Headfort Foundation through its renowned volunteers who are legal practitioners spread across Nigeria, passionately handles cases of indigent inmates awaiting trial in court probono. Statistics shows that 40% of inmates in Nigerian Prisons are indigent citizens and does not have legal representation because they cannot afford one, hence they are at the mercy of the prosecution. Our volunteers who have been intensely trained takes up cases assigned to them passionately to ensure that the remand rate in Nigeria is brought down to its barest minimum.
Headfort Foundation partners with business owners and professionals to ensure that inmates after term do not go back to crime. it trains the ex-inmates/convicts on morals expected of them in the society and how to be a better person regardless of their experience in prison. at the training, it identify their strength and link them with partners for skills acquisition, education or employment as the case may be.
Headfort Foundation aims at sensitizing the youth and Nigerian Citizens through media, seminars, workshops, symposium and its social media platforms on human rights subjects, steps to take when arrested by Nigerian Police, extent of police powers and steps to take to avoid police brutality.
Headfort Foundation aims at meeting with local and national stakeholders, Institutions, and authorities to discuss modes of decongesting Nigerian Prison through policies and procedures.
Oluyemi Orija is a Nigerian, a lawyer, an Entrepreneur and a Human Right Activist. She graduated from Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti, Nigeria and proceeded to Nigerian Law School. After law school in Lagos Nigeria, Oluyemi proceeded to Akwaibom State, Nigeria for her compulsory one year National Youth Service where she served her country at the legal department of Uruan Local Government Area.
Oluyemi worked as Associate in four law firms across Nigeria before setting up her law practice (Headfort Chambers) in Lagos in 2015. In the course of her service in the different law firms, she picked up interest in creation of access to justice as she witness inmates being brought to court without legal representation. They languish in prison on minor offence charges and in most cases, the inmates are innocent of the crime charged but only a victim of police brutality, extortion and excesses.
In 2018, Oluyemi introduced a Corporate Social Responsibility initiative to Headfort Chambers where the firm through its employees visit the prison and take up the cases of indigent inmates and victims of police brutality and represent them pro bono. In 2019, the CSR initiative became bigger than the firm envisaged in terms of impartation and number of people begging to be attended to, at that point, it was decided that the initiative be registered as a non profit outfit.
In March 2019 Oluyemi Orija founded Headfort Foundation and the foundation has secured the release of 100s of inmates PRO BONO. The foundation has unveiled its sensitization, advocacy and empowerment program where it sensitize students of senior secondary schools and Nigerian Youth on their Human Rights and Consequences of Crime.
The foundation currently has hundreds of lawyers volunteering for it and representing inmates in different courts across Nigeria.
Oluyemi is married to Oluwaseun Orija and she is blessed with an adorable son.
