NBA-SPIDEL partners with U.S. Vance Center to boost free legal services for poor Nigerians
By Ishaya Ibrahim
The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Section on Public Interest and Development Law (SPIDEL) has announced a collaboration with the Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice of the New York City Bar. The partnership aims to significantly expand pro bono (free) legal services available to poor and underprivileged Nigerians.
Professor Paul Ananaba, Chairman of NBA-SPIDEL, welcomed the partnership, stating it will substantially enhance the section’s existing pro bono efforts.
“Our people say that when a man is walking alone, it’s easy to go and apprehend him and kill him,” Professor Ananaba said. “But with our collaboration with Cyrus Vance International Center for Justice, we will be bigger, stronger, wider, and more impactful.”
He added that the exchange would help elevate public justice in Nigeria, which is the core mission of NBA-SPIDEL, a section primarily concerned with ensuring the nation is governed in the public interest and development. He cited the section’s recent legal victory against the police regarding the enforcement of tinted glass permits as an example of their work.
Adaobi Egboka, Director of Africa Initiatives at the Vance Center, provided details on the collaboration, explaining that its primary goal is to promote and institutionalize pro bono legal services across Africa.
The Vance Center has engaged in cross-border discussions to understand how to effectively develop pro bono legal practice within bar associations and law firms, mobilizing lawyers to work on public interest issues.
“The question becomes is there a need for us to institutionalize pro bono across Africa? And the question has been yes,” Egboka noted.
She emphasized that institutionalizing pro bono practice involves linking it directly to access to justice. This includes encouraging law firms to make a formal commitment to either a set number of pro bono hours (e.g., 20 hours) or a specific number of cases annually. The collaboration aims to have law firms sign on to this commitment to provide legal aid at both the firm and individual lawyer levels.
The collaboration comes just ahead of the NBA-SPIDEL annual conference, scheduled for December 5 and 6 in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. Professor Ananaba extended an invitation to the Vance Center to attend the event.
The event, which officially announced the partnership, was moderated by Barrister Wale Ogunade and included other speakers such as Professor Uju Agomoh, Chair of the NBA-SPIDEL 2025 Conference.
