REFLECTIONS
ON THE OSIWA/NULIA PROJECT: FACILITATING ACCESS TO JUSTICE FOR PRISON PRE-TRIAL
DETAINEE
The NULAI/OSIWA project on facilitating access to justice for prison
pre-trial detainees has been a package of learning, appreciating and giving
back to the community in the little way that I can. To effectively give a
feedback on my reflection I would be categorizing my experiences on the grounds
of correspondence, record keeping and practical application of the substantial
and procedural knowledge of law.
To begin with, correspondence
relates to the in-depth knowledge gained as a result of actively participating
in the processes of dispatching of letters to designated government officials
within the Ilorin metropolis. I have got to know in details the pros and cons
of presenting an organization to an external entity and the proper procedure in
respect of relating with them. Vivid examples crop up from delivering letters
for advocacy visits to distinguished officials in Ilorin as scheduled by the
Unilorin Legal Aid clinic.
Another vital experience added to
my development as a person and which I tried to contribute to the legal aid
clinic is in respect of the need for a definite procedure for documentation of
files that is record keeping. I got to appreciate the need for proper
documentation of files and referencing them. This cuts across the reflections
of Clinicians in respect of the project as a whole, to an effective reporting
of the interview sections with prison detainees, to uploading same on the NULAI
platform and giving reports of court processes in which, the Legal Aid Clinic
has been recommended to follow up.
On the second tier of my
experiences, this goes directly to the substance of the project which is
providing access to justice for prison pre-trial detainee. To adequately do
justice to this I would be discussing the experiences on opinion about the
state of persons in the prisons and practical application of law in terms on
drafting legal processes from bail applications, written addresses and letters
of request for DPP advise.
In respect of the persons in
prison, a lot of actions needs to be done on certain cases. Some persons have
found themselves in prison for petty offences and the fact that some lawyers
assigned to their cases have not been diligent unduly prolong the length of
certain persons in the prison. Although it cannot be overemphasized that other
matters such as perfecting of bail conditions drags the durations of certain
accused persons in the prisons.
Due to my participation in the
project, I have had the opportunity to draft certain legal processes for live
matters which I would not have ordinarily had the opportunity to draft until I
have possibly started practicing as a lawyer. This experience is vital to my
developmental growth as a person and it increases the quota that I can offer to
the advancement of the project on the whole.
The reflections equally stretch
to the entirety of the justice system in Nigeria which is unduly slow and
definitely needs the attention of amiable projects such as the NULIA/OSIWA
PRISON PRE-TRIAL DETAINEE PROJECT to aid the speedy dispensation of justice.
ADEOTI, Daniel Oluwatosin.
PROJECT PARTICIPANT UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN, LEGAL AID CLINIC.
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