RismadarVoice Reporters, August 5, 2026
The newly inaugurated Chairman of the Governing Board of the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria, retired Justice Sulyman Kawu, has unveiled plans to extend the council’s services to all 774 local government areas across the country in a bid to improve access to justice for indigent Nigerians.
Kawu disclosed this in an interview with journalists on Wednesday, shortly after the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), inaugurated the new governing board in Abuja.
The former Chief Judge of Kwara State said the board would begin work immediately by meeting with its members and the council’s management to map out strategies for expanding legal aid services beyond the existing six zonal and 36 state offices.
According to him, the expansion would require increased funding, recruitment of lawyers and support staff, as well as stronger collaboration with stakeholders to provide pro bono legal services, particularly in rural communities.
“We have six zonal offices of Legal Aid and 36 state offices. We plan to examine the possibility of extending legal aid services to all the 774 local government areas, including all the development areas.
“It will require more resources, recruitment of staff, of lawyers, collaborating with other stakeholders to get pro bono services, especially in rural areas where the majority of indigent Nigerians reside,” he said.
Kawu lamented that many Nigerians, particularly in rural communities, appeared in court without legal representation, while numerous suspects remained in police detention without anyone monitoring their cases.
“And where we have most of the courts, lower courts…. We have a lot of people unrepresented. We have a lot of people in police cells without anybody knowing what is happening to them.
“We intend to go to all the nooks and crannies of Nigeria to find out exactly what is happening, who has run foul of the law, and how we can assist them,” he added.
The retired jurist also called on journalists to partner with the Legal Aid Council by exposing cases of rights abuses and unlawful detention to enable timely intervention.
“We share this responsibility with the Legal Aid Council and other stakeholders. If you bring all these things to our notice, by our mandate under the Act, we are supposed to visit prisons and correctional centres to see what is happening there. However, the press will help us by bringing out some of these things, so we can intervene and make necessary corrections,” he said.
Acknowledging funding constraints, Kawu said the council would seek contributions from governments and rely more on pro bono legal services to strengthen access to justice.
“So we intend to pursue all these stakeholders. Sometimes you can manage, even with inadequate funds, by getting pro bono services from lawyers so that they can assist us to decongest our correctional centres and other detention centres,” he added.
In his acceptance speech at the inauguration, Kawu pledged that the board would ensure indigent citizens entitled to legal aid under the law received effective legal representation, advice and access to justice.
Drawing from the landmark American case of Gideon v. Wainwright, he argued that access to legal representation could determine the outcome of criminal trials, noting that an accused person who was initially convicted without a lawyer was later acquitted after receiving free legal representation.
He also assured President Bola Tinubu that the board would justify the confidence reposed in it by expanding legal aid services nationwide and improving staff welfare.
In his remarks, the Attorney-General charged the board to provide strategic policy direction while refraining from interfering in the day-to-day administration of the council.
He urged members to strengthen initiatives aimed at reducing congestion in correctional centres, deepen partnerships with the Nigerian Bar Association and development partners, and align the council’s work with ongoing justice sector reforms.
“Distinguished Board-designates, the Legal Aid Council serves as the moral compass of our justice delivery system. In a society where economic disparities can hinder the assertion of basic rights, the Council ensures that poverty is never a bar to justice.
“To give concrete expression to this duty, Section 19 of the Act specifically mandates the Council to visit correctional facilities, police cells, and detention centres to monitor awaiting-trial inmates.
“I therefore charge the Board to provide strong policy direction so that Management can aggressively deploy operational mechanisms—including the Police Duty Solicitors Scheme (PDSS) and the Court Duty Solicitors Scheme (CDSS)—to reduce detention facility congestion, clear court dockets, and safeguard fundamental human rights at early contact points,” he added.
