21st March, 2018
The Legal Aid Council of Nigeria said on Wednesday, that it received 18 new cases between January and February 2018 in Kano state.
Alhaji Abubakar Umar, the State Coordinator of the council, disclosed this while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kano.
According to him, 16 of the cases are criminal while the two are civil.
Umar said some of the criminal cases had been completed while others were pending in courts, adding that some of the civil cases were resolved out-of-court.
The coordinator explained that most of the civil cases had to do with non-payment of pension and retirement benefits, mostly by privately-owned companies and pension fund administrators.
Umar said the other civil cases were based on land disputes, marriage and debt recovery.
He, however, said that most of the criminal cases had to do with armed robbery, criminal breach of trust, homicide, rape, theft among others.
Umar, who said the council’s focus was to offer free legal services, advised those who could not afford to pay for such services with private legal outfits to make use of the services of the council.
He, however, noted that the major challenge facing the council was lack of fund and inadequate manpower.