Lagos OPD recovers N815m, $52k for indigent residents

…resolves 14,000 petitions

By Alaba Oyebanji

Lagos State Government, yesterday, said the Office of the Public Defender, OPD, now Bureau of Public Defender, BPD, has recovered N815 million and $52,000 in compensation for indigent residents since its establishment 25 years ago.

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, represented by the Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Mrs. Bolaji Dada, disclosed this at the silver jubilee celebration of the agency held at Victoria Island.

Sanwo-Olu said the OPD, created in 2000 under then Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu with Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, as Attorney-General, had grown into a vital pillar of the state’s justice system.

He said: “The OPD was born of a vision to make justice available to every Lagosian, not just the privileged. Today, that vision has become a reality.”

According to him, the bureau has managed nearly 50,000 court cases, resolved over 14,000 petitions through mediation, and maintained an 86 per cent success rate in litigation.

The governor added: “The most remarkable achievement is not in the numbers but in the human stories—families reunited, dignity restored, victims of abuse protected, and voices once silenced now heard.”

Sanwo-Olu explained that the office was upgraded to a Bureau of Public Defender on March 20, 2025, to enhance efficiency and expand its reach.

He urged the agency to embrace digital innovation, strengthen partnerships and deepen its commitment to protecting the vulnerable.

The Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Lawal Pedro, SAN, said the OPD was a legacy of bold vision and had handled more than 200,000 petitions since inception.

Pedro recalled: “The OPD was created under the visionary leadership of Governor Bola Tinubu, now President, with Prof. Yemi Osinbajo as Attorney-General. From a modest unit under the Directorate for Citizens’ Rights, it has become a full-fledged agency with its headquarters in Surulere and nine offices across the state—from Ajegunle to Ajah, Ikorodu to Epe, Badagry, Agege, Ogba and Alimosho.”

He added: “The journey of the OPD proves that when the government, the Bar, the Bench and civil society work together, the rule of law is strengthened and the vulnerable are protected.”

Pedro, who joined the Ministry of Justice in 1987 and rose to Solicitor-General before retiring in 2015, said witnessing the bureau’s transformation from inception to silver jubilee was humbling.

“I was there at the beginning, when the OPD was first conceived as a bold response to the urgent need to make justice accessible to every indigent Lagosian. To stand here 25 years later and see how far it has come is both humbling and inspiring,” he said.

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