Agency raises alarm over increasing marital crisis, land dispute in Ekiti

A human rights’ protection agency in Ekiti State, Office of the Public Defender, has declared that marital crisis and land dispute are the two commonest societal evils affecting the peace and stability of the state.

The governmental agency revealed that it mediated in over 50 marriage-related crises and a proportionate number of land dispute cases in 2019, while several similar issues are still pending before the agency.

Speaking in Ado-Ekiti on Tuesday, the Executive Secretary of the agency, Barrister Bolanle Wale- Awe, said the government established the outfit to give free legal services, advice and mediate in marital crisis as well as land dispute, to bring justice to the doorsteps of the oppressed.

According to her, “The commonest of all the issues we are handling here are cases of marital disharmony and land disputes, which bordered on the fight over the paternity of a child.

“In many of those cases we handled, we normally conduct DNA tests and found out that most men are in the habit of denying the pregnancy they were responsible for. Some men were also fond of abandoning the upkeep of their children among other nefarious acts.

ALSO READ: Ikoyi/VI clean-up: Lagos govt impounds 215 vehicles, arrests 98 people

“Another issue is these high tendencies of some people to fight over lands or owners of lands trying to sell a plot to two or three persons. All these are creating instability and heating up the society.

“We are dealing with over 20 variant of issues to bring justice to the people and to decongest our courts because many of the cases that will take four years in courts can be handled and settled here in a day.”

She called for more funding for the agency to improve automation of the data processing and compilation, create a conducive atmosphere for personnel and meet other obligations that would strengthen the agency for better productivity.

“This office ought to have ICT to process our data and make it functional in the discharge of our duties. We have about nine lawyers here offering legal services among other staff, but this place is not conducive enough for them to perform.

“It will also help society if the government can relocate this office to a more conspicuous location where people can locate us easily. With this, we will have the opportunity of solving many societal problems and relieve our courts of congestion for the speedy delivery of Justice,” she added.