3 will be collaborating with the Ikorodu branch of the NBA to provide free legal services to the residents of Ikorodu.
The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Ikorodu Branch is set to partner with three agencies within the Lagos State Ministry of Justice to provide free legal services to Ikorodu residents in Lagos State.
The agencies; the Office of the Public Defender (OPD), Citizen’s Meditation Center (CMC) and the Community Service Unit (CSU) will work together with NBA Ikorodu branch to provide expert intervention on the legal needs of the people.
According to the Chairman of the Branch, Mr. Bayo Akinlade, the Legal Aid Program holds every 2nd Thursday of every month at the Ikorodu High Court while Mrs. Odunola Jegede, the alternate Chairman of the Human Rights and Pro Bono Committee of the Branch will coordinate a team of lawyers that would be stationed at every magistrate court within Ikorodu to represent indigent accused persons who have no legal representation.
According to Mr. Akinlade, “this monthly legal aid program is beneficial to both lawyers and to the general public in ensuring that justice is done and the public can once again see the judiciary and the legal community as the hope of the common man.”
He further noted that to take the program closer to the communities in Ikorodu, there is a plan to go mobile with legal outreaches to schools, market places, local council offices and Community Development Associations to educate and provide free legal advice to the community.
The Lagos State Judiciary under the leadership of Hon. Justice Opeyemi Oke has made these kind of interventions possible by ensuring that the common man gets access to lawyers when they get to court
The magistrates and judges are working very hard despite the enormous cases they handle daily with very scarce resources to resolve disputes amongst complainants and accused persons especially when the issues between them are civil.
The relationship that the NBA Ikorodu branch has forged with the Executive arm of Government [through the Ministry of Justice] and with the Judiciary in achieving justice for the poor and vulnerable within the Ikorodu community is bearing fruits that hopefully will last and other NBA branches across the nation can replicate.
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