Emmanuel Adeyemi, Lokoja
The Minister of Justice and the Attorney General of the Federation, Mr Abubakar Malami (SAN) has reassured that the Federal government is more committed than ever before to ensuring a better life for the downtrodden in the society through the provision of unhindered access to justice
The minister gave the assurance on Friday in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital while delivering a keynote address at the two-day retreat on management staff of the Legal Aid Council with the theme “Repositioning Legal Aid Council for better service delivery.”
Malami who said to give unhindered access to Justice to the common man, the Federal government under the leadership of President Muhammad Buhari among other things had repositioned the Legal Aid Council whose major task is to fight for the common man in the country.
He recalled that the council was established in 1976 with the promulgation of Legal Aid Decree No 56 with the mandate to handle criminal matters but the act was repealed in 2011 to enable it to expand its mandate to accommodate both criminal and civil matters.
The Attorney-General said owing to the perennial inadequate funding, the council was currently facing, his office had put in a place a committee tagged “legal Aid Access to Justice,” which he said would address the challenges of the council to make it operate maximally.
In his welcome address, the Director-General of the council, Aliu Abubakar, said the retreat was organised to look at the state of affairs in the council in order to proffer holistic solutions for the purpose of repositioning the council in the years ahead.
To do this effectively, he said the board members, past Director-General of the organisation and other knowledgeable stakeholders had been invited to brainstorm and come out with a position paper which would be a guide to the attainment of the council’s goals.
He expressed the resolve of the council to continue to achieve more successes in its operations so as to give effect to the Federal government’s avowed desire for a just and equitable society where the rights of Nigerians are defended and protected through effective legal advice and representations to those who are unable to engage private legal practitioners due to their indigent status.
The DG also reiterated the council’s commitment to continuing to provide free legal services to indigent Nigerians and commended the Nigeria Police Force, the Nigeria Correctional Service and other stakeholders’ for partnering the council to fulfil its mandate.
In his good will message, the Chief Judge of Kogi State, Justice Nasir Ajana, urged the council to still do more in the area of family-dispute resolution, saying majority of the people languishing in jail today were those from broken homes.