PERSONAL REFLECTIONS ON THE PRE-TRIAL
DETAINEE PROJECT FUNDED BY NULAI\OSIWA
In March, 2017, the Nile University Law
Clinic (NULAC) was formed and I could not have envisioned then what that would
mean for me. I was appointed the assistant Clinic Manager and that appointment
awakened in me the zeal to devote my time and energy to give a good account of
myself on the job. We had a couple of trainings to prepare us for the duties
the Law Clinic would carry out. The Clinic was divided into 4 groups for
effective functioning, one of which was the Pre-trial detainee group. Early
this year, we took the first steps in the NULAI/OSIWA
pre-trial detainee project by engaging in in-house workshops for the NULAC clinicians to acquaint them with
the details of the project including the duties to embark on as well as what to
expect and how to handle the issues that may arise in the course of the
project.
Naturally, the next order of business
was to engage in advocacy visits to the various relevant shareholders in the
access to justice system such as the controller of prison, F.C.T command; the
Director General of the Legal Aid Council; the Director for Public Prosecution
and the Chief Judge of the F.C.T High Court. With these visits, immeasurable
lessons about the intricacies of the Nigerian Justice System were learnt. These
stakeholders opened our eyes through their brutal honesty on the less than
perfect state of the justice system.
Of note is the address we received from
a prosecutor at the DPP’s office where he said “we are all ministers in the
temple of justice, it is our collective duty to right the wrongs within the
system”. This statement stuck with me, and reminded me of my resolve to be the
change I want to see.
The visit to the Suleja Prison followed
and being my first visit to the prison, I had quite a number of pictures
running through my head. The prison for me meant a place where ‘criminals’ were
kept to keep the rest of the society safe from them. I honestly expected to see
‘gangster’ looking individuals with red eyes and a mean stare, people whose
crimes you could see as soon as you looked at them. I was pleasantly surprised
when I saw people who looked just as ‘normal’ as the people I saw on a daily
basis outside the prison walls. Hearing some of their stories, I realised that
some of them were only guilty of trusting the wrong people, or being at the
wrong place at the wrong time. How many of us can honestly say we are not
guilty of that?
I felt some shame for the way I had
wrongly judged them before I had heard their stories or even seen them. Thanks
to the visit, my opinion about people in prison has changed positively and
permanently.
The clinicians were divided into 4
groups for the project. Each group was assigned a lawyer and 6 or 7 inmates.
The lawyer assigned to my group used to be a clinician at the University of
Abuja so there were many lessons to learn from him, both relating to the
project and otherwise.
This project afforded me the opportunity
to visit the court for the first time in my life and I must say that I was
utterly disappointed by what I saw. My idea of what a court should look like
had been formed by years of watching legal series or movies on TV so you can
imagine my surprise when I entered a room that could not have been bigger than
an average sized sitting room with what looked like a dilapidated dinning chair
and table for the judge. The inmates had been muddled up in one corner of the
room and looked like they would give anything to be anywhere else. In that
moment, I imagined myself in their shoes, the pain, regret and anguish I would
be feeling at that very moment. As you can guess, it was not a pleasant
imagination. I had to do everything within my power to help those people get
access to justice as soon as possible.
This zeal of mine was easily noticeable
as I poured my heart into the project. It consumed my every thought. I missed
classes and even tests to go to court or to draft one document or the other, to
get in touch with relatives of the inmates assigned to my group and other such
assignments. Soon, it became evident that I had to find a way to balance the
project with my studies; I had to cut back on the court visits and the time I
spent on other project activities.
The project is still ongoing, lessons
are still being learnt, but I can boldly say that being a part of this project
was an excellent decision and I am the better for it. I have learnt basic
‘lawyering’ skills such as fact investigation, legal research, interviewing and
counselling, mediation, negotiation, communication and drafting of legal
documents. Also, sitting in on court sessions gave me a practical experience of
how court proceedings go. In fact, this experience translated into victory for
me in my first mock trial in school. Now, when my friends and family call me ‘The Law’ (a popular nickname Nigerians
call lawyers and law students), I feel more deserving of the name.
I am immensely grateful to NULAI and OSIWA
for the opportunity to be a part of this noble venture. Despite the challenges
we have faced in the course of the project, we have become stronger and better
law students and future lawyers. Also, having witnessed firsthand the ills in
the justice system, I now have a part to play in its restoration.
SOLUDO .B.OZIOMA
NILE UNIVERSITY LAW CLINIC
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