Officials of correctional centres, the Ministry of Justice, the Legal Aid Council among other stakeholders have bemoaned that the nation’s correctional centres continue to be congested due to poor access of inmates to legal representation.
The stakeholders gathered for a workshop organised by the federal ministry of justice on the role and responsibility of the Legal Aid Council, held in Ibadan, especially noted that many indigent Nigerians languished on the awaiting trial list of the nation’s correctional centres owing to lack of legal representation.
Making his remarks, Chief Magistrate (Administration), Oyo State, Mr Idowu Emmanuel decried that there were several inmates in custody because they do not have legal representation.
He also bemoaned that indigent Nigerians do not utilise the opportunity offered by the Legal Aid Council and pro-bono lawyers to get legal practitioners to push their cases.
Speaking in the same vein, Mrs Ajilete Adebukola of the Nigeria Correctional Services, Oyo State Command, stated that just over a hundred of the about 2,000 inmates at the Agodi correctional facility have legal representation.
She decried owing to the fact that several inmates remained on the awaiting trial list for years, with their fate unknown, they tended to develop psychological/mental problems.
She stressed the need for the Legal Aid Council to liaise with the Welfare/counselling department of the Nigeria Correctional facilities, across the country, so as to help provide free legal representation for many inmates in dire need of it.
South West Director, Legal Aid Council, Latifat Salau, noted that though the council was empowered to provide legal aid for criminal and civil cases, it is handicapped by paucity of funds.
Salau described inadequate funding from government and philanthropists as the greatest operational impediment that has made it impossible for the council to cover the large number of indigent inmates who require free legal services.
Salau also urged the government to take seriously the council’s lack of adequate lawyers to offer free legal services to indigent Nigerians.
In addition, she decried frequent adjournment in court, delay in issuance of Director of Public Prosecution advice, delay by the police in concluding the investigation and lack of working equipment as the bane of delivering effective legal aid in the country.
Representative of the Oyo Attorney General, Mr I.O. Abdulaziz described as grossly inadequate the fact that the Legal Aid Council in Oyo state just had about 10 lawyers.
On her part, Oyo state coordinator of the Legal Aid Council, Funmi Odutayo charged the police, Nigeria Correctional Service, Ministry of Justice, Pro-Bono lawyers do not hesitate to inform the council of inmates in need of legal representation.
To enable the council to reach the grassroots, Odutayo urged the government to provide the council with offices and community centres across all local government areas.
She also tasked various stakeholders to create human rights committees that will undertake prison visits to ascertain persons in need of Legal Aid services.
Odutayo also called for the amendment of the nation’s constitution to provide for deduction from state allocation for the Legal Aid Scheme in each state of the federation as a contributory quota.
Declaring the workshop open, Senior Programme Analyst in the Federal Ministry of Justice, Mrs Aderemi Eyiyemi pointed to a survey of the ministry showing that Nigerians are not utilizing or benefiting from the services of the Legal Aid Council.
She vowed that the Ministry of Justice was keen on sensitisation of Nigerians towards utilizing the services of the Legal Aid Council and ensuring Nigerians have equal access to justice and fair hearing.
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