26,000 Nigerian children enter custody yearly, most without lawyers — Minister
The Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, has said that about 26,000 children enter custodial and remand facilities in Nigeria every year, with 74 per cent held in pre-trial detention and 68 per cent having no lawyer from their first contact with the justice system.
The minister’s address came during a plenary session on justice for children, where government officials and child-protection advocates examined how Nigeria can implement diversion policies for children in conflict with the law.
The minister proposed a formal Child Justice Compact between her ministry and the NBA, to be backed by joint monitoring and measurable indicators on legal representation, diversion rates and functional Family Court sittings.
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