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Rector recommends legal training for court officials

By NAN
13 February 2016   |   11:56 am
Mr Olajide Olakanmi, the Rector of Pan-Africa Institute of Paralegal Studies, Abuja, says all court officials should acquire legal training, as part of efforts to improve the judiciary’s service delivery. He gave the advice on Saturday, while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja. `` The courts are supposed to be attended…

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Mr Olajide Olakanmi, the Rector of Pan-Africa Institute of Paralegal Studies, Abuja, says all court officials should acquire legal training, as part of efforts to improve the judiciary’s service delivery.

He gave the advice on Saturday, while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

“ The courts are supposed to be attended to by qualified legal staff.

“For anyone who wants to work in the courts, he or she must be legally minded and must be mentally and legally ready to serve the system.

“In normal times, nobody should be allowed to work in any of our courts if they don’t have legal knowledge,’’ he added.

Besides, Olakanmi said that all the personnel of the justice delivery system, including drivers, cleaners and secretaries, must also be trained in law and in keeping legal records.

He described Pan-Africa Institute of Paralegal Studies as the first of its kind in the entire West African sub-region.

“We train people to become quality support staff for law firms, courts, security agents, law enforcement agencies and the police.

“ Most of the courts in the country today are not equipped with workers who read law, even when they are supposed to keep case files that are confidential.

“ We will be graduating two sets of students from our institute in July/August, comprising 70 Ordinary National Diploma (OND) and 120 Higher National Diploma (HND) graduating students,’’ he said.

Olakanmi said that some of the students had also acquired requisite knowledge on how to manage their businesses.

“While some of the students want to set up human rights NGOs, a reasonable number of the graduating students are from the police force, courts and NGOs,’’ he added.

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