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From Sola Ojo, Abuja
The Hague Institute for Innovation of Law (HiiL) has brought together top judicial officers, policymakers, community leaders, and innovators to push forward a national shift toward people-centred justice.
At a one-day conference: “Implementing people-centred justice: The Nigerian story” in Abuja, participants examined how to make justice delivery faster, fairer and closer to the people.
HiiL’s 2025 Justice Needs and Satisfaction Report highlighted challenges such as domestic violence, land disputes and workplace conflicts, with 30 percent of respondents reporting experiences of domestic violence.
HiiL Senior Policy and Advocacy Advisor, Zainab Malik, said people were not asking for miracles but for justice that is fast, fair, effective, and affordable.
“Many Nigerians turn to family, traditional leaders, or community negotiation instead of the formal justice system.”
She noted that over 5.1 billion people globally lack meaningful access to justice for everyday problems.
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Keynote speaker, Prince Adewole Adebayo, described the law as only a tool that may or may not deliver justice.
“Justice is not the law. The law is merely a tool that can lead to justice or not.”
He, therefore, called for solutions rooted in local realities, human dignity, and cultural context, linking justice reform to tackling poverty, corruption, and social exclusion.
From the federal perspective, Bashir Maidugu, SSA to President Bola Tinubu, stressed the importance of simplifying legal language, improving accessibility, and complementing formal systems with community-based approaches, especially for women and persons with disabilities.
Closing the conference, SSA to the President on Justice Sector Reform, Mr. Fernandez Marcus-Obiene, posited that the government could not improve the justice sector alone.
“Implementation is everything. Let us all deliberately take action for good to improve our justice sector, calling for joint action from civil society, traditional leaders, the private sector, and citizens.
HiiL reaffirmed its long-term commitment to supporting data-driven, locally rooted justice innovation in Nigeria.
