WHY DELTA GOVT IS SUCCEEDING IN PEACE BUILDING – Chief Uzor

The Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism has been identified as the quickest, surest and most cost effective way of resolving issues between waring or disagreeing parties.

The Special Adviser to Governor Sheriff Oborevwori on Peace Building and Conflict Resolution, Chief Edwin Uzor, said this while speaking on the efforts of the state government at building bridges of peace across the state.

.

Chief Uzor, who stressed that conflicts and disagreements were unavoidable components of human existence, explained that Alternative Dispute Resolution, which involved mediation, arbitration and painstaking evaluation of issues, was better than going to court.

He said the court would ordinarily give judgement, which might not bring about peace, while the ADR model, known to be confidential, less formal and less stressful, would not only give judgement in the form of binding agreement between the parties, but also follow up and monitor the implementation of any agreement reached.

The Special Adviser pointed out that the Enhanced Peace and Security component of Governor Oborevwori’s MORE agenda was the tripod on which peace building and conflict resolution initiatives in the state stood, revealing that a considerable level of success had been achieved in ensuring peace in the state.

Chief Uzor attributed this to the steps being taken by the state government towards brokering peace between waring or disagreeing parties, including acknowledging the existence of disputes, understanding the underlying contentious issues, facilitating dialogue between the parties, approaching the right persons and asking the right questions, talking to the parties separately before bringing them together, taking an unbiased position and getting the parties to agree.

He blamed conflicts and disagreements in the society on environmental factors, ethnic related issues, land encroachment, cultural differences, greed, power tussle, among others and called on Deltans to learn to live peacefully together and tolerate one another, as conflicts were inimical to stability and progress.

Chief Uzor thanked the Governor for keeping to his promise to consolidate the peace building efforts of the immediate past administration in the state and for his support for the Office of the Special Adviser on Peace Building and Conflict Resolution.