By PETER TITLE
Governor Manasseh Mutfwang of Plateau State has appreciated the services of the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria being rendered to indigent Nigerians in dire need of legal services.
He therefore promised to assist the council where necessary in order for them to carry out their assignments unhindered.
This opinion was expressed when the Director General of the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria, Barrister Aliyu Abubakar paid the governor a courtesy visit at the Old Government House, Rayfield, Jos recently.
Acknowledging the role played by the organisation to the down trodden in the society in administring justice , Mutfwang solicited for the implementation of the administration of criminal justice because it would help the innocent people languishing in prisons across the country.
He urged them not to rest on their oars in carrying out their assignments, stressing that the Legal Aid Council was not a place to make fortune but an unrewarding sector where the indigent needed the most.
According to him, they state government would collaborate with them in all spheres but enjoined them to take prison decongestion a priority, pointing out that with the federal government’s plan to construct another correctional centre in Jos East Local Government Area, it would solve some of the challenges faced.
Earlier, the Director General, Legal Aid Council of Nigeria, Barrister Aliyu Abubakar, informed the governor that their organisation was established in 1976 by few individuals, notable among them was Chief Solomon Daushep Lar, the first civilian governor of Plateau State, to give legal advice as well as represent the less privileged in the society.
According to the DG, there are seven Correctional Centres in the state and that they always undertake visits to these centres to interface with the inmates and come in where necessary.
Barrister Abubakar revealed that the council in 2021 to 2023, granted legal services to 2500 people. He gave the assurance that they would continue to collaborate and do more for the less privileged.
He solicited for annual subvention, explaining that the grant that used to be appropriated to the council was stopped which he said had affected their operations. He urged the governor to look into their plight.
The Director General said they had had a robust working relationship with the judiciary and appealed to the state government to provide some operational tools like vehicles and furnish their offices to help cushion the hardship they faced while carrying their assignments.
