The Nigerian Bar Association Section on Public Interest and Development Law (NBA-SPIDEL) and the Nigeria Police have agreed to review the tinted permit policy.
Prof. Paul Ananaba, Chairman of NBA-SPIDEL, disclosed this in Ikeja on Thursday during an interactive session held ahead of the NBA-SPIDEL Annual Conference in Akwa Ibom.
Ananaba, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, said the review is intended to ensure the policy aligns with both public interest and national security objectives.
He explained that the decision followed weeks of engagement between NBA-SPIDEL and the police after Nigerians raised concerns about harassment of motorists whose vehicle windows were not fully transparent.
“The association intervened following reports of indiscriminate arrests and impoundment of vehicles by police officers enforcing the tinted permit directive,” Ananaba said.
He added, “Following our discussions with senior police officers, we agreed that enforcement of the tinted permit should be suspended while a joint review committee is constituted. SPIDEL’s engagement with the police is not confrontational but aimed at promoting accountability and justice in public administration.”
The committee, comprising representatives of NBA-SPIDEL and the Nigeria Police, will examine the legal and security implications of the policy and recommend new modalities for its regulation. Ananaba noted that the association had also filed a suit against the police over alleged discrimination, emphasizing that such legal actions are necessary to uphold the rule of law.
“SPIDEL is not a body of activists. Our focus is public interest and development,” he said.
Also speaking at the session, Mrs. Adaobi Egboka, Director of the Africa Initiative at the Vance Centre, New York City Bar, said the Centre for International Justice had proposed a partnership with NBA-SPIDEL to strengthen public interest law and institutionalize pro bono legal services across Africa.
Egboka explained that the Vance Centre, a non-profit arm of the New York City Bar Association, operates globally to advance justice through cross-border legal collaborations, pro bono services, and institutional integrity. The centre runs four major programme areas: environment, human rights and access to justice, institutional integrity, and public interest reporting, aimed at strengthening democracy and the rule of law.
She said the proposed partnership will help the NBA develop a structured pro bono framework, create a database of participating law firms, and establish standards for measuring legal aid contributions.
Egboka also called for collaboration in establishing a “Pro Bono Declaration for Africa,” modeled after the Pro Bono Declaration of the Americas, which commits law firms to dedicate specific annual hours to free legal services for the underprivileged.
“Such initiatives will promote accountability, enhance diversity within the legal profession, and improve access to justice for vulnerable groups. The Vance Centre has successfully launched a Pro Bono Institute in Kenya in partnership with local universities and law firms, serving as a model for possible replication in Nigeria through collaboration with NBA-SPIDEL. We urge the NBA to support the centre’s vision of building a stronger, data-driven, and institutionalized pro bono culture in Africa,” Egboka said.




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