The Director-General of the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria, Joy Bob-Manuel, has reiterated the importance of Community Legal Services in enhancing justice, especially for the poor.
Bob-Manuel told the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja on Saturday that all hands must be on deck to represent the poor in the country.
“It is a recognised principle of the United Nations for lawyers to do community service and I enjoin every lawyer to engage in community services in order to assist the poor with access to justice,” she said.
Bob-Manuel said the council depended on partnership with stakeholders to drive the wheels of its mandate to a realistic goal.
She said: “We have very experienced state coordinators in the 36 states of the country and a robust relationship with all the chief judges.
“Partnerships are very important.
“Partnerships help us to achieve our vision and mandate to attain expertise in our activities as a council in the temple of justice.”
Bob-Manuel stated that the council’s 270 lawyers were not enough to cater for the large population in the country and advised that all pro-bono lawyers worked alongside with the council.
“Irrespective of the bottlenecks encountered in rendering pro-bono services, pro-bono lawyers should be diligent handling such services,” she said.
NAN.
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