NBA pledges legal aid, grants for indigent inmates, ex-convicts

The Nigerian Bar Association has pledged to collaborate with the Nigerian Correctional Service to identify and provide legal representation to inmates without access to counsel.

The NBA President, Mr Afam Osigwe (SAN), made this known on Friday after visiting the Medium Security Custodial Centre in Kuje, Abuja.

He also stated that the NBA would make grants available to persons freed from correctional centres to encourage social integration and self-empowerment.

“I have decided to make a proposal during our National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Benin next week for the NBA to donate a lump sum into a fund.

The NBA will be giving a certain amount as a grant, free of charge, to persons who are being released from prison to help them start life afresh or establish a business.

“One of the problems people face when they leave correctional centres is that they are re-entering society without preparation or financial means.

“As soon as we get that approval, we will put the fund in place,” he assured.

Osigwe added that the association would also make a direct donation to the Nigerian Correctional Service to support the skill acquisition and educational programmes ongoing in correctional centres.

“I have seen the skill acquisition and educational programmes going on here. The NBA will also be contributing funds to help procure materials.

“I am impressed. This visit has changed my perception and understanding of how correctional centres work – the neatness of the environment and the humane conditions under which people are kept amazed me, and I am glad I came,” he said.

He explained that the humanitarian initiative was born out of the need to ensure that ex-convicts live reformed lives, knowing that society cares about their reintegration.

All of us have a duty to ensure that when they return to society, they are reintegrated and can find something meaningful to do, so that whatever brought them here will not bring them back after their release,” he said.

The NBA president noted that the level of reception ex-convicts receive from society could help reduce recidivism.

“It is our duty not to remind them of their past or discriminate against them in job opportunities, or even deny them the chance to live a normal life when they return to society.

People say that the man who made the pencil also made the eraser. People may make mistakes in life, but they should be able to move on without being held back by their past,” he said.

Osigwe also urged inmates to find peace in their hearts when they return to society by living exemplary lives.

“Whatever knowledge, experience, and lessons you have learnt during your time here should be put to good use. Do not return to society with bitterness or anger.

“If you indeed did what brought you here, make a commitment to say: the life I lived before, I will never live again; I will turn a new leaf and become a better instrument for change in society,” he advised.

reports that in February 2024, a human rights organisation, Headfort Foundation, lamented that a lack of legal representation has caused hundreds of suspects to be trapped in Nigerian correctional homes.

The Executive Director of the Foundation, Oluyemi Adetiba-Orija, claimed that many suspects have been held in correctional homes for months or even years without trial because they can’t afford a lawyer.

Similarly, in October 2023, report that the Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Kazeem Alogba, directed magistrates to stop granting remand orders to the police, citing the complaint by the Nigeria Correctional Service that their facilities were already overcrowded and they could not take additional inmates.

In a circular dated October 23, 2023, the CJ directed that magistrates could only grant remand orders to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, but not to the police who bring “overnight” cases.