Agency decries rate of marital crisis, land dispute in Ekiti

A human rights protection agency in Ekiti, Office of the Public Defender, has declared that marital crisis and land dispute are the  two commonest societal evils affecting the peace and stability of the state.

The governmental agency revealed that, it mediated in over 50 marriage-related crises and proportionate number of land dispute cases in 2019, while several similar issues are still pending before the agency.

The executive secretary of the agency, Barrister Bolanle Wale- Awe, who stated this in Ado Ekiti, Tuesday, said the government established the outfit to give free legal services, advice and mediate in marital crisis as well as land dispute , to bring justice to the  doorsteps of the oppressed .

Wale-Awe said: “The commonest of all the issues we are handling here are cases of marital disharmony and land disputes, which bordered on fight over paternity of a child.

“In many of those cases we handled, we normally conduct DNA tests and found out that most men are in the habit of denying the pregnancy they were responsible for. Some men were also fond of abandoning the upkeep of their children among other nefarious acts.

“Another issue is this high tendency of some people to fight over lands or owners of lands trying to sell a plot to two or three persons. All these are creating instability and heating up the society.

“We are dealing with over 20 variant of issues to bring justice to the people and to decongest our courts, because many of the cases that will take four years in courts can be handled and settled here in a day”.

The Executive Secretary called for more funding for the agency to improve automation of the data processing and compilation, create conducive atmosphere for personnel and meet other obligations that will strengthen the agency for better productivity.

“This office ought to have an ICT to process our data and make it functional in the discharge of our duties. We have about nine lawyers here offering legal services among other staff, but this place is not conducive enough for them to perform.”

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