Effectiveness Of The Citizens Mediation Centre In Landlord-Tenant Alternative Dispute Resolution In Lagos State

 ABSTRACT

Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) has been recognised as an effective way of resolving landlord-tenant disputes, among other civil disputes, all over the world. In Lagos, the Citizens Mediation Centre (CMC) was established in 1999 to use mediation, an ADR technique, in addressing landlord-tenant disputes which had become violent and an existential threat to the parties in the tenancy relationship, among other forms of dispute the Centre was founded to resolve. The CMC was expected to bring peace and preserve the tenancy relationship in Lagos State, while eliminating the potential of violence, injury and deaths that could arise out of self-help actions by parties. This study was initiated therefore to investigate the effectiveness of the Citizens Mediation Centre in landlord-tenant dispute resolution in Lagos State with the main objective to examine the effectiveness of the Citizens Mediation Centre in Landlord-Tenant Dispute resolution in Lagos State. The area of study comprised the six catchment areas of the CMC in Alimosho, Ibeju-Lekki, Ikeja, Ikorodu, Onikan and Yaba in Lagos State. The study adopted a triangulation of method: a survey method, supported by in-depth interviews and key informant interviews. The study further adopted the Social Conflict Theory and the Human Needs Theory as the theoretical framework. Findings showed that while the CMC enabled landlord-tenant dispute resolution in Lagos State, the weaknesses embedded in mediation were visible. Notable among them is that mediation is prone to corruption and is weak at addressing power imbalances immanent in the tenancy relationship. Other findings showed that CMC mediation process favoured richer parties in the tenancy relationship in Lagos State and that a major cause of landlord or landlady-tenant dispute is late or default in rent payment, among others. While the study affirms that the landlord-tenant relationship is dispute laden, and that the CMC has justified to a reasonable extent the fulfilment of its mandate by the success it has recorded so far, the process of giving justice to parties in the tenancy relationship remains a work in progress. Conscious effort should be made to correct the weaknesses facing the CMC mediation process in the areas of power imbalances, biased or unfair resolution process and the allegation of corruption that was levelled against some of its mediators by some respondents. Therefore, the Lagos Government and CMC should work together to remove dishonest mediators from its workforce. The government should invest more in the expansion of the Centre and the weaknesses in the CMC mediation process should be addressed. These will engender a rejuvenated CMC able to withstand the request of justice made on it by disputants in the rental housing sector in Lagos State.