The Lagos State Office of the Public Defender (OPD) has taken its gospel of free legal representation to Wesley School for Hearing Impaired. Robert Egbe chronicles highlights of the visit.
Seyi Osokoya loves teaching at Wesley School for Hearing Impaired, Surulere, Lagos. Hearing impaired himself, he finds his pupils to be very intelligent and receptive to learning. But, sometimes, they arrive in class withdrawn and distracted.
Osokoya, who communicated by sign language, explained why. “Sometimes they come to school without eating,” he said, adding: “Their parents sometimes fail to give them food at home or give them money to buy food. You ask them ‘Have you eaten?’ They’ll tell you no. ‘Do you have money to buy food?’ They’ll say no.”
Osokoya said he and other teachers often have no choice, but to feed the children from their own pockets.
Osokoya and his wards’ plight is one of the issues that caught the attention of the Office of the Public Defender (OPD) last Friday.
The OPD, an agency of the Lagos State Ministry of Justice (MOJ), provides “qualitative and free legal services to the less privileged and vulnerable…”
Led by one of its directors, Fatai Borokini, who represented OPD Director, Bukola Salami, the agency visited Wesley School 1 and 2 on a sensitisation programme to educate pupils, staff and parents/guardians about the Lagos State Child’s Rights Law 2007.
It met the Wesley School 1 Principal, Alimi Kehinde, Wesley School 2 Principal, Funmi Ilesanmi, Lagos State Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) representative, Sunday Jibefun, over 100 pupils of schools, their teachers and parents.
Borokini, who lamented the man-made hurdles physically impaired and other vulnerable groups face, urged them to not suffer in silence, but approach any of the state agencies established to protect their rights at no expense.
He said: “We are here to sensitise you on your rights so you can know what to do and where to go if you are cheated.”
He explained that the OPD routinely takes up such matters, especially those relating to women and children’s rights and represents clients for free in court in both civil and criminal matters.
Borokini said: “The daily reality for most children with a disability is that they are often condemned to a ’poor start in life’ and deprived of opportunities to develop to their full potential and to participate in societal activities.
“They are routinely denied access to the same opportunities for early, primary and secondary education, or life-skills and vocational training, or both, that are available to other children. They either have no voice or their views are discounted.
“Although they are invariably more vulnerable to abuse and violence, their testimony is often ignored or dismissed. In this way, their isolation is perpetuated as they prepare for adult life. Yet there are changes for the better.”
He identified some of the rights of vulnerable children enshrined in the Child’s Rights Law, which the OPD is empowered to defend to include right to survival, parental care, education, health services, movement, freedom from discrimination, protection from violence, exploitation and abuse, among others.
Quoting from a paper issued last Wednesday, Borokini said the OPD secured N189,074,957 as compensation for the vulnerable and less privileged from over 14,000 petitions and court cases it handled between January 3 and December 31, 2017.
The paper, issued by Mrs Bukola, stated that the funds were received on behalf of clients through mediation, while the cases were handled for litigants free of charge.
According to her, 7,470 cases were handled from January-December 2017, 4,662 petitions were received, 1,300 petitions concluded and there were 49 rescue missions, among others.
Borokini also urged the pupils and others living with disabilities to register with the Lagos State Office for Disability Affairs (LASODA) where they can gain access to several benefits provided by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, which include free bus rides on the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), interest-free loans and vocational training, among others.
He added: “Each girl and boy is born free and equal in dignity and rights; therefore, all forms of discrimination affecting children must end.
“We must take all measures to ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms, including equal access to health, education and recreational services, by children with disabilities, and children with special needs, to ensure the recognition of their dignity, to promote their self reliance, and to facilitate their active participation in the community.”
Speaking on behalf of the schools, Kehinde thanked the OPD for being one of the agencies that follow up on cases of vulnerable people that are deprived of their rights. “You can see it in their programmes,” he said.
