Patrick Dunkwu - Nigeria

Patrick DunkwuSee updates from Patrick's project.

See Patrick's application to the 2008 JusticeMakers Competition.

When Patrick's father was detained in prison for six months without a trial date, Patrick and his family relied on the assistance of a legal aid lawyer who helped secure his release. Seeing first hand the inefficiency of the Nigerian criminal justice system and the disastrous effects of it became a life-altering event compelled him to study law to work towards building a more effective criminal justice system in his country and as a defender of human rights.

Patrick studied history and education with an emphasis on educational psychology and counseling. Afterwards he attended Nigerian Law School in Abuja and upon completing his legal degree, worked as a legal aid lawyer at a civil rights NGO where he defended those who were victims of human rights violations. He later joined the Human Assistance Initiative as a program director overseeing projects relating to legal protection, human rights and democratic development. In his work he had come into contact with many individuals who were detained by police for years without trial. Often times, detainees go days without their families being notified that they are being held. Given the plight of inmates sitting in overcrowded prisons, Patrick envisions a more efficient Nigerian prison system free of congestion.

In Lagos, Patrick did a needs-assessment of the state of lower court judges in Lagos and eventually created a judicial training program for judges to be more aware and sensitive to issues of human rights. His work as a lawyer has focused on indigent persons. With the encouragement of his mother, who often reminds him of the gratitude that they have for the legal aid lawyer who took on his father's case, he takes on pro bono work, and sometimes even brings her to court proceedings.


The Problem

Although Nigeria’s constitution says that an arrested criminal defendant is entitled to inform his lawyers and family about his arrest, this is rarely the case.  Police often make arrests and secretly charge suspects without allowing them access to their lawyers or notifying their families.  Additionally, many of these suspects cannot afford a lawyer.  As a result, criminal defendants are unrepresented and end up in overpopulated prisons and without legal support for years, even decades.

The Innovation

Patrick seeks to ensure early legal counsel for indigent criminal defendants by using mobile phones to link lawyers and paralegals with defendants who have been recently arrested or sentenced. By stationing volunteers at courts daily, these volunteers will be able to speak with prisoners and call their lawyers or family members early enough to prevent the suspect from being sent unnecessarily to prison on remand custody.

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Patrick Updates

Reinforcing the protection for, and the individual dignity of, people facing criminal prosecution in developing and transitional countries
  • JusticeMakers Fellow from Nigeria gives legal aid training in Ghana
    Moved by his father’s detainment by the police for six months without trial, Patrick Dunkwu has worked towards improving transparency in the criminal justice system in Nigeria.  He is a JusticeMaker after being one of eight winners of the JusticeMakers competition and was a recipient of the 2008 fellowship. Patrick Dunkwu and Fitzpatrick Maria form the [...]
  • A Photojournalist’s first take on Nigeria, Rule of Law and JusticeMaker Patrick Dunkwu
    The Nigerian justice system, like much of the country’s infrastructure, is in a state of serious disrepair. Many of the courthouses serve as appropriate metaphors in their varying states of neglect. Above: The degree of poverty the majority of the population live in is shocking. Affording a lawyer when in contest with the law is an unimaginable [...]
  • Nigerian JusticeMakers fellow reports release of key defendants
    The hearing of Patrick’s first criminal defendant was held on the 15th of May. The defendant, who was been accused of stealing a mobile phone handset, had previously been released on bail. At the hearing he was acquitted of all charges and completely discharged from jail thanks to the efforts of Patrick and Mr. Felix [...]
  • Nigerian JusticeMakers fellow fights for the right to personal liberty in year-long court case
    Patrick’s most recent case, concerning the theft of a car, has been drawn out for almost a year. In July of 2008, a man brought a Toyota Camry Car to a garage, where one of the mechanics had offered to sell it for him. This was not out of the ordinary; the garage frequently sold [...]
  • Patrick, JusticeMakers fellow files human rights case before the High Court of Lagos State
    On Friday, 27th of January, Patrick secured the release of a couple who had been threatened and arrested by the police on false-allegations of assault. Acting as an agent to his landlord, one of the accused had issued statutory quit notices to a tenant who had failed to pay her rent for over three years. He [...]