Nigerian startup LawPadi has launched an online legal query platform, aiming to educate the population about their legal rights and duties through the free personalised service.
LawPadi invites users to submit their legal question or issue via the online platform, and a member of the LawPadi team will respond with the user’s rights and options available to them.
The startup currently guarantees a response to any query within 24 hours, but hopes to reduce the response time to just a few hours.
Founder and managing director of LawPadi Babatunde Ibidapo-Obe said the startup aims to educate the average Nigerian about their rights and duties, and as such LawPadi focuses on giving clear and easy-to-understand answers, and cutting through legal jargon.
“We believe the way the legal system in Nigeria is set up needs to change. There is a severe imbalance against the common person with respect to access to justice and knowledge of rights. We launched LawPadi to attempt to move the scales of justice in favour of the people who need it…the regular man or woman on the street, the fledgling startup, or even just the person trying to educate themselves on their rights,” Ibidapo-Obe said.
Over the coming weeks LawPadi also intends to roll out an SMS-based service. Users will subscribe to the SMS service, and receive weekly informative messages providing content on a variety of legal issues, and a person’s rights under those circumstances.
Ibidapo-Obe launched the startup following a legal career spanning Nigeria and the United Kingdom; saying he is passionate about empowering people to assert their rights using technology.