International records / OpenAlex research

Bringing Justice Closer to the People: An Assessment of the Lagos State (Nigeria) Office of the Public Defender (OPD)

Access to justice should not be a privilege of the rich alone. In a country where more than 70% of its inhabitants live below the poverty line, getting justice to the poor has been a matter of concern. However, there was no visible effort at either the federal or state level until the creation of the Lagos State Office of the Public Defender by the civilian government of Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The Public Defender model that is adopted in Lagos State is patterned after what operates in the United States. The Lagos State OPD, as it is often called, has taken giant steps in making the poor h…