With over 70,000 Nigerians still awaiting trial in correctional centres across the country, the Public and Private Development Centre (PPDC) has called for stronger support for the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria (LACON) to enable it to assist indigent detainees, among others.
   
PPDC Chief Executive Officer, Lucy Abagi, made the call yesterday in Abuja during the handover of technology equipment to LACON under the second phase of the Reforming Pre-Trial Detention in Nigeria (RPDN) project.
   
The organisation handed over 39 laptops to the council for deployment across the states to strengthen legal services for indigent Nigerians and improve the council’s response to pre-trial detention cases.
   
Abagi said poverty remained a major constraint to access to justice, especially for Nigerians who cannot afford lawyers, court appearances or bail-related legal services. She noted that many citizens lack the financial capacity to secure private legal representation when they face arrest or prosecution.
   
According to her, the laptops would complement the software developed to support LACON’s operations, even as the organisation had supported the training and deployment of over 300 pro bono lawyers and over 50 pro bono receiving police officers across the police stations.
   
Meanwhile, the Director-General of LACON, Aliyu Abubakar, said the council had made progress in reducing the number of inmates awaiting trial from over 70 per cent to about 53 per cent.