Institute Tasks FG on Justice Delivery for Grassroots

Alex Enumah in Abuja

The Hague Institute for Innovation and Law (HiiL) has called on the federal government and other critical stakeholders in the justice sector to ensure the availability of justice at the rural and local government  levels of government in Nigeria.

HiiL’s, Country Director, Ijeoma Nwafor, made the call yesterday  in Abuja, during a session of the Core Convening Group (CCG) of Making People-Centred Justice Happen in Nigeria.

According to the Country Director, the forum was an opportunity to examine the impact done to increase access to justice using people-centered approach by Nigerians using innovations, scaling it up and making it sustainable. 

“We want to decentralise justice delivery if we want to help the people; let’s go back to the local governments, communities, let somebody in the village be able to go to their traditional ruler and know that they have been trained in mediation, alternative dispute resolution, and can resolve a lot of cases those he cannot resolve would be taken to the multi-door court house,” she said.

Meanwhile, Nwafor advocated  the utilisation of HiiL’s country data for policy planning.

 The representative of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice and a director in the ministry, Felix Okojie, in his remarks said the programme was to create awareness on the institutions created to provide justice for the citizens. 

 The programme had in attendance the Federal Ministry of Justice, lawyers, judges, academics and social impact investors.