Legal Aid Council urges lawyers to visit police stations, render services to detained persons

Blessing Akorowosi

As part of its mission to ensure effective legal aid services to indigents, Legal Aid Council, LACoN enjoined lawyers to visit the nearest police stations to their houses and render services to detained persons in the interest of pro-bono.

This is as it pledged to revisit the Legal Aid Act of 2011 and capture the areas the Council has not delved into like the section 19 of the Act which empowers the periodic inspection of correctional centers, police cells, DSS, NDLEA and other detention outfits across the country which has been retrained due to lack of funds.

During a workshop held at Olusegun Obasanjo Auditorium, Federal Ministry of Justice, Abuja, the Director-General of LACoN, Aliyu Bagudu Abubakar urged staff members to deliver effective services.

With the theme— Improved Governance and Effective Services Delivery, Abubakar said the workshop was in line with the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan 2021 – 2025 and the emphasis of the programme was the relevance of LACoN in the present administration’s priorities.

He noted that a performance bond has been signed, noting that the public service is changing and it will no longer be business as usual.

“As your DG, I, alongside other agencies under the Ministry of Justice, have signed a Performance Bond from the Presidency with the Federal Ministry of Justice under the watch of the Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Lateef Fagbemi SAN. 

“It will interest you to know that, the present administration has an 8-Point Agenda which is known as Renewed Hope Agenda, one of them being the Rule of Law and this where Legal Aid Council falls under,” the DG said.

Abubakar called on lawyers handling pro- bono cases to be registered with the LACoN as such data needs forms part of the returns to the Federal Ministry of Justice.

He stressed that identifying with LACoN will also qualify them for a Certificate of Compliance which will be given to them after handling cases to completion, which is mandatory when applying for the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria.

To further drive in the essence of effective service delivery, resource persons from the Federal Ministry of Justice and the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation spoke extensively.

Mrs Victoria Ojogbane, the Director Planning, Research and Statistics of the Federal Ministry of Justice, gave a lecture on the role of LACoN in ensuring performance and relevance in the 8-Point Agenda of present administration, while Mrs Mabel Erastus, the Director, Human Resource Management with the Federal Ministry of Justice gave an overview of Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation plan.