Sustainable Development Goals - Afe Babalola University

2022 ABUAD Law and Community Legal Clinic Report

Afe Babalola University is a strategic effort to revolutionize the tertiary education delivery system in Nigeria. This effort became necessary because there was a dire need to redeem the, hitherto, excellent reputation Nigeria had in the educational sector.  Apparently, organs and structures within the University bear this vision of the Founder of Afe Babalola University, Aare Afe Babalola SAN, D. Litt, CFR.

Sequel to the above, many programmes and courses were ingeniously designed, not only to distinguish the efforts of the University but to prepare students for contemporary socio-economic realities. The Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD) Law and Community Legal Clinic was designed by one of the foremost teachers in the University who is currently the Vice Chancellor and pioneer Director of the Law and Community Legal Clinic, Prof. Smaranda Olarinde, bearing in mind the vocational aspect of legal education. Thus, the Law and Community Legal Clinic was designed to help students meet the complex, dynamic and contemporary demands in the legal industry such that upon graduation, they would have served their communities in a service-learning programme and garnered the skills and experience needed to create critical value in the legal industry.

The ABUAD Law and Community Legal Clinic is an integral part of a course titled, “Introduction to Legal Practice,” which is a mandatory 400 Level course in the College of Law, taken during the first and second semesters. The course exposes students to the practical application of the theoretical knowledge of legal practice, acquired in class and this includes alternative dispute resolution (ADR) skills such as negotiation, mediation, arbitration, conciliation and the hybrid variants such as med-arb, et cetera. In order to deepen the knowledge of the students, they are encouraged to take certified courses with the Nigerian Institute of Chartered Arbitrators. With these skill-sets, students are able to resolve conflicts or disputes that are brought to the Law Clinic, under the guidance of the staff-clinicians.

The knowledge of human rights that students acquire in classrooms inspire them to reach out to secondary school students in order to create awareness about their rights and obligations as citizens of Nigeria. Student-clinicians have also carried out advocacy visits in communities to sensitize women about their rights and interviewed detainees in the Nigerian Correctional facilities in Ado-Ekiti.

The physical structure of the Law Clinic which is situated strategically at the ground floor of the College of Law and gives clients easy access to the clinicians and ensures privacy. It has a large reception where prospective clients are welcomed and made comfortable by clinicians. The clients’ bio data and requests are documented. The clinic also has four clients’ interviewing rooms that ensure confidentiality and a favorable atmosphere for interaction between clients and clinicians.

The Clinic is manned by a Clinic Director, an Administrator, Staff-Clinicians and Student-Clinicians. The Administrator who is also a lecturer in the College of Law, administers and coordinates the activities in the clinic. The staff-clinicians are lecturers in the College of Law, ABUAD, who have been trained in clinical practice and the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) to settle disputes. The student-clinicians are 400 Level students of the College of Law.

2.0       Mission and Objectives

The mission of the clinic is to birth twenty-first century lawyers who can compete favourably with counterparts in the legal industry anywhere in the world through service-learning and clinical legal education. In order to fulfil the mission of the Clinic, the following objectives have been set:

  1. Build the capacity of student-clinicians to be strong and responsible community leaders who can independently and collaboratively, design and implement legal solutions to social problems; especially with respect to low income households;
  2. provide free legal services to indigent people and low income households in the immediate community through supervised participation to enable them complete their university education;
  3. instil integrity, value of pro bono services and discipline in law students of Afe Babalola University;
  4. train students to use Alternative Dispute Resolution methodologies in proffering solution to cases without recourse to litigation;
  5. foster peaceful coexistence and decongest the Courts; and
  6. promote peace and progress in the immediate society through strategic collaboration with relevant stakeholders.

2.1 Activities

In order to realize the objectives of the ABUAD Law and Community Legal Clinic, activities were planned and carried out during the period under review, which include the following:

  1. Provide legal services for students from low income households to enable them to complete their University programmes
  2. Strategic Advocacy for low income household students and indigent people
  3. Symposium on Women’s rights against gender based violence and sexual harassment.
  4. Awareness campaign on human rights within and outside the University;
  5. Client interviews and counselling;
  6. Symposium with the Nigeria Police and the Ekiti State Ministry of Justice;
  7. Legal aid/sensitization at Odo-Ado Police Station;
  8. Interview of prison inmates, Legal aid/humanitarian assistance at Ado-Ekiti Prisons; and
  9. Sensitization of Children about their rights in Secondary Schools.

This is the chronological report of Afe Babalola University Law and Community Legal Clinic from 2015-2022

https://sdg.abuad.edu.ng/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/2022-ABUAD-LAW-AND-COMMUNITY-LEGAL-CLINIC-REPORT.pdf

2022-ABUAD-LAW-AND-COMMUNITY-LEGAL-CLINIC-REPORT

ABUAD-LAW-CLINIC-REPORT-2015-2021


International Collaboration Data Gathering for SDG

Global Network of Human Rights and Environment

In 2022, ABUAD has continued to be a member of the Global Network of Human Rights and Environment “a global network of thinkers, researchers, policy-makers, opinion-formers and community activists whose diversity forges new conversations and relationships.”


IUCN Academy of Environmental Law

In 2022, ABUAD has continued to be a member of the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law, a global network of universities that work together “in building environmental law education capacity and promoting the conceptual development of environmental law”

The network aims to advance environmental law education as a tool for sustainable development.

PER 2013-16-2 | law.nwu.ac.za

ABUAD continues strong record of international collaboration for SDGs through its membership of the United Nations Academic Impact

Since joining the UNAI in 2018 and up until 2022, ABUAD has continued to advance international cooperation with universities across the world to develop joint programs in key areas relating to the SDGs.

Afe Babalola University Certificate of Membership Citation

SDSN Network in Nigeria

Since joining the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network, Nigeria in 2016 and up till 2022, ABUAD’’s Institute for Oil, Gas, Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development (OGEES Institute) has continued to play leading roles in mobilizing cross-sectoral dialogue across Nigeria to promote practical SDG solutions. In same vein ABUAD as a University body has also been accepted to into the Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Below are the links:

Link to the Acceptance Letter of Afe Babalola University to the Sustainable Development Solutions Network

List of SSDN Nigeria Members including Institute for Oil, Gas, Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development (OGEES Institute) at Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD).

United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network | Land Portal

Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education

ABUAD has been accepted to into the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) and its program of Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS). The Link is as follows:

ABUAD Acceptance into the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability (AASHE)

Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE)

UNESCO

ABUAD is only University in Nigeria that is endowed with two (2) United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Chairs. They are as follows: The UNESCO Chair on Peace and Citizenship and The UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship Education for Sustainable Development.

This is the chronological report of Afe Babalola University Law Clinic from 2015-2020

ABUAD-LAW-CLINIC-REPORT

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