Resolution of Marital Disputes and Domestic Violence in Nigeria: The Role of Alternative and Traditional Dispute Resolution Mechanisms

Abstract Marital unions that are normally expected to be blissful and ever-lasting are sometimes riddled with all manner of disputes often resulting in domestic violence. This is because of the inevitability of disputes in human interactions including marital unions. Sometimes, for cultural and religious reasons, victims of domestic violence in marital disputes are warned against reporting the violence to ensure marriage sustainability, marital privacy as well as to protect the welfare of the children of the marriage among other reasons. This approach seems to be ineffective as endurance of domestic violence over time often results in physical injuries, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and even death in some extreme cases. On the other hand, couples drag one another to different courts to seek legal redress and resolve marital disputes. Again, this approach does not seem to solve the problem. The court-based justice system has not proven to be a better forum of resolving connubial disputes that require confidential, swift, non-combative and effective dispute resolution mechanism. Hence, this article explores the possibility of using alternative dispute resolution mechanisms to solve marital disputes in Nigeria. It adopts the doctrinal research methodology to examine the role that alternative and traditional dispute resolution mechanisms could play in the amicable resolution of marital disputes and domestic violence cases. The article argues that alternative and traditional dispute resolution mechanisms could be more veritable and effective means of resolving matrimonial discords and domestic violence in Nigeria.