Following the dismissal of the suit filed by the Association of Shipping Line Agencies (ASLA) and the Seaport Terminal Association of Nigeria (STOAN) against the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), a legal luminary, Barr. Valentino Buoro has called on both parties to explore the post judgment mediation to resolve pending issues arising from the Judgment.
It will be recalled that a Federal High Ikoyi, Lagos presided over by Justice Ibrahim Buba last Wednesday dismissed the suits filed by ASLA and STOAN contesting the status of the NSC as the economic regulator of the Nigerian Ports among other issues describing them as hypothetical and an academic exercise.
Speaking on the judgment, Buoro observed that rather than appealing the judgment, ASLA and STOAN should settle for post judgment mediation since their relationship with the NSC would not stop by the judgment instead it would be a continuous one.
He posited that although nobody would take away their constitutional right of appeal, they should consider the reasonability and usefulness of appeal for them as no businessman would go to court and keep the status quo.
According to him,” no businessman wants to go to court and keep status quo. If you read my article I have written on this issue, every litigation creates distraction, you focus more on the litigation than on your business. You are also losing money that is the leakage”.
“But now that the court has given a judgment, the question that will arise from those who lost the case will be, where next do we go from here? How do we manage where we are already? How do we get out of it to save face or to run our organization in a smoother manner?”
“The best thing for them now is to approach the Shippers’ Council, let us have what we call post judgment mediation, let them come to a round table to discuss the nitty-gritty because there are issues that will remain on table, business issues, how do we go out of here? And the Court of Appeal will not address business issues, the Court of Appeal will address law”.
“What I am saying in a nutshell is the business issues that arose from this judgment, how will they be resolved? And the Shippers’ Council is there to create a level playing ground to everybody. They also have interest, the shipping lines, the terminal operators also have a relationship with the Shippers’ Council and it is a continuing one, it will not stop by this judgment”.
