The Hague Institute for Innovation and Law (HiiL) has advocated the provision of justice at the rural and local government levels of government in Nigeria.
The Country Director of HiiL Nigeria, Ijeoma Nwafor, stated this during a session of the Core Convening Group (CCG) of Making People-Centred Justice Happen in Nigeria which held in Abuja on Wednesday.
Nwafor said forum was an opportunity to examine the impact done to increase access to justice using people-centred approach by Nigerians using innovations, scaling it up and making it sustainable.
“We want to decentralise justice delivery if we want to help the people; let’s go back to the local governments, communities, let somebody in the village be able to go to their traditional ruler and know that they have been trained in mediation, alternative dispute resolution, and can resolve a lot of cases those he cannot resolve would be taken to the multidoor court house,” she said.
She also called for the utilisation of HiiL’s country data for policy planning.
In his comments, a representative of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice and a director in the ministry, Felix Okojie, said the programme was to create awareness on the institutions created to provide justice for the citizens.
The programme had in attendance include Federal Ministry of Justice, lawyers, judges, academics and social impact investors.