Empower Paralegals to facilitate Nigerian’s Justice system- Ladan

By Punarimam Fehintola

The Director General, Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies Prof. Muhammed Tawfiq Ladan has said that the role of the paralegal in the legal sector will assist government and the poor citizens in Nigeria in enacting Justice and also ensure that they are legally empowered.

He made this statement at the National Paralegal Summit Agenda with the theme: ‘JUSTICE FOR ALL’ in collaboration with Legal Aid Council and Isa Wali Empowerment Initiative, on Tuesday, in Abuja.

According to Ladan, that Legal Aid by Legal aid Council needs this person’s to engage citizens at the grassroots-level because the majority of the poor in the nation are about 70% of the society.

“The legal aid by LAC needs this person’s to engage citizens at the grassroots-level because, that is where we have about 65 to 70% needing legal empowerment and legal education to understand what their rights and duties are and to also understand when and how they can access Justice and this is why lawyers have limitations. And the ones that can penetrate more or easily are the paralegals and empowering them to understand how their capacity can be enhanced through this summit is key.”

He urged Civil Society and Non-governmental Organisations respectively to take necessary measures on lawmakers to provide financial legal assistance for the poor as provided by the 99 Constitution.

“The Constitution has made it clear that the National Assembly has its own role to play and that is, to provide the basis for the financial legal assistance to poor citizens of Nigeria to enable them access Justice and realise funding human rights to access to Justice. And we need the Civil Society Organisations and Non-governmental Organisations to fight this course.”

He further said, “access to Justice is one, and you having resources to access Justice is another and it is because the constitution realises that the poor may actually know that they have access to this Justice but very clear that they may not have funds to mobilise the resources to access this Justice.

“The obligation constitutionally is placed primarily on National Assembly to trigger that clause while the Legal Aid Council is in the position in the amendment of its 2011 Laws when you combine with section 46 of the Constitution, it gives it another teeth to provide the backing but it requires national assembly to supplement the backing.

“On this note no Nigerian is being done a favour but is their fundamental human rights and because they are poor at this level, we will need paralegal to complement the efforts of legal practitioners, LAC, and lawyers can’t do it alone because they are the necessary mechanism that we have to compliment. We need paralegals,” he added.

Earlier, the Director General  LAC said paralegals are persons who by Law aren’t legal practitioners but carry out legal duties under the supervision of a legal practitioner.

He added, “our discussion here today and tomorrow is intended to draw up a roadmap for the operations of paralegals in our Society with a view to maximizing the benefits to be derived from their activities as in the area of Justice administration especially in the rural areas.”

Speaking, the founder, Isa Wali Empowerment Initiative (IWEI) Mrs. Maryam Uwais, said the nation is faced with challenges and it is critical where citizens lack the knowledge of their rights. Adding that, “we have an institution that will support citizens to defend them without compassion we can not do much for the country.