Funding Legal Aid Council Of Nigeria

Nigeria’s Correctional Service records show a total of 80,066 in­mate population in their custo­dy. Out of this number, there are 53,225 pretrial detainees, most of whom are languishing in jail without access to adequate legal representation. Beyond this re­cord, a significant population of Nigeria, estimated at 63% reflect­ing, 133 million Nigerians, who according to the National Bureau of Statistics, are multidimen­sionally poor, requires legal as­sistance but cannot afford it.

The Legal Aid Council of Nigeria, with the institutional and consti­tutional mandate to provide free legal assistance and representa­tion, legal advice and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) to indi­gent Nigerians, faces inadequate funding and human resources to handle the emerging demand for legal aid in Nigeria. Address­ing this challenge requires a re­imagined approach, drawing on global best practices, leveraging technology, and harmonizing ef­forts across institutions to create a sustainable and inclusive legal aid system. To ensure that the approxi­mately 81% of Nigerians who experience at least one legal problem every year, particularly in rural areas, can access justice irrespective of their social status, Nigeria must expand its options for funding of adequate legal aid and effective monitoring to ensure its timely impact on citi­zens who need such service.



With countries like South Africa with a population of 63 million citizens, providing legal aid to 736,000 cit­izens annually, through a robust and well-funded system, Nigeria cannot be left behind in providing legal aid to less than 5000 persons out of more than 210,000 million Nigerians, annually. Notwith­standing the pledge and commit­ment of the Honourable Attor­ney General of the Federation, Chief Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), to increased budgetary allocation to the Legal Aid Council of Nige­ria, the legal aid institution must strategically explore other sus­tainable solutions to ensure that no one is left behind in accessing legal representation. Nigeria can adopt and adapt legal aid funding models that are unique to our context.

Es­tablishing a dedicated Legal Aid Fund, financed through levies for default payments within the legal and judicial ecosystem, to provide a steady revenue stream. In exploring ways to enhance its operational effectiveness and im­prove service delivery, the leader­ship of the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria have untapped avenues to map statutory funding. First, while development partners’ com­mitment like the RoLAC support for legal aid is crucial, there is a compelling need to push for an imposed 2.

5 percent legal aid sup­port to accrue from filing fees in Nigerian courts, and a 2.5 percent legal aid support to accrue from the Nigerian Law School fees. Though it is difficult to obtain the exact number of cases filed in Nigerian courts annually, rough estimates suggest that nearly 50,000 new cases are filled each year, while almost 7,000 students are admitted for the law school programme annually.

Funds ac­cruing from these two statutory and sustainable avenues can be used to shore up for the funding shortfall of legal aid in Nigeria. At the crux of institutional pursuits for ensuring prompt, quality service delivery and time­ly delivery of legal aid services to indigent citizens in need of le­gal aid in Nigeria is through the proposal by the All Times Cen­tre for Law and Policy on a Legal Aid LL.M-Fellowship (LL.

M Law and Human Rights). A unique ac­ademic and practical Master’s de­gree-based programme, designed to address two critical needs in Nigeria’s legal system: the wide­spread gap in access to justice, and the need for more specialized training in human rights law for young lawyers, combining an im­mersive academic training with practical pro bono legal services in each of the 774 local govern­ment area in Nigeria. Structured as an 18-month fel­lowship, with 12 months focused on an academic curriculum that combines virtual classes with co­ordinated handling of pro bono cases in an identified local gov­ernment of residence, and the re­maining six months in concluding the cases, culminating in the sub­mission of a thesis that synthesiz­es their legal experience and of­fers actionable recommendations for improving the Nigerian legal aid system.

Upon completion of the Legal Aid LL.M-Fellowship, participants will earn a Dual-De­gree – a Master of Law (LL.M in Law and Human Rights) awarded by a partnering university, and a Human Rights and Legal Aid Fel­lowship Credential awarded by the Federal Ministry of Justice through the Legal Aid Council.

With key stakeholders like the Le­gal Aid Council, Federal Ministry of Justice, Nigerian Bar Associ­ation, partnering universities, ALGON, the Police and other se­curity institutions, international institutions, among others, the programme will be a unique way for empowering young lawyers and providing quality pro bono legal services to rural communi­ties in Nigeria. The Legal Aid LL.M-Fellow­ship presents multiple benefits for both participating lawyers and the country.

For lawyers, it offers an opportunity to expand their pro bono practice, earn dual degrees, and adds to the require­ment for becoming a learned silk, while providing solution to the challenge of legal aid in Nige­ria, as the virtual learning sys­tem ensures accessibility, while fellows contribute directly to the communities that need legal aid. For the Nigerian legal aid system, the fellowship provides a sustainable and impactful way to harness the energy and exper­tise of young lawyers to bridge the justice gap, fostering a culture of legal aid and pro bono work, and encouraging the next gener­ation of lawyers to view human rights advocacy as a career-long commitment. Harmonizing these efforts, including the coordination and maximization of the legal aid engagements from various orga­nizations requires bold, strategic and result-driven leadership.

The current leadership of the Legal Aid council, led by Mr. Aliyu Bagudu Abubakar, deserves ac­knowledgment for his bold drive for maximizing collaborations, in fulfilling the Council’s insti­tutional mandate. While transfor­mational leadership is necessary from the top, it must transcend down to the leadership in states and local government offices.

Ad­vocacy for increased government funding must be coupled with leadership efforts to ensure that diversified funding and opera­tional mechanisms are efficiently utilized and that the results speak for themselves. By adopting these sustainable models, leveraging technology, and fostering col­laboration among stakeholders, Nigeria can build a legal aid sys­tem that meets the needs of our citizens and strengthens public confidence in the justice system. * Stanley Ekpa, Executive Direc­tor, Call a Lawyer, writes via ek­pastanleyekpa@gmail.

com.