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By Chukwudi Nweje
Indigent Nigerians, especially those whose fundamental rights are violated can now get free legal service and advice in real-time courtesy of PoguAI, an artificial intelligence App officially launched by Citizens’ Gavel, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) at the weekend.
Pogus AI is designed to answer basic legal questions on a wide range of subjects, and also answer legal questions and draft documents with the proficiency of a trained lawyer.
The app runs on WhatsApp social media platform and users with legal questions can send their query to PodusAI, on WhatsApp number 07067951851 and get their answers in seconds. The service is free.
Speaking at the launch of the App on its platform, AI for Justice, in Lagos, Mr Nelson Olanipekun, Team Lead of Citizens’ Gavel, said PodusAI is designed to be a transformative and innovative app that will provide users exclusive access to the intersection of technology and justice.
He said, “The AI for Justice represents a noteworthy advancement in our mission to empower Nigerians in confidently navigating the legal landscape and accessing legal resources through AI technology. We are thankful for the event’s success and firmly believe in PodusAI’s potential to enhance legal processes, making them more efficient.
“People are now empowered to write well-crafted petitions or letters to file complaints against injustices to various complaints centres of government such as Human Rights Commission, Ombudsman, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), States’ Mediation Centres, among others”.
Explaining PodusAI and what it does, Mr Oluwafemi Ajibade, a lawyer, who is the Operations Lead at Citizens’ Gavel, said PodusAI aims to help the most vulnerable in society get access to justice and find solutions to their most basic legal problems.
He said, “The target audience is the most vulnerable, victims of human rights abuse, victims of sexual and gender-based violence, of maybe intimidation by an employer or by a landlord, or by someone in a position of authority. Those are the targets of this platform.”
According to him, apart from asking and getting answers to their query, users can also log onto the website podus.org and register their complaints. A lawyer would be assigned to them to represent them in court pro bono.
Asked if the new app would not be taking away briefs from lawyers, Ajibade said PogusAI would rather be complementing lawyers and making their job easier.
“The AI is not meant to take away the work of a lawyer. It is to complement the work of a lawyer, to make their work easier, and to make sure that people, the most vulnerable people, get instant access to advice, to know what to do, and the next step to take in situations they find themselves in.
“These tools are just like a touch light to guide people in the dark. PodusAI may even lead the user to a lawyer who would eventually represent him in court that is the point of the app. It’s not in any way to undermine the work of a lawyer or take away the work of a lawyer. It emphasises or reinforces the work of a lawyer and the importance of a lawyer. The AI tool is to help lawyers reduce their workload.”
He said that the team has handled and resolved over 200 cases so far and added that “at the end of the day, the point or the purpose of PodusAI tools is not to take away the work of the lawyer but to complement it.”
Ajibade said the target audience is the most vulnerable in society and victims of human rights abuse and gender-based even as the cases they take are “those that are emergencies.
He further said, “The target audience is the most vulnerable, victims of human rights abuse, of sexual and gender-based violence, of maybe intimidation by an employer or by a landlord, or by someone in a position of authority.
“The cases that take priority on PodusAI are cases of emergency nature, police extortion, brutality, fundamental rights issues, illegal arrest, illegal detention, things that threaten the freedom or the fundamental rights of the average Nigerian. These are the targets of this platform.”
He said that apart from WhatsApp, prospective users can also log onto the website podus.org and register their legal issues and a lawyer would be assigned to them.
On his part, Mr Oluwadamilare Ayankoya, Lead Tech at Citizens’ Gavel said they started PodusAI to make it easier for users to send their queries.
He said, “PodusAI is pretty much accessible. We were intentional about accessibility, and hence the reason why we decided to go with WhatsApp, because we have billions of users via WhatsApp, and we know our Nigerians, or most people, are glued to their WhatsApp. It is also accessible by going to the websites on the Internet www.podus.org. We hope that very soon it will also be accessible by SMS. We want a situation whereby users can send their queries by SMS and get feedback and updates also by SMS. We also hope that very soon it will be available in pidgin English considering that the indigent is the primary focus.
“We look forward to that, we will build on that, we will work on that. It is an innovation; it doesn’t end here. Based on feedback and research, we keep innovating and making better what we have innovated,” he said.
