By Isong Cyril
Poor Nigerian inmates can wait years for their cases to go to trial, from findings More than two-thirds of Nigeria’s prison inmates are pre-trial detainees, some having spent decades behind bars, waiting for a trial.
But a Nigeria civil rights lawyer by name Oluwafunke Adeoye is striving to reform the country’s human rights justice system to ensure equal rights for all. As systemic injustice disproportionately affects people of colour, Funke has dedicated her life to the pursuit of galvanizing for change in the criminal justice system using service delivery, data, technology adoption and evidence-based advocacy.
According to Bella naija publications, the said Nigerian human rights defender and the founder of Nigeria’s Hope behind bars Africa, has worked for more than two decades promoting human rights and the rule of law in Nigeria.
Findings also confirm that she has built a career on defending human rights. In 2019, she won Accountability Lab’s SDG 16 Innovation Challenge for the idea “connect lawyer”, a web based application that connects probono lawyers to indigent persons requiring legal services.
Funke has taken on and won legal challenges aimed at the prison system. Her organization, Hope Behind Bars: Africa is a youth-led organisation galvanizing for change in the Criminal Justice system using service delivery, legal aid, evidence-based advocacy and technology.
Going by publications by Punch newspaper her founded organization (Hope behind bars Africa) has empowered 102 incarcerated women, and represented 420 destitute pre-trial inmates, within five impact years.
And it also facilitated legal representation for nearly 90 peaceful protesters who were detained unlawfully
She also Supported 7,000+ justice-involved individuals through free legal aid, welfare interventions and fundamental human rights action against the government and Built a network of over 200 lawyers who have logged in 700,000 hours of pro-bono time, reducing time spent on trial by 50%.
In 2023, she was Selected as one of 700 participants across Africa for the highly competitive Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders. An initiative of President Obama and the United State Department of State.