The Nigerian Constitution in section 46(4) recognises the importance of the government intervening in the reduction of these difficulties, hence, the Constitution made provisions for legal aid services and pursuant to that provision, the Nigerian Legislature established the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria, whose by its establishing statute’s Long Title i.e. under the Legal Aid Council Act, 2011, An Act to repeal the Legal aid Act Cap. L9 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 in line with interpretational standards and to provide for the establishment of legal aid and access to justice fund into which financial assistance would be made available to the Council on behalf of the indigent citizens to prosecute their claims in accordance with the Constitution and further to empower the existing Legal Aid council to be responsible for the operation of a scheme for the grant of legal aid and access to justice in certain matters or proceedings to persons with inadequate resources in accordance with the provision of this act; and for related matters’. Nevertheless these provisions of law, some lawyers in private practice, including the writer of this paper, as well as some Non-Governmental Agencies have stood up too to support the course of offering free-legal aid to indigent Nigerian citizens who are facing one criminal charge or allegation or the other, from investigation to trial and from trial to appeal until the suspect is released or the accused/defendant is convicted and sentenced according to law or discharged and or discharged and acquitted. However, in rendering these pro bono legal services, there are lots of challenges that one as a legal practitioner faces, the greatest is the finance. That is why this paper is seeking with respect, government’s intervention in aiding those private lawyers who individually take up legal services to indigent Nigerian citizens in a way of complementing government’s efforts in the rendering of legal aid. This paper also aims at involving the judiciary as the third arm of government towards the amelioration and or reduction of the financial burden faced by a private lawyer in the discharge of this voluntary but humane and complementary legal aid functions. In the recent time, the rendering of pro bono legal services to indigents has really become a very financially challenging task. For instance, in rendering such pro bono, it ought to only relate to rendering the legal services without the suspect or defendant having to pay for such professional services and no more. However, many of the times, the suspect or the defendant has no relative to stand for him as relative and to bear some of the other incidental costs or miscellaneous costs, including the feeding, etc., of such person but sometimes too, where those relatives are even available, they themselves are indigent just as the person being defended, to the extent that they cannot even afford a three-square meal for themselves not to talk of affording same for the person being defended. They cannot even afford to transport themselves to the place where the person being defended is held in legal custody either in the law enforcement agency’s custody or the prison custody upon court’s order of remand not to talk of securing bail for the person being represented. And sometimes, where those relatives are available, they refuse to show up beyond one or two times. Many of the times too, where the lawyer demands miscellaneous costs, such as his appearance fee, filing fees, etc., without asking for his professional fee, the relatives refuse to show up any more or even open a personal book of stories why such fees cannot be paid without proffering any solution. Though such situation would have necessitated a lawyer to withdraw from such services, as he is not being paid for his services yet, he has to also use his own personal but insufficient finance to do the case of another person despite his own personal financial challenges. In fact, a lawyer would have to even be the one to even feed such indigent person. Or would the lawyer watch such person while the person informs the lawyer that in fact, he has not eaten anything, may be since morning?! Also, at some of those occasions, the defendant or suspect might be ill that he requires a medical attention. Sometimes, a court grants an order for the Nigerian Prison Service to take him to a secondary health hospital (general hospital) tor depending on his health status, to be treated, it is the lawyer that would make application for the enrolled order of such Order of court and also mobilize the service of such order on the Nigerian Prison Service, else, the order would not move from the court’s records, that is the reality! Furthermore, the writer of this paper has considered the positive effect of section 349(5) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 which provides thus ‘The Court may assign to any legal practitioner whose place of practice is within the jurisdiction of the court, any case of a defendant who has no legal representation, and the legal practitioner shall undertake the defence of the defendant with all due diligence, in which case, the legal practitioner shall not pay any filing fee or service fee in respect of the case so assigned’. Though, these fees that the law requires that such lawyer would not pay for are not much, yet, it would still go a long way in reducing some of those costs that the lawyer would bear. More so, it remains a sincere truth that where a lawyer intends to render pro bono legal services to indigent person, he should just bear it in his mind that he is taking responsibilities that go beyond pro bono legal services rather an all inclusive legal services, management and maintenance financial responsibilities of such person. Therefore, though, the above narrations remain what is obtainable in rendering pro bono legal services, it is the submission of the writer of this paper that where the Legal Aid Council considers the applications made to it by lawyers rendering pro bono services and disburse some stipends, and non-governmental organisations too offer some financial stipends, and the judiciary too utilize the above provisions of the ACJA to relieve a lawyer of the financial burden, many of those cases of prison congestion would in no time become a past record in the Nigerian Administration of Criminal Justice System. Finally, notwithstanding some of those challenges that could aim at frustrating a lawyer from a continuous rendering of free legal services to such an indigent, the writer of this paper would still appeal to such lawyer not to relent in such services. It is a service to God Almighty through humanity. God Almighty has His own way of paying such lawyer back in many ways positively to such lawyer’s life. Also, such lawyer is encouraged to not hesitate to institute civil actions against violation of the human rights of such indigent person committed either by the law enforcement agency of government or by any person, contingent upon the success of the case upon agreed percentage sharing quota between him and the victim, perhaps, he might make up his expenses, fortunately! e-mail: hameed_ajibola@yahoo.com]]>
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