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From George Onyejiuwa,Owerri
The Country Representative of the Hague Institute for Innovation of Law (HiiL), Dr Ijeoma Nwafor, has said that the most pressing justice needs for Imo State people are land and family disputes.
Nwafor, who made the disclosure during the handing over ceremony to Imo State steering committee of Community Justice Centre ( CJC) in Owerri, the state capital, last weekend, noted that the most pressing justice needs for Imo State people are land and family disputes and, as a result, the Hague Institute for Innovation of Law has facilitated three justice innovation laboratories which includes community justice centres where family and land disputes could be speedily addressed through mediation.
She said: “Today’s ceremony is not only about a handover, it is a call to every citizen of Imo State to become an active builder and keeper of justice in our communities. For too long, access to justice has been told as a story of distance, too costly, too complex, too far from the people who need it most . But the truth that the community justice centre has proven, in just one year, is that when justice is brought closer to the people, disputes that could have divided us, instead, find resolution. When a dispute over land threatens to divide neighbours, let us choose mediation over conflicts. When conflicts simmer within a family, let us choose dialogue before it hardens into harm. When someone we know is suffering in silence, let us choose to walk them to help, not away from it.
She added, “Communities across Imo State have already shown that this is possible. Justice clinics, our Justice Voice Radio Programme, Mobile CJC outreach across all three senatorial zones, community based mediation have helped thousands prevent small disputes from becoming lasting wounds. We can strengthen what has been built by supporting our local peace and justice structures, respecting our traditional and customary mediation systems, and ensuring our leaders and our communities keep talking to one another before conflicts escalate.”
The Chairman, Steering Committee of the Community Justice Centre (CJC), Imo State, His Royal Highness and Chairman, Owerri North Council of Traditional Rulers, Eze Jude Nwaogu, said that HiiL did not just fund an idea and walked away.
The monarch disclosed that in September 2022 HiiL, in collaboration with the state Ministry of Justice, established the first ever justice innovation lab on improving access to justice at the community level in Imo State.
He said: “CJC is a designated place where the people of Imo State can access information, advice, referral, and mediation services, all under one roof. It was deliberately designed not to compete with existing justice structures, including our customary courts and traditional systems, but to complement them, plugging into a system that already exists.
The CJC was built not merely to resolve disputes, but to prevent them through stakeholders who raise awareness and empower our people with the tools to solve their own justice problems before they escalate.
Continuing, Eze Nwaogu said, “Since the pilot operations began its first operations on March 2025, the Community Justice Centre has handled over 180 Justice cases spanning land disputes, family problems, gender based violence, and related concerns and successfully resolved about 110 of them through mediation, counselling, referrals, justice clinics, community outreach, and mobile justice interventions. Beyond the centre’s walls, our Justice Voice Radio programme alone reached over five million people across Imo State with practical information on preventing and resolving their most pressing justice problems. Thousands more were reached through sensitisation and advocacy across our three senatorial zones.”
The monarch thanked the Dutch ministry of foreign affairs for its generous support for the establishment of the Community Justice Centre and, also, to the Hague Institute for Innovation of Law for providing the vision, leadership, and the enabling platform that ‘empowered us, confront our justice challenges with courage, innovation, and purpose”, he stated .
Similarly, the Vice Chairman, Owerri NBA, Dr Ekezie Onumajuru, said that the association will collaborate with the Community Justice Centre to ensure that people have access to meaningful justice in the state.
“We are already doing the same thing and we are going to collaborate with the community justice centre (CJC) to ensure that those seeking justice in the state get it”, he said.
