Groups canvassing for the abolishment of death penalty for capital offenders in the country have commenced comprehensive training for Nigerian lawyers to increase their commitment to pro bono legal services.

The groups committed to the project include Hope Behind Bars Africa, Centre for Legal Support and Inmate Rehabilitation, and The Inclusion Project.

According to the organisers, bodies committed to the project are all members of the Nigerian Alumni of the Makwanyane Institute named after the landmark judgment of the South African Constitutional Court, which presided over the decision abolishing the death penalty in South Africa.

The three-day transformative train-the-trainers workshop for criminal defence lawyers in Nigeria and Ghana was hosted on Wednesday in Abuja by the Cornell Centre on the Death Penalty Worldwide.

The event, with the theme, “Defending Persons Facing Death Penalty,” is funded in part by Makwanyane Institute Stewardship Grant.

Founder and Executive Director, Hope Behind Bars Africa, Oluwafunke Adeoye, who spoke at the launch, said that the workshop would prepare lawyers to provide quality legal services to capital offenders and, at the same time, increase their knowledge and expertise in criminal defence, as well as increase their commitment to pro bono legal services, which they can on their own continue to extend to other indigent persons.

According to Adeoye, the trained capital defenders will also be encouraged to conduct cascade training for other regional lawyers.

She said the workshop would feature facilitation from prominent legal luminaries and capital defence lawyers.

Also, CELSIR Executive Director, Joke Aladesanmi, said: “It is your responsibility as criminal defence lawyers to extract as much information from the client as possible, as it could make the difference that saves them from capital punishment.”