HiiL Urges Nigeria To Establish National Justice Framework Involving Traditional Institutions

*Says Community-Based Legal Dispute Resolution Crucial For Enhancing Access To Justice

A civil society group, Hague Institute for Innovation of Law (HiiL), has emphasised the urgent need for a national justice framework in Nigeria to involve traditional institutions in enhancing access to justice in the country.

Speaking at the launch of the 2024 Justice Needs and Satisfaction (JNS) survey, Ijeoma Nwafor, the Country Representative of HiiL, called for the establishment of a mechanism for community-based legal dispute resolution.

She stressed the importance of properly categorizing family disputes to ensure appropriate and timely responses from the relevant quarters, stressing that issues such as sexual-based violence against women should not be buried along with just mere family disputes.

Nwafor pointed out that there is a significant gap in access to justice, particularly in rural areas, and urged for improved mechanisms that leverage traditional institutions to bridge this divide. “The courts are overburdened, making the process of accessing justice slow and often ineffective,” Nwafor said. Presenting the 2024 Justice Needs and Satisfaction (JNS) report in Nigeria, which presented data from two waves of surveys, the report revealed that 81 percent of Nigerians had encountered at least one legal challenge in the past year.

Of the 184 million who experienced legal problems, only 35 percent had their issues fully resolved, 33 percent were partially resolved, and 33 percent remained unresolved, while 12 percent of the cases were abandoned altogether.

In the second wave of the survey, there was a slight improvement, with 40 percent of cases fully resolved, 25 percent partially resolved, and 26 percent ongoing, while 4 percent were abandoned.

The report also pointed out that 84 percent of those facing legal challenges took some action to resolve their problems. However, only 5 percent sought the help of lawyers, with the majority turning to community leaders (9 percent), landlords (4 percent), and religious leaders (6 percent) for solutions. The JNS report underscored that most Nigerians resolve their legal issues outside the formal justice sector, contributing to the country’s significant justice gap.

HiiL’s findings emphasize the critical need for a comprehensive framework that incorporates traditional institutions to ensure more effective and accessible justice for all Nigerians. The group said resolving legal disputes effectively requires a people-centered approach to justice by prioritising the legal and justice needs of individuals.

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