Legal Aid Council services and donor agencies

By Amaka Agbaih

It baffles me when I come across people who claim that they have never heard about the name legal Aid council. I ask myself could it be true when legal Aid council in a couple of years will be clocking 50 years of existence. Well the legal aid council is a federal government Parastatals with the ministry of Justice as her supervisory ministry. The Council was established in the year 1976 by the then former president of Nigeria Chief Olusegun Obasanjo with the primary assignment of providing free legal services for the indigent Citizens of the Nigeria. The Sole aim of the government for establishing the legal Aid Council was to address the legal needs of the less privileged citizens in Nigeria there by bridge the wide gap between the rich and the poor who ordinarily cannot afford to hire the services of a private going practitioner (Lawyer). Worthy of  note is that the legal Aid Council which today is meeting the legal needs of thousands of Nigeria was the brain child of eminent members of the Nigeria Bar Association (N.B.A) Who Conceptualized it in the early 70s Under the Umbrella of legal Aid Association of Nigeria. Among them were. LATE CHIEF CHIMEZIE IKEAZOR (SAN) of the blessed memory, LATE CHIEF DEBO AKANDE (SAN) etc.

The Council in rendering her services to Nigeria focuses on the poor citizens of the country whose income does not exceed the minimum wage and to those whose income are above but cannot otherwise afford the services of a private practitioner’s.

The Council has three major departments that handles cases namely Criminal Justice department, Oscar unit and civil justice department under the criminal justice department the following cases are handled, murder, manslaughter, Malicious or grievous bodily harm, Stealing, affray, rape and so on. In civil department the council is empowered to handle cases bothering on matrimonial issues, Tenancy and Employee and employer related matters. Oscar unit handles cases relating to accident victims, in other words they help accident victims collect their claims from various insurance companies provided they have all the requirement. 

The Council Since inception have been delivering on her mandate with the little resources from the federal government though applicable to other MDAS of government. However, the Impact of the donor agencies in the services of the council cannot be ignored in accessing the effort of the donor agencies in partnering with LSC to the deliver on her mandate the Director In charge of International Operations departments. Barr. Ibikunle Bamidele airs his views on the Secret behind the success Story the council  has recorded so far, according to him the DG LAC, Aliyu Abubakar as the chief executive of the council and ,management have done a lot to spur the officers to work with little financial support granted in the year 2020 based on the special request of the honorable attorney general of the federation to his Excellency president Muhammad Buhari of the federal republic of Nigeria who recently approved money for the purchased operational vehicles, renovation of offices and purchase of equipments for use of staff in the council which have gone a long way in boosting their moral and attitude to work. Another thing he attributed to the success recorded in the council was passion to work by the staff of the council.

Another Important aspect worth mentioning is the support of the Donor agencies which has gone a long way in improving the council’s service delivery to the Indigent citizens of the country. our development partners have supported us with a lot of trainings in area such as defense of suspect aligned before the court on terrorism cases, provision of paralegal services training on police duty solicitor scheme and technical support in the development of paralegal curriculum, development of data base for the council just to mention but a few. 

The development partners who are in one way or the other assisting the council to deliver on her mandate are as follows:

Rakes of law and Anti- Corruption (ROLAC), Prisons Rehabilitation and welfare Action (PRAWA), Open Society and Justice Initiative (OSJI), Rights Enforcement and Public Law Centre (REPLACE), Isa wali Empowerment Initiative (IWEI), Department for International Development (DFID) and Network of University Legal Aid Institution (NULAI)

The Support from the Council’s Development partners cannot in anyway be overruled because they remain the back bone of the council when it comes to councils activities, for instance during the period of zero budget allocation the council was busy spreading her tentacles in Kaduna project which involves training of traditional rulers and various Nongovernmental organizations on the activities of the councils are making her present felt in nearly in all the local government in Kaduna state.

The council is bracing up for establishment of legal aids centers in the remaining parts of the 774 (seven hundred and seventy four) local government across the country subject to availability of funds for acquiring of office space etc.

In conclusion legal aid council (LAC) is doing a very good job and should be encouraged by the federal government of Nigeria by looking into her budgetary allocation to be enable her continue to assist the indigent citizens of the council who on daily basis troop into her headquarter office and other offices across the 36 states of the country including FCT office.

Amaka Agbaih writes in from Abuja.