The South- South Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) Volunteer Lawyers Network(SVLN), has been inaugurated.
The inauguration was held at the Ogeyi Place hotel in Port Harcourt, the Rivers state capital, on Thursday.
A total of 15 volunteer lawyers from Akwa Ibom, Cross River and Edo states were inaugurated.
Inaugurating them, SERAP’s Legal Adviser, Andrew Nwankwo, explained that the essence of the network was to have professionals and people with necessary expertise that would join SERAP in its fight against corruption, lack of transparency and ensuring accountability in government.
He added that this new set will join other volunteer lawyers already existing in SVLN.
The legal adviser who also administered the oath, charged them to go back to their various states and ensure that everybody regardless of their status or place in the community enjoy equal rights as guaranteed by the constitution.
Earlier while speaking on the topic; ” The Role of Public Interest Litigation in Demanding Social Justice”, Nwankwo noted that the idea of PIL was to normalise accountability.
He said, “Public Interest Litigation(PIL) is a very strategic tool for accessing justice. We have been talking about it for a very long time. It is practically what we use to demand for accountability. it has so much importance in telling government to do those things that they ought to do. We have said part of the ways you can use PIL to demand justice is writing FOIs, bringing public interest litigations, letting the communities and the people who are most vulnerable and disadvantaged know that they can get access to justice; they are not stopped from going to court; they can have a better society and they can enjoy better rights if they question or demand for these things from government”.
While taking the oath, the new volunteer lawyers pledged to uphold the values and vision of the network.
They also swore to serve with integrity, commitment and accountability as well as work cooperatively with fellow members and give their best to advance the goals of the network.
The event featured the distribution of SERAP Volunteer Lawyers Network handbook to the new members.
The book is a guide to what they are expected to do
