Abasiodiong Ekpeyong wins ₦100,000 Paul Usoro Challenge for offering free legal services
Abasiodiong Ekpeyong, Esq has won the inaugural Paul Usoro Pro Bono Challenge, a contest where young lawyers were encouraged to share their stories of offering unpaid legal services in order to encourage young inspired, forward-thinking members of the Nigerian Bar to spark a movement and change the narrative in Nigeria’s legal space.
Mr Ekpeyong was declared the winner out of the 9 entries after having satisfied the competition’s criteria, which included that the pro bono case must be at the trial stage, meet existing or emerging legal needs of low-income or less privileged Nigerians and forward supporting documents to authenticate their claim. Matters involving issues of gender, child abuse and humanitarian matters were given preference.
Entries were received from lawyers between 1 to 5 years at the Bar practising in Benue, Ebonyi, Kwara, Lagos, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, and Delta states.
A three-person Evaluation Committee, comprising of Prof. Fabian Ajogwu, SAN, Mrs Abimbola Akeredolu, SAN and Mr Essien Udom, was constituted to appraise and evaluate the entries and select the winners.
The entire process was conducted and facilitated by DKK, an independent & leading public relations consultancy agency.
All the entrants will receive consolation prizes of N50,000.00 each for efforts.
The Paul Usoro Challenge, named for seasoned Lagos commerical lawyer, Paul Usoro SAN aimed to highlight the great but often untold work that lawyers around the country engage in and celebrate them.
In remarks on his Twitter page, Usoro SAN said the competition was born out of “an overwhelming need to pass a strong message on the need for active service by lawyers to their communities.”
