AKINWALE ABOLUWADE
CERTA Law Clinics, a legal aid initiative targeted towards providing access to justice for people within the local community, has launched a three-year legal plan of offering free legal advice to 5,000 poor people between year 2023 and 2026.
The programme attracted no fewer than 300 local people from Ibadan Southeast Local Government Area to the Olubadan Palace, beside Mapo Hall, Oja’ba, Ibadan on Thursday.
Mrs Adenike Oyarekua, Project Coordinator for CERTA Law Clinics, in her address on the occasion, explained that the programme was initiated to help those facing criminal charges, abuse harassment, threat of violence and human rights violation.
Oyarekua added that it also encompassed those involved in legal disputes such as land tussle, landlord and tenant dispute, those facing threats of eviction, contract dispute, unlawful dismissal, dispute over inheritance and marital dispute etc.
“Others include rape, intimidation, sexual violence, female circumcision, forceful ejection, cyber violence, child labor, child and wife abandonment and harmful traditional practices,” she said.
According to her, a lot of lawyers give free legal services to indigent people in their Chambers, but lawyers are encouraged to take the bull by the horn by doing much more especially for the poor.
Mrs Oyarekua, who is also a lawyer, said that “We believe that the first ports of call where local people would go to resolve their problems are the community leaders. If the community leaders as well as the local people are well informed of what the law says about issues, they can handle matters correctly the way they should be.
“Legal Aid offered by us include legal representation which involves going to court; giving legal advice which is about educating the people about their rights, and one of the importance of that is that sometimes when people know the consequences of their actions, they would avoid getting into trouble;l and; the last is sensitization.
“Our core drive is legal information, and we have been able to provide legal advice to close to 300 while we have been able to give legal information too by going for meetings, through jingles and distribution of fliers. Our goal is that within three years (2023 and 2026), we want to give legal advice to about 5,000 indigent people. Our expectation is that we are going to make that record before the set date.”
According to her, the response had been encouraging as the group collaborate with the local administration and community development councils by attending their meetings.
Rasheed Abiola Salau, an official of Legal Aid Council in Oyo State, said, “This is a marvelous thing. Since I came to Oyo State, there had been nothing to write about sensitization on Legal Aid in Oyo State probably due to paucity of funds. But, with the initiative of this group today, the people of the state were able to get help.
“Those who were worried about a matter or the other were able to get help today. People were able to get legal advice. What the group has done is a right step in the right direction. I hope soon, this would encourage other non governmental organizations to follow suit.
“It is not necessarily about going to court, it may be about offering legal advice. It may even be about setting matters or alternative dispute resolution. Legal Aid is ready to work with them. Our hands are open to anyone or any organisation that is ready for our support. So many people are dying because they lack advice. Getting an advice from the right channel might have averted the evil befalling some people.”
Alhaji Abdulfatai Oloyede, Chairman, Community Development Association for Ibadan Southeast and Ibadan Ibarapa Zone, said that “We are happy with the programme organised by the lawyers. Our joy is that to those of us at the grassroots who cannot afford to hire lawyers were given the opportunity. These kind of services to the poorest of the poor is a thing of joy and we are certain that God will reward them accordingly.
“We have benefitted a lot from them. In fact, my association benefitted directly from the initiative. It happened that we bought a piece of land nearly 40years ago, but some land encroachers came to take over the property. We approached some lawyers and they are pursuing the case for us in court free of charge.”
Likewise, he said that they attend to dispute between landlords and tenants to ensure that people get justice. “This is encouraging and we pray that God will bless their work and home,” Oloyede said.
Mr Charles Oyarekua, a lawyer and co-founder of CERTA Law Clinics, expressed his joy over the success of the programme, saying, “We launched this initiative barely three years ago because we felt the need to give back to the society.
“We asked, what do we have to give? We concluded that as lawyers, we could help to contribute to the growth of the society. There are a lot of people who cannot afford the services of lawyers; helping out in our own little way can make a difference especially at this time when the economic situation in the country is daunting.”
