By Fatima Saka
Denying vulnerable children access to legal representation represents a collective failure of society and the legal profession, the President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, has said.
Osigwe stated this at a stakeholders’ meeting in Abuja, where the NBA and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) launched a landmark partnership to expand access to pro bono legal services for vulnerable children across Nigeria.
He said the partnership reaffirmed the shared commitment of both organisations to ensuring that every child, regardless of circumstance or background, had access to justice, protection and effective legal representation.
According to him, although Nigeria has made significant progress through the Child Rights Act and other child protection frameworks, countless children still face enormous barriers in accessing justice.
He identified victims of abuse, trafficking, exploitation, harmful traditional practices, child marriage, neglect and violence, as well as children in conflict with the law, among those requiring urgent legal support.
The NBA President said lawyers were not merely interpreters of the law but guardians of justice and defenders of the rights of the most vulnerable.
He stressed that the legal profession carried both a privilege and responsibility to ensure that people who could not afford legal services were not excluded from the protection provided by the law.
Osigwe said the partnership would mobilise lawyers across the country to provide quality pro bono legal representation for children, strengthen referral pathways between justice and child protection actors and enhance the capacity of legal practitioners to handle child-sensitive cases.
He added that the initiative would promote a justice system that places the best interests of the child at its centre and aligns with the NBA’s commitment to public-interest law and Nigeria’s efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
The meeting attracted representatives of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Legal Aid Council of Nigeria, Nigerian Law School, Nigerian Correctional Service, National Judicial Institute, UNICEF, development partners, civil society organisations, the judiciary and law enforcement agencies.
Osigwe commended UNICEF for its sustained commitment to strengthening child protection systems in Nigeria, recalling that discussions during the 2025 NBA Annual General Conference highlighted the urgent need to improve access to justice for children and laid the foundation for the present collaboration.
He called on every NBA Branch, law firm, Senior Advocate of Nigeria and young lawyer to embrace pro bono legal services for vulnerable children as a defining professional responsibility.
He challenged NBA branches to establish or strengthen child-focused pro bono schemes, urged law firms to dedicate professional time to child protection matters and called on Senior Advocates to mentor younger lawyers in child-sensitive legal practice.
Osigwe stressed that pro bono legal service was not an act of charity but an act of justice, adding that the true measure of the legal profession also lay in its willingness to protect society’s most vulnerable members and strengthen public confidence in the rule of law.
He reaffirmed the NBA’s commitment to providing the leadership, coordination and institutional structures required to mobilise lawyers nationwide, strengthen professional capacity, facilitate referrals and expand access to quality legal representation for children.
READ ALSO: Nigerian Army Professionalism Requires Continuous Learning, Discipline, Innovation — COAS
Don’t Take Your Brilliance Abroad, Build Nigeria, FCMF Tells First-Class Graduates
The NBA President expressed optimism that the partnership would become a defining moment in Nigeria’s child justice system, stressing that every child deserved a voice, protection and equal access to justice regardless of poverty, disability, geography or social circumstance.
The NBA-UNICEF partnership is expected to strengthen child-sensitive legal services across Nigeria by mobilising legal practitioners, enhancing collaboration among justice-sector stakeholders and ensuring that vulnerable children receive the legal support necessary to safeguard their rights and future.
About The Author
