The Headfort Foundation has given the assurance that inmates of Special Correctional Center for Girls, Idi Araba, Lagos, would get pro bono representation in court.
The Executive Director of Headfort Foundation, Mrs Oluyemi Orija, gave the assurance in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Friday.
Orija spoke on the sideline of a sensitisation workshop on Fundamental Human Rights for the inmates, titled, “My Rights, My Freedom.”
She said that the foundation was an organisation of lawyers committed to giving pro bono legal services to vulnerable people in the society.
“Headfort Foundation is here today to sensitise the girls on their fundamental human rights and also to take their cases.
“This is because some of them are facing different charges in court and they do not have legal representation.
“So, from my few minutes here and while conversing with the girls, it’s obvious that they do not have legal representation and the reason is not far-fetched; it is because of poverty.
“They cannot afford it and their parents cannot afford quality legal representation for them on their cases,” she said.
The executive director called for the collaboration of non-profits organisations to assist the inmates at the courts since they lack funds to prosecute their cases.
According to Orija. the girl-child goes through a lot; many of them fall victims of domestic violence, slavery, rape and human trafficking.
She advised girls who had fallen victims of violence to be hopeful and avail themselves of the free services offered by the foundation and its partners to seek justice.
Mr Ugochukwu Agboeze, a Lawyer representing Public Interest Law Partnership (PILP). said that they shared lots of things in common with the Headfort Foundation.
Agboeze said that PILP was happy to partner with Headfort foundation because of the impact they were making in the lives of the most abandoned in the society.
He advised the inmates to be of good behaviour and be free from crime.
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