Just
imagine the thoughts of a young aspiring lawyer who is about to meet her
“future”…that was my thoughts as I woke up very excited and expectant to join
my other colleagues as we journeyed to Legal Aid Council located at Gwagwalada
Area Council premises, Gwagwalada for an advocacy visit as part of our project
activities on the NULAI/OSIWA prison pretrial detention project.
My
name is Faith Joshua, a 500 level clinician at the University of Abuja Law
Clinic and my pretrial project self-reflection will be focused on our advocacy
visit to Legal Aid Council, Gwagwalada.
On
getting there I realized that the whole judicial system is a sham, I was so
surprised that in the whole of the area council’s complex, the legal department
appears to be the rejected area. Its surroundings were so un-kept, its offices
unequipped and under staffed, as a matter of fact, it has just four lawyers in
one small office.
We
met the Director of Legal Aid Council, Gwagwalada in the person of Barrister
Komolafe Segun who received us warmly as he has had previous relationship with
our clinic, on the previous pre-trial project. Before the conversation ensued,
a brief introduction of everyone present was done after which the director
shared his numerous experiences working with the legal aid and law clinics in
different states.
I
learned from his shared experience that, the reason why the Legal Aid Council
have not been able to carry on their responsibilities is because the government
have failed to provide them with the necessary funds and resources they need,
which is the reason why most lawyers are unwilling to work there. Just imagine
one lawyer expected to go to court, research, type and make every other
preparations with little or no help. Now I understand the reason why pre-trial
detainees are on the increases irrespective of the efforts put by NULAI and law
clinics, as well as other NGOs, the math is very simple, one lawyer = one
client, I thought in my head.
He
gave us advice on how to go about the project, information we needed, and was
in fact happy to have us work with him. I have never seen a person so
relentless, I was so elated that a person would be so willing and persistent in
furthering the course of justice given the circumstance. I was motivated. I
remember going in with a lot of expectations which turned into disappointments
but trust me when I say, those disappointments turned into motivation.
This
experience is significant to me because, it served as an eye opener. It made me
realize that in other to give aid, knowledge and skill is not enough, you need
to be passionate and relentless about serving humanity. I feel this is a
necessary foundation or experience I needed to have had from the beginning.
I
observed that when it comes to pre-trial detainee issues, attention is not been
paid to the root causes which is the reason why the problem has not been
eliminated. Both governmental and non-governmental organizations need to focus
on the funding and facilitating the legal aid so that other lawyers may be
willing to assist.
Also,
another issue is that student lawyers have really not been prepared to be
socially responsible. They end up going into the legal system with a lot of
expectations without enough preparations on how to go about the challenges,
which I must say the law clinics through the help of their partners are doing a
good job on.
As
we concluded the conversation and took pictures, I just realized that giving
legal aid is beyond being a pro-bono lawyer but a conscious effort dedicated to
humanitarian service.
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