TO promote industrial and individual harmony among the business community especially SMEs, Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) has established an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Centre.

Vice President (Legal) of ACCI, Mall Buhari Bello who spoke with journalists in Abuja on Wednesday said the Centre would handle commercial disputes arising from contractual disagreements among parties in order to ensure timely resolution of such disputes.

“From the large scale of disputes or cases that have over the years been recorded and which keep rising annually from all major government procurement activities such as construction, agriculture, education, technological e.t.c it is now evident that serious attention is needed on this matter.

“The Nigerian public sector being a major source of local and international business opportunities and with its capital and recurrent overhead budget rising annually, running into trillions of Naira, the need for continuous efforts in providing innovative means of enhancing these opportunities cannot be overemphasised.

“Reform initiatives and ensuring application of international best practice in areas of dispute resolution is paramount, in order to strengthen the system and adherence to due process, maintain the culture of transparency and avoidance of waste.

DR continues to provide assurance and gain traction as a veritable instrument for preventing and resolving contractual disputes.”

Mallam Bello said that a stakeholders workshop would be held, next week, with a view to bringing together, both private and public sector operators, to up the game of find ways of resolving contractual disputes, without going to court.

Also speaking, the Chairman of the ACCI Dispute Resolution Centre, Mr Emeka Obegolu, said that ADR provided the best means of resolving disputes arising from government contracts.

The centre, he said, has commenced operations in earnest and had resolved many disputes between parties among its members and other private sector operators, adding that the centre was open to serve both members and non-members of the business community.

“We invite commercial disputants to come to ACCI Dispute Resolution Centre. We want disputants to be able to resolve their disputes amicably in order to enjoy their pre-dispute relationships.

This is very important for the business community and of course for the country, as a whole,” he said.

The Chairman said that a lot of the abandoned projects across the country were due to contractual disputes and that there was a need to quickly resolve all those disputes in order to continue such projects, in the interest of the nation’s socio-economic development.

Mr Obegolu also urged the federal and state governments to pay debts owed to local contractors which would, in turn, enable them re-pay bank loans taken to execute such projects.