Access to Justice and Legal Representation in Nigeria

Abstract

In 2009, the Fundamental Rights Enforcement Procedure (FREP) Rules of 1979 was revised to ease the cumbersome process encountered by applicants/lawyers in advocating for the enforcement of fundamental human rights in court. Despite this, human rights lawyers still encounter several challenges when representing applicants for the enforcement of fundamental human rights in court. This chapter examines these challenges and adopts primary research method. Data were gathered from human rights lawyers via video conferencing platforms: Skype and Zoom. Findings reveal that issues of procedural rules of court and disrespect for court orders are some of the challenges encountered by human rights lawyers. The chapter recommends that judges should avoid placing unnecessary emphasis on the procedural rules of court. In addition, human rights lawyers and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) should maintain continuous advocacy for the enforcement of fundamental human rights towards holding government and its agencies more accountable for disrespect of court orders.