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‘My mum’s robbery experience pushed me to study law’

Ibukunoluwa Olaide-Oladosu hails from Itugbemi, Epe Local Government of Lagos State. Olaide-Oladosu who obtained her LL.B at Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife was called to Bar in 2016. She shares her experience in the legal profession with JOHN CHIKEZIE

 

 

Background

 

I am Mrs. Ibukunoluwa Olaide- Oladosu, a vibrant young lawyer with a desire to see justice served in all spheres. I am an indigene of Itugbemi, Epe Local Government, Lagos State. I attended Ronik International School, after which I had my secondary education at Federal Government College Lagos, Ijanikin.

 

I obtained my LL. B. (Bachelor of Laws) from the prestigious Obafemi Awolowo University. Also, I attended the Nigeria Law School, Enugu Campus and was called to Bar in 2016

Why Law?

 

As a child, I was very inquisitive and always wondered if there were systems that guided the government, organizations and the behaviour of people. I was always bothered when I see very young people steal or cheat. I grew up in a very comfortable family and at age 10, I had an experience that never left me.

 

I saw a young chap practically drag my mummy’s gold earrings off her ears in the car because there was a bit of traffic.

 

This made me make up my mind that I was going to do a course that would enlighten me about the law. I just wanted to know if people could be brought to book and how it could be done, so I studied Law.

 

Specialization

 

I am a practicing lawyer, who enjoys litigation and corporate ad    visory. I am passionate about juvenile justice; this is a very sensitive aspect of the law that can positively influence the foundation of our society. I currently work at G.R.F Dalley and Partners.

 

Our areas of expertise include general civil law, aviation, intellectual property and medical law. We also handle pro bono criminal cases in conjunction with the PILP (Public Interest Law Partnership).

 

Justice system and corruption

 

The justice system is falling apart in bits. I get to the courtroom and see a system that is gradually losing its salt. I have not had any firsthand experience with judiciary corruption but it is written on the wall. An ineffective judiciary will only lead to injustice in the society. When I say ineffective there are a number of things I would list.

 

Firstly, the time lags in hearing and dispensing of cases: A very simple case can span for more than 10 years, all because the court sometimes don’t sit. You get to court prepared to forge ahead with your case only to hear the court will not be sitting without any cogent reason stated.

 

Secondly, the failure of the judiciary to move with the fast development of the IT space. The judiciary system is still having challenges adapting into the new IT world.

 

Although, the Lagos State Judiciary has made rules incorporating the use of emails and trial via zoom but adaptation is still very slow, hence dispensation of justice is slow.

 

Thirdly, the workload on the judiciary is just too much.

 

This is because we have very few hands on deck. Also, a lot of people need to be orientated that the court ought to be your last resort in settling disputes so the court will attend to only salient matters. All these and more are the reasons we have a falling and ineffective judiciary.

 

Child incarceration in adult prison

 

Child incarceration in adult prison is a misnomer caused as a result of limited number of remand homes and the action of the police, who are usually make first contact with these juvenile offenders.

 

The underlying purpose for putting children in conflict with the law in remand homes is so that they can undergo reformation, rehabilitation and reintegration by exposing them to facilities for vocational and formal educational instruction to realize these goals.

 

However, juvenile offenders who are put in adult prisons are being denied the opportunity to be reformed; rather, they are exposed to the life of a hardened criminal.

 

The effect of this trend is that the society only leaves the children for a while to have them back mentally retarded, psychological bastardized, exposed to the wrong adulthood life and disconnected from the real life.

 

Mass public enlightenment programmes in areas such as family values, child discipline and parental skills need to be invested in.

 

To achieve this, we call on the Ministry of women Affairs and Social Welfare to improve on its sensitization of this topic. Also, just like we have pasted in the police stations that bail is free, it should also be written that minors should not be incarcerated rather referred to the remand home.

 

Financial autonomy and Judiciary’s independence

 

Autonomy and independence of the Judiciary is quite a sensitive issue. The 1999 Nigerian Constitution (as amended) in Section 6 vested the judicial powers of the Federation in the courts listed. The Constitution further explained the powers of the Judiciary to scrutinize the legislative and the executive act.

 

The Judiciary is designed to be a separate and independent body of Government. It is important to ask what are the features of a truly independent body?. One very paramount feature is financial autonomy.

 

Financial autonomy makes the judiciary accountable to the general society and not the executive alone. This absence of real financial autonomy undermines the concept of judicial independence as it breeds state corruption in the judiciary.

 

The Judiciary system, using its budget planning, is being influenced by those it has to seek its daily bread from.

 

Also, judicial autonomy helps us know who to actually face when we see things go wrong in the judiciary. We can hold them fully responsible without getting the excuse that it was the Executive that failed to approve our budget.

 

The only fear or question is; will judicial autonomy eradicate corruption indeed?

 

I will answer in the positive because the judiciary will no longer be answerable to the executive in its entirety but rather it will stand as a sword and shield.

 

Future ambition

My goal is to achieve an effective juvenile justice administration in Nigeria and further work alongside UNICEF to ensure that the law in reality protects the rights of children so we can have a healthy and sane society.

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