Trust but verify
Maybe there is a case for
becoming a bit bookish about knowing how to live and work in Nigeria. Possibly
making your decisions based on something more concrete than what you heard
someone say and that idea has been through so many revisions before it got to
you with no semblance to the original thought or import. Rumours should not
equate to fact, even if eventually proven true.
If accosted, in a country
rife with the abuse of rights and process, would you know your rights enough to
fight your corner through the system and expect not to have been persecuted and
prosecuted unfairly?

Much as we can be
religious and leave much to chance, gut feeling or the sentiment of belief or
clan, the many times we have entered into arrangements that fall through
because the detail necessary to make binding agreements were not pored over
with the necessity such requires.
This blog began on a whim
as I asked on Twitter what I should write about and @LegalNaija challenged me to write
something about their blog.
Taking you through the
minutiae
LegalNaija
is hosted at http://www.legalnaija.com/ 
and they have been active since 2012, they provide a disclaimer on their front
page that reads, “Posts and comments by the publishers of this blog do not
constitute legal advice or create an attorney-client relationship.
” 
However, the kind of
information you can glean from the many things they write about can give
insight into how to ride through much of the Nigerian bureaucracy which at the
best of times can be a haunting nightmare, leaving you out of pocket and with
nothing to show for it.
Simple things like reading and vetting
your contracts
before you sign anything; as if we should be told, but in
many cases, we rarely ready the small print, it is sometimes suffused with
indecipherable legalese leading in unexpected pitfalls when things fall apart.
Nothing wrong in reminding us of such simple things.
A tip, an insight or an
idea
On the blog, you have
explainers on fundamental rights, operating businesses, seeking legal redress,
bills enacted, laws and much else that a blog like mine cannot begin to cover.
However, I can introduce
you to LegalNaija and ask that you
follow their Twitter account @LegalNaija,
there is no telling what snippet of information can be that insight or idea to
ensure you don’t end up in a needless and expensive legal wrangle – and I tell
you, Nigeria is one legal minefield even to the savviest of legal experts. I
commend them.

By: Akin Akintayo 
Ed’s Note- This article was originally published here