract, with the disintegration of governance system due to power imbalances between the country’s major tribes.

He called for a paradigm shift that places governance at the core of efforts aimed at sustaining peace through the reforming of a robust social contract.

The President of ICMC, High Chief Emeka JP Obegolu, FICMC in his opening remark highlighted the achievements of the Institute which he stated has “witnessed significant growth and tremendous efforts to foster the advancement of Mediation, Conciliation and ADR practice in Nigeria.”

He listed some of the notable accomplishments of the Institute in 2019 to include engagements with the Nigerian Bar Association Institute for Continuing Legal Education (NBA-ICLE); Online Dispute Resolution (ODR); Course on ADR in Universities; West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP) among several others.