The Osato and Grace Experience

Debbie Selumun Msonter-Shagba is a legal practitioner of over four (4) years experience. She is the founder of DS Msonter-Shagba and Co. And currently heads the probate department, that focuses on the provision of pro bono services to families of deceased soldiers of the Nigerian Army, KIA in the war against terrorism and insurgency in north eastern Nigeria. It is her firm believe that the service to fatherland of our fallen heroes should not go unrewarded. Many families of personnel are being thrown into untold hardship and anguish, upon the rising number of BokoHaram attacks on own troops. It is also, her desire to offer vocational and mentorship assistance to the widows and young adults of the affected families, so as to better prepare them for reintegration into civil life, outside the barracks.

We are committed to providing, and securing an economically sustainable life for families of deceased soldiers of the Nigerian Army, KIA in the war against terrorism and insurgency.

Our proposed projects include; filing and obtaining Letters of administration for the affected families, provision of vocational skills for the widows and mentorship to the young adults, and funding to carry out the above listed projects. 

The families of deceased personnel of the Nigerian Army, endure untold hardship arising from the death of their breadwinner. This is so, especially because most of the wives are illiterate, indigent and have no vocational skills to sustain themselves and their children, without the support of a husband. Our project would therefore elevate such families in no small measure and better equip the widows for gainful life outside the barracks.

We are working to give an economically sustainable life to the families of deceased soldiers of the Nigerian Army. On a scale of 1-10, the problem we are working to solve is at 9 in my community and globally. A high percentage of deaths occur on a weekly basis, arising from the number of attacks on own troops from the insurgents. Most of these deaths are not properly reported, as some soldiers are burnt beyond recognition, while others are yet taken captive and thereafter killed. The factors contributing to the problem range from the lack of proper training, absence of proper and necessary equipments, corruption and total neglect to the welfare of our troops.

In simple terms, our project aims at providing legal and economic service to the families of deceased soldiers of the Nigerian Army, KIA in the war against terrorism and insurgency. We file and obtained Letters of Administration, for the identified next of kin, so as to secure for the family whatever maybe standing to the credit of the deceased and whatever property he may have had. We also enroll the widow in the a vocational centre to acquire a skill and also mentor the young adults, if any.

We currently work in Nigerian Army Cantonment, Ojo, Lagos. But our aim is to cover all the barracks in Nigeria. The members of my community are comprised mainly of soldiers and their families. As an integral part of the community, i can better relate to our collective challenges. We organise women meetings by camps (the different residential areas within the barracks), and discuss our collective challenges and champion a way out. The Magajia's (women leaders) are saddled with the responsibility of gathering information informally and relating to the firm, and we deliberate an intervention and carry same out. We work mostly informally, to raise funds for families who have not heard from their breadwinner for a period of 8months and above and who are no longer receiving any financial support from such breadwinners, enroll the widows in the NAOWA vocational centre and when death is formally reported, we take up the responsibility of filing relevant processes in probate. Ultimately, we are able to address their legal and economic needs.

Five (5) months after my wedding, my husband who is a serving personal of the Nigerian Army was deployed to Buniyadi, Yobe State, north eastern Nigeria. He left me in my first trimester, with our first child in a new town. As i tried to find my way around my new environment, i made friends and acquaintances. I would later hear horrifying stories of the experiences of soldiers wives, who had lost their husband's in the war and it made me think of what to do to help out. I contacted one of my Lagos resident colleague, and she helped in showing me around and also assisted with most of the work we did around this period. We also used her office to do most of the work. Most of the soldiers who were deployed with my husband didn't make it back alive, and when he finally got rotated back to his unit, i was sure that starting an initiative to attend to the needs of deceased soldiers families was a must. I thereafter took steps to formally register the firm and met with the women leaders in all the camps and kicked off.

My motivation is to be of service to my community in the regard that i already do and more. I have lost friends and acquaintances of my husband whom i knew personally and watching the anguish and hardship that their spouses and children have had to face, with little or no support from the relevant authorities, fuels my desire to campaign in whatever small way i can, with the hope of a breakthrough soon. I am a part of the military community by virtue of my marriage to a personnel. With this, i believe i am best suited to campaign and champion the cause of my community in this regard and beyond.

The combination of my legal background, personal experience as a member of the military community and passion to serve my community, uniquely position me to deliver the project and also solve the identified problems of my community. It is easy to join the armed forces as a spouse to a personnel and wait to become a general's wife to enjoy the benefits of such rank, retire and go home. I believe that it takes passion and determination, with the understanding that, response to a call such as this may never come, to continue to pursue against all odds to champion my project. Our aim is to see that every affected family is properly reintegrated back to civil life with dignity and to be economically sustained.

We once had a challenge where our client whom was identified as the next of kin, had her in-laws to contend with, as they claimed their religion prescribed a certain way of inheritance, which way, prevented the deceased from naming his wife (our client) as the NOK. I had to wade in to persuade the in-laws by educating them on what an NOK was, and the benefits of obtaining Letters of administration for their late brother's estate. I was able to convince them and they allowed us to go ahead with filing and obtaining the said Letters.

As a young person in a community of very senior officers, my innovation amazes many who have come to admire my initiative and also identify with same. Our fundraisers are usually by way of going from house to house to solicit for support in any form. I have come across senior officers who praise my initiative and have also contributed to our projects.

We registered a business name for a client that didn't go well, due to the fact that our client had forgotten to send to us a particular document and that caused for a delay in registering the said name. Our client was mad upon encountering this delay, she accused me of negligence and asked for e refund. I apologized to her, gave her a refund and also delivered her certificate free of charge, when it was ready. This acts won her over and she has remained with us since after that incident.

The community within which i live and work, is the most misunderstood and misrepresented in terms if advocacy and campaign for improvement and adoption of international best practices in my country. Most people perceive it as strong and lacking in no area or totally do not know in what regard, they can be of help to it. This has made for years of neglect in the all ramifications and created a vacuum. My work is innovative in the sense that i have broken away from our culture of silence, helplessness and turning a blind eye to the plight of our heroes, serving, retired and fallen. It is my hope that the service of our heroes will be recognized and  appreciated, both in life and in death and the many days of absence from family members would indeed be worth the while for each and every personnel.

10-20 currently.

25-45 in one year.

50-200 in five years.

It is my hope that within the next one year, we should have established our presence in all the military barracks in south Western, Nigeria and engaged with as many families as possible in the areas of legal services, vocational training and mentorship.

In the next five years, we should have covered the entire country, and helped as many families as possible to reintegrate back to civil life, with skills to properly sustain their livelihood. Also, we should have campaigned with the partnership and support of like minded organizations to expand the coverage of the National Health Insurance Scheme, to cover high technology investigations and treatment for personnel whether serving or retired, inclusion of good quality drugs on the drugs list and mental health investigations for all personnel on a regular basis.

Most of these can only be achieved through the intervention of the National Assembly, through passage of bills and with the support and partnership of relevant agencies and organizations.

Finance is our most pressing challenge. This is because we don't not have access to funding of any kind. This greatly slows down our progress in acting as swiftly as we should.

We also lack the necessary publicity that our work needs,, to be able to reach our target audience and make more impact. Partnership and support of recognised and relevant agencies would do us a great deal of assistance.

Culturally,  people all over Nigeria do not see the military community as lacking or needing any intervention of any kind. We are hoping to change this for good, with our work and have the dignity and respect of our heroes restored.

Our most pressing barrier is finance. It is my hope that, we would be able to partner with organizations and attract donors to our work upon, winning at the Elevate Price program. We would continue to render our services, free of charge in probate, and for a fee, every other service rendered to our clients, so as to raise a steady source of income for our work. 

It is my believe that with the right publicity, our work work attract more lawyers and other well meaning individuals to join us as volunteers and support staff, in all the states in the country to aid with quick identification of of cases and treatment. Publicity would bring us collaborations, partnerships, donations, volunteers and generally expose us to the whole country.

With the above being accomplished, the truth about the life and challenges of the Nigerian soldier, would be brought to light, therefore changing the understanding of the average Nigerian about the reality of these community that for so long has not been understood nor appreciated.

We currently partner with (1) NAOWA vocational centre, Nigerian Army Cantonment, Ojo. (2) Lamide Royal stitches, Abuja and (3) Efe Blue Jeans.

The NAOWA vocational centre runs trainings in catering services, beauty and cosmetology, computer repairs and maintenance. We partner with them to train some of our clients at a discounted tuition.

The Lamide Royal stitches, in Abuja is in the business of training women in acquiring tailoring and fashion design skills. They have helped in training one of our client resident in Abuja at no cost to us or our client.

The Efe Blue Jeans brand had also partnered with us in the last quarter of 2019 to train 20 widows in Nigerian Army Cantonment Ojo, Lagos at a discounted rate.

It is our hope to keep to our partnership with these organizations and brands to reach more of our clients.

At DS Msonter-Shagba and Co, we offer pro bono services to families of deceased soldiers of the Nigerian army in probate. This is to grant the identified next of kin access to the estate of the deceased soldier. We go a step further to enroll the widows in vocational trainings organizations that already partner with according to their respective interests at discounted rates. Upon completion of their training programs, we register business names for the widows and encourage them to set up their businesses and run same, so as to secure a means of decent living and ultimately encourage them to relocate their families out of the barracks.

My community needs these services now more than ever, due to the increased number of personnel deaths, the large nature of their families/dependants, the usual neglect by the Nigerian army high command, and the illiteracy and indigent life of most surviving spouses.

We hope to bring in funding to sustain our work mainly through selling of services (legal fees) and through donations and grants from donors.

We hope to in the nearest future, render pro bono services in probate only to the most compelling cases, and at a discount to every other client, so as to raise funds through this means. 

All our incorporation related work, would also be at a fee, commiserate to the financial standing of our clients, so we can be able to raise funds to sustain our work.

It is our hope that with the right publicity, our work would be recognized and we would be able to gain donors who would also make donations and grants to further make for a smooth running of our work. And by so doing, our revenue stream, being utilized judiciously, would be able to sustain our expected expenses.

It is our hope that in the next five years, we would have stabilized in our work, having overcome almost all our challenges and current barriers. We would need funding to the tune of $1,316 for the remainder of 2020. And for the coming year, we would need ordinarily need funding to cover approximately 45 cases and this would run up to $5,921. We plan to sale our services as best as we can so as not to be solely dependent on these kind donations. 

For each application, we spend approximately 50,000 naira from start to finish. This sum includes filing fees, transportation and all incidental expenses, minus legal fees, as our work is pro bono.

We would appreciate grants from organizations, individuals, corporations etc to be our funding. And we also hope to raise and or receive same as soon as each year begins, so as to aid us hit the ground running as the year begins.

The work that i do is of utmost importance to my community and country, and couldn't have come at a better time. As nice as this may sound, it still needs a great deal of improvement in the areas of funding, publicity, partnership, collaboration and a touch of international best practices to name a few. It is my believe that only an opportunity such as the Elevate Prize can afford me this privilege.

Our most pressing barrier which is funding, can be achieved through the prize money that the Elevate Prize has earmarked for donation for the successful Global Heroes. This money would go a long way in actualizing our objective much easier and quicker. Particularly, we would file and obtain letters of administration in all jurisdictions, enroll for training our beneficiaries, register their businesses and have them secure befitting accommodations out of the barracks.

Our work would be publicized by a tailored media that we would ordinarily not have afforded, therefore opening up more opportunities for partnerships.

With that amount of publicity, the Nigerian public would become aware of the life, work, living standard and general challenges of the Nigerian soldier and together, join in advocating for a better life for our heroes, both serving, retired and the families of our fallen heroes.

Generally, i would like to partner with organizations that would help to achieve the goals of my initiative in the areas of training, support, mentorship and the general wellbeing of the Nigerian soldier's wife and widow.

FIN - this stands for being female in Nigeria. It is an online safe place for women. It serves as a means for Nigerian women to express the complexities of their shared struggles. We can use it's powerful platform to communicate the struggles of the widows of the Nigerian soldier.

Awesome Treasure Foundation - this is a faith based organization supporting the overall growth and development of women. We can partner with them to connect our bereaved widows to other strong women to help them help and find their purpose.