WITH the recent declaration of zero tolerance and campaign against child abuse in Lagos by the Ministry Of Women Affairs, the Director the Office Of the Public Defender (OPD) Mrs. Omotola Rotimi, has been in the forefront of ensuring violators of child rights law are prosecuted. Being one of the major objectives of OPD to protect the socio-economic right of the child and defend the vulnerable group, OPD has handled 34,100 cases in 12 years and has continued to play a key role in the defence of ordinary citizens, especially the poor in both civil and criminal matters.At the recent opening of the new OPD office complex located at 8 Iyun Street, Western Avenue, Surulere, Rotimi reaffirmed its commitment to delivering justice and safeguarding the fundamental rights of the poor through free and quality legal representation. With her versatility in litigation, Rotimi had appeared in various high courts and appeal courts from 1994 and was included as a distinguished counsel in the Ministry of Justice honours list in 2000.Being one of the first OPD in Africa, Rotimi said the cosmopolitan and porous nature of Lagos state necessitated the establishment of OPD. 'In a large city like Lagos, there is the possibility of a high crime rate, especially human right abuse, oppression and suppression of the poor and voiceless in the society. So, to check these crimes and avoid a state of anarchy and survival of the fittest, OPD was established.'She said OPD as a model, already exists in places likt the United States, England, Austria and India before it was adopted by the Lagos state Government.'But the difference between Lagos OPD and others is that we handle both civil and criminal while the foreign OPD deals purely on criminal cases.'While analysing the activities and duties of the organisation, she said the law of the land provides that all persons, irrespective of the crimes they are charged with, have a right to be represented by a lawyer. Therefore, in cases where the accused persons cannot afford to pay for the services of a private lawyer to defend them, the Office of the Public defender mostly comes to their rescue by giving free legal representations in court.She added that the office receives referrals from the prisons, courts and NGOs to assist and represent accused persons in court. Apart from litigations, OPD also involves Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) with a duty to mediating in disputes such as tenancy, matrimonial, domestic, employee/employer, master/servant, breach of contracts, debt recovery, family disagreements and other matters related to the directorate.Others duties of OPD include dealing with petitions and complaints on fraud committed by manufacturers and providers of services on allegations made against them, and where necessary, prosecute offending manufacturers.The OPD also attends court on behalf of persons whose rights have been violated and conducts prison watch services to address prison conditions and human rights violation of inmates, especially those awaiting trial.On the challenges of the job, she said the issue of acceptability, biases and lack of confidence in the government were the initial problems. 'To eliminate biases OPD has severally intervened fairly in matters against the government successfully.'She also mentioned the issue of withdrawal of civil cases in the course of investigation by the complainants due to family pressure to settle out of court and stigmatisation. 'Lack of cooperation from some of the security agencies were among the initial challenges, but the trend has changed as all agencies now show understanding as officers in the temple of justice,' she said.Still on the challenges, she lamented the lack of data and proper documentation, which has posed a lot of problems in the past. 'We are the only organisation that have complete data and documents of our cases and activities. When we are investigating cases that have passed through other agencies, we hardly get a proper record or documented evidence.'On OPD's achievements, she said the case between Uzoma Okerere and the naval rating was successfully handled by OPD. Another case was that of a boy that was brutalised and was compensated with N400,000 after OPD intervention.'The effectiveness of the job and our determination in bringing justice to the poor has served as a deterrent to other offenders because other abused road users after Uzoma Okereke's case were quickly compensated after OPD's intervention.To ensure effectiveness in the job, the director said theOffice has over 65 lawyers or counsel that represent their clients in court and other senior lawyers that monitor the court procedures and counsel's punctuality.To create awareness on the existence of OPD, Mrs. Rotimi said they engage in regular campaigns in different parts of the state, including using jingles and awareness messages on both print and electronic media. Some of OPD programmes are shown on NTA and Lagos Television.Being the only OPD in the country, she said the office gets complaints from residents in other states. 'When we get such calls, we refer them to the Nigerian Bar Association or the human right organisations in their states. We also refer them to other reliable agencies where they can get justice.With the growing rate of extra-judicial killings in Lagos, the director said that OPD is not folding its arms. 'Currently we are the ones representing the victims of the January protest in Lagos to ensure that justice is done, specifically on the case of Ademola Adedeji who was alleged to have died in Police custody. We have written to the coroner unit of Lagos State for a post mortem. OPD has been handling the issue of Police brutality and others, sometimes we take up cases we see in newspapers and other media for legal action,' she said.Where the defenders were found guilty of the charge, she explained that OPD's duty is to plead for clemency, since justice must take its course.Even with the incessant land disputes in the state, the director said the office does not handle land matters except when the case is subject to inheritance. 'In the case of inherited land or property, Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) is used in resolving the matter. It is believed that any landowner can have access to a lawyer, but in the case of landlord and tenant, we only represent the tenants whose rights are violated but do not have access to lawyers.'Asked why OPD did not adopt rehabilitation or probation as practised in the western countries, she said the organisation would not ask the court to put offenders on probation since it is not practised in Nigeria. She explained that some of their clients who need to be rehabilitated are taken to the Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation or the Ministry of Youths and Sports since they have the facilities to do so.Since assuming office, the director sees the issue of child abuse and domestic violence as the most challenging. 'These cases are on the increase not only in Nigeria but all over the world '- children sexually abused by their fathers and lots of pedophiles every- where. We have a lot of cases of child abuse and domestic violence that can be caused by poverty, frustration and ignorance of the law. Half of Nigerian women are victims of domestic violence and it is very alarming,' she lamented.On the violation of the rights of prison inmates, the director said the OPD is working currently with the Legal Aid and Nigerian Human Rights Commission, in a kind of legal consortium to handle the issue of inmates awaiting trial.'Together with these agencies we visited the prisons and identified 300 inmates awaiting trial for years without representation. We immediately filed a process in asking it to set them free if the DPP cannot sustain the charges and prosecute them diligently. The cases are been treated in batches. We were in court yesterday to represent the first batch of 100.'While laying more emphasis on child abuse, she lamented the issue of under-aged wives who were forcefully married to over-aged men.'We have treated these cases where baby wives were transported from neighbouring countries to marry unknown husbands in Nigeria. Most of them end up on the streets while trying to run away. Our duty is to hand them over to their embassies for protection,' she said.Mrs. Rotimi said the organisation would be on the global map in the next five years. 'OPD is becoming an instructor in the sub-Saharan Africa because right now, we are being understudied by Ghana. We are also expecting students from Harvard University who want to understudy our work. Many countries want to imitate us. In the next five years, we will ensure that the residents of Lagos know their rights under the law and are able to get legal counsel,' she concluded.Mrs. Rotimi is the second director of OPD and is happily married with children.
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