The Federal Government, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have launched a partnership to expand access to free pro bono legal services for children in conflict with the law and other vulnerable children across Nigeria.
The initiative, unveiled during a high-level stakeholders’ meeting in Abuja on Monday, is aimed at ensuring that children who come into contact with the justice system are not denied legal representation because they or their families cannot afford it.
Representing the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, the Director of the Administration of Criminal Justice and Reform Department in the Federal Ministry of Justice, Leticia Ayoola-Daniels, said access to justice was a fundamental right of every child.
Daniels said children who come into contact with the justice system as victims, witnesses or alleged offenders deserved protection, fair treatment and opportunities for rehabilitation.
She said Nigeria had made progress in developing a legal and policy framework for child justice through the Child Rights Act 2003, the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, state child rights laws and diversion initiatives.
According to her, justice for children had also been recognised as a distinct thematic area in the National Policy on Justice, providing a framework for a more inclusive and child-friendly justice system.
Daniels said the Federal Government was prioritising children’s rights by addressing unnecessary detention and strengthening child-friendly justice mechanisms, but stressed that the real impact of the reforms would depend on what happens when children come into contact with law enforcement agencies and the courts.
“There is no real change outside. A real change is at the point of contact between the station and the courts,” she said.
UNICEF Country Representative in Nigeria, Wafaa Saeed, said the partnership was founded on the principle that no child should be denied justice because of a lack of legal representation.
Saeed identified detention without legal representation, delays in case management, limited access to diversion programmes, weak referral systems and inadequate support services as some of the major challenges facing children within the justice system.
She stressed that access to justice was not simply a legal matter, but also a child protection, development and human dignity issue.
Saeed called on the NBA to mobilise lawyers across its branches to provide pro bono representation for children, suggesting that the impact could be significant if practising lawyers committed to taking up at least one child-related case each year.
She also urged the judiciary to promote child-sensitive procedures, including mandatory age determination and consideration of diversion when children are brought before courts for arraignment.
According to her, the success of the partnership should be measured by tangible outcomes, including children being reunited with their families instead of being unnecessarily detained, survivors receiving justice and protection, and young offenders being given opportunities for rehabilitation and reintegration.
NBA President, Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, said the partnership represented a renewed commitment by the legal profession to ensuring that every child had access to justice, protection and effective legal representation.
Osigwe noted that despite existing laws and policy reforms, many children affected by violence, abuse, exploitation, neglect, trafficking, child marriage, harmful traditional practices and conflict with the law continued to face significant barriers to justice.
He urged lawyers across the country to dedicate their expertise and resources to child protection cases and called on every NBA branch to establish or strengthen pro bono schemes specifically focused on children.
He also encouraged law firms to dedicate part of their professional time to child protection cases and urged Senior Advocates of Nigeria to mentor younger lawyers in child-sensitive legal practice.
The partnership represents an effort to ensure that a child’s access to justice is not determined by family income or circumstances. By expanding free legal representation, strengthening child-friendly procedures and improving referral and rehabilitation systems, the initiative seeks to give vulnerable children a fairer chance to be heard, protected and reintegrated into society.
