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Representatives of Franklin Jr Foundation, National Human Rights Commission and the Nigerian Bar Association at the maiden stakeholders' meeting for the execution of the free legal services.

90 Abia inmates to benefit from Foundation’s free legal services

Representatives of Franklin Jr Foundation, National Human Rights Commission and the Nigerian Bar Association at the maiden stakeholders’ meeting for the execution of the free legal services.

By Leonard Okachie
Umuahia, June 21, 2022

The Franklin Jr. Foundation has said that at least 90 inmates in different correctional centres in Abia are to benefit from its free legal services.
The Foundation’s Legal Secretary, Adaugo Alogor, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Umuahia on Tuesday.
Alogor spoke on the sideline of the organisation’s maiden stakeholders’ meeting.
She said that the Foundation was working in collaboration with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and Nigerian Bar Association.
She said that the targeted inmates included those who could not afford legal representation for themselves.
Alogor also said that the prospective beneficiaries were 10 from Arochukwu, 25 from Aba and 56 from Umuahia.
She said that arrangements had been concluded for the commencement of the programme.
She said that the group had already assembled a team of lawyers who, she said, had expressed their readiness for the Pro Brono (free) service.
According to her, the group would plead the case of the inmates, secure their bail and represent them at the court sittings.
“We have a team of lawyers and we hope to recruit more with similar passion to save humanity,” she said.
Alogor further said that the Foundation had visited the correctional centres and collected the inmates’ relevant data.
She said the Foundation would help to ensure they lived a law-abiding life through rehabilitation and skills acquisition after their release “to stop them from going back to a life of crime”.
She said that the group would seek the collaboration and support of the Controller of Correctional Centres of the state and the key stakeholders in the criminal justice system.
Alogor said that the Foundation was starting the project in Abia with a vision to spread it to all the correctional centres in the country.
She said: “Most inmates in the correctional centres are very poor.
“They can’t afford legal representation but they need it. We know that this is a huge task.
“The goal is to extend this project to all states in Nigeria in order to decongest the correctional centres.
“We will also be educating the masses about their rights and reduce the prevalence of crime and ensure the future is safe for all, irrespective of who you are.
“The aim of the Foundation is to evangelise and usher people into the kingdom of God through various programmes.”
The State Coordinator of NHRC, Mrs. Uche Nwokocha, commended the US-based Foundation for expanding its human rights services to Nigeria.
Nwokocha, a lawyer, who decried the congestion in the country’s correctional centres, said that Abia was the first to benefit from the Foundation’s programme.
She expressed the commission’s preparedness to collaborate with the Foundation to promote access to justice.
One of the lawyers recruited for the project, Mr. Onwumere Enyinnaya, said they were ready and determined for the implementation of the mandate.
“We are very ready to execute the programme of the Foundation.
“If you go to our correctional centres there are so many who shouldn’t be there, but they are there because our judicial system has failed them,” Enyinnaya said.

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