NGO and Legal Aid Council partner on plight of detainees

A Lagos-based non-governmental organisation, Rights Enforcement and Public Law Centre, says it is partnering with the Legal Aid Council to address the plight of detainees.

The centre’s Executive Director, Mrs Felicitus Brai, made this disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Monday.

Brai said that the centre would continue to partner with the council to offer a 24-hour legal service for pre-trial detainees.

“We partner with the council to have young lawyers, who can go to the police stations to render legal services for suspects and pre-trial detainees.

She said the partnership also cut across the police sector on a project tagged, the Police Duty Solicitors Scheme (PDSS) and had partnered with the police on the scheme since 2006.

According to her, the centre also embarked on some projects on criminal justice reforms as part of its efforts to decongest the prisons.

She said the centre’s strategic plan had helped it to sustain the legal representation of pre-trial detainees in the police stations.

“The whole idea is a long term focus on how those of us working on the criminal justice plan and pre-trial detention cases can have a long term plan to do our duty,’’ she said.

The executive director said the centre would always protect the rights of every pre-trial detainee to fast track justice dispensation.