On the 7^th of May 2014, PRAWA in conjunction with the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria organized a roundtable in the Federal Capital Territory Abuja aimed at eliciting support from donor agencies for a proposed mapping exercise and coordination of legal aid support in Nigeria with the goal of enhancing legal aid provision. This was necessitated by the lack of comprehensive and systematic mechanism for ensuring that remand prisoners/detainees have access to legal representation. Consequently, accused persons, particularly those from poor and vulnerable groups spend extended periods awaiting resolution of their cases because of inadequate legal representation.

Participants at the roundtable were stakeholders and donor agencies operating within the criminal justice system, such as The European Union, Justice For All Programme (J4A), Swizz Embassy, Open Society Initiative For West Africa (OSIWA), among others.

The Director General of the Legal Aid Council Mrs. Joy Bob-Manuel in her opening remarks, said the Nigerian Constitution (1999 as Amended), in Section 46(4) (b) makes it imperative for the Nigerian government to provide legal aid to indigent Nigerians. To actualize this, the Legal Aid Council came into being by the enabling Act of 1976 now replaced by the Act of 2011. She noted that the UN Principles and Guidelines on Access to Legal Aid in the Criminal Justice System encourage states to provide legal aid and also recognize paralegals as legal aid providers. She added that although the structure of the council was poor on inception, there has been a gradual improvement since then; that notwithstanding, the Legal Aid Council cannot function effectively without the cooperation and support of other criminal justice sector stakeholders.

Dr. Uju Agomoh, Executive Director of PRAWA explained that prison decongestion processes aim at ensuring that there are fewer numbers of prison inmates on the awaiting trial list. Hence, prison resources will be used instead for the effective rehabilitation and re-integration of convicted offenders. She added that there is an absence of a structured system for monitoring the legal aid needs of remand persons, poor coordination amongst those providing pro-bono services and no specific system of acknowledging/encouraging persons providing pro-bono services.

In Dr. Agomoh’s opinion, the solution lies in establishing an effective mechanism to ensure that all remand prisoners have access to legal services. She said this can be done where there is partnership amongst relevant agencies including donor agencies.

The various donor agencies present greatly applauded the proposed initiative, and   promised to provide needed support where possible.