Ekiti State, undoubtedly, is one of the most economically disadvantaged States in the country; but, the State is blessed with a progressive Governor and a highly cerebral, innovative, reform-minded Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in the person of Olawale Fapohunda, SAN, a two-term Attorney-General. He is undeniably, one of Nigeria’s leading experts in justice sector reform. He played a lead role in the drafting of several Nigerian laws, including the Correctional Services Act and the recently enacted Police Act. On New Year’s Eve, he explained and enumerated his achievements in office, and his plans for the remaining part of his tenure to Onikepo Braithwaite and Jude Igbanoi
Congratulations on your elevation to the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria. Out of the 72 of you who were elevated, only two were female. Again, some members of the Body of Senior Advocates have not only complained that not only is elevating 72 people too many, the qualification for elevation should be made more stringent. What are your views on this?
It is an incredible honour to be found worthy of the conferment as Senior Advocate of Nigeria. I think it will be unfair to simply look at numbers, in consideration of conferment. It is my respectful view that, the emphasis must be on qualification. Once an Applicant ticks all the boxes put in place by the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee, there should be no reason for non-conferment.
Having said this, I believe that a lot more needs to be done to recognise public interest Lawyers, or at the very least ensure that added recognition is given to public interest work in the application process. Presently, Applicants from the advocate category are required to show evidence of four Pro Bono cases only. This, in my view, is inadequate especially when placed side by side with the current access to justice needs of Nigerians. There are simply too few Lawyers working on public interest matters. I am not aware that Applicants in the Academic category, are required to provide evidence of public interest work. Again given the dire need for mentors in legal education, I think this is a missed opportunity. Legal Academics seeking elevation should also be required to show evidence of Pro Bono work including lectures given outside their place of employment, or where practicable, time spent mentoring students in Law Faculties or the Law School. Thankfully, the Nigerian Bar Association is reviewing its Pro Bono policy, and hopefully, all these issues will be considered.
Kwara State recently passed the Gender Composition (Political Offices) Law 2021 providing that the gender composition of those holding certain classes of offices shall not be less than 35% or more than 65% of either sex. This is the first of its kind in Nigeria. Though it falls short of provisions of places like Rwanda where the Constitution makes it mandatory that a certain percentage must be allowed for female representation even in Parliament, it is a step in the right direction for Nigeria. Kindly, comment on this initiative.
Undoubtedly, this is an important step in moving the conversation on gender equality in Nigeria forward. It is novel. Limited female participation in public life, is one of the major obstacles towards achieving gender equity.
Paving the way for more women in the political, business, and civic society arena, is an investment in the socio-economic and political development of States, and invariably Nigeria as a whole.
It is not sufficient to simply ask women to speak out and get involved, we need to enable legal and institutional regimes that allow the voices of women to be heard in any process that will ultimately affect them, their families, and communities. Investing in women’s right to political participation is not a favour done to women, but one that will ultimately have positive impact on our political development.
I have sent a copy of the law to my colleagues in the South West Attorney’s General Forum, as a possible agenda item for discussion in our next meeting. I do believe we should consider enacting this law in our States.
Still talking about Gender Equality and related matters, Ekiti State during your tenure is widely acknowledged to have made tremendous progress in this area particularly in responding to gender based violence. Can you share your experience with us?
I am asked this question frequently, and my immediate response is to say it’s about political will and leadership that understands that the way we respond to all forms of gender based violence, including sexual violence, says a lot about the kind of society that we live in.
In Ekiti State, Government has adopted a zero tolerance policy for all forms of gender based violence. We do not verbalise this as political speech, we have taken deliberate steps to translate policy into an actionable agenda for implementation. In the implementation process, Mr Governor leads in word and deed. We have streamlined key areas of intervention across Ministries and Government agencies. We also have a monitoring mechanism – the Gender Based Violence Management Committee, Chaired by the Wife of the Governor that oversees implementation.
Talking specifics, we have enacted some of the most progressive laws in the country. We have reviewed and amended our Gender Based Violence (Prohibition) Law, in response to current realities. We enacted the Compulsory Treatment of Child Victims of Sexual Violence Law, with a view to providing timely, effective and confidential medical support for minors who are victims of rape. We recently passed the revised Criminal Law of Ekiti State. This contains provisions that ensures that sex offenders are appropriately dealt with, while at the same time ensuring that victims do not suffer double victimisation, especially in the course of the criminal justice process.
Concerning victims, we recognised that our criminal justice system places priority on the offender, frequently to the detriment of the victim. We have taken practical steps to reverse this. First, by publishing a Victims Charter, which in very simple language informs victims of crime about their rights and obligations within the criminal justice system. We have backed this up with the establishment of a Sexual Assault Referral Centre. A one stop medical facility, that provides a range of support services to victims of sexual violence. These are in addition to a number of administrative measures we have put in place. For example, a convicted sex offender will not benefit from Mr Governor’s powers of prerogative of mercy. We have also opened a register of sex offenders, to capture details of sex offenders for the purpose of appropriate record keeping.