About Detainees’ Welfare Foundation
At the core of our foundation’s mission is to address the issue of overcrowded prisons and rehabilitate individuals currently serving time.
We have already begun this initiative in collaboration with the Nigerian Prisons Service at the medium security Kuje Prisons in Abuja and Ikoyi Prisons in Lagos State.
We are currently representing at least 50 cases in Lagos and Abuja.
Our efforts aim to provide legal representation, rehabilitation programs, and support to detainees, ensuring their rights are upheld and helping to alleviate overcrowding in these facilities. Since November 2024, we have represented and offered legal advice in over 50 cases across Nigeria.
The best way to not feel hopeless is to get up and do something
Michael Owolabi
FounderWe are currently running multiple critical initiatives that we believe can transform the futures of many lives, and we are reaching out to seek your support:
More then 345 000+
People Were Helped
DWF Cleancare Initiative
DWF CleanCare is a hygiene and wellbeing initiative designed to restore dignity and improve daily living conditions for detainees. Through the distribution of essential hygiene kits, clean clothing, and targeted sanitation activities, the program ensures access to items like soap, toothpaste, detergent, body creams, and clean wear. DWF CleanCare also drives lasting change by offering health education sessions, organizing facility fumigation, and leading clothing donation drives. Together, these efforts promote healthier environments, reduce preventable diseases, and support the rehabilitation journey of detainees.
DWF Gift Your Kits (GYK) Initiative
This project provides amenity kits to children and vulnerable individuals at IDP camps and across Nigeria. Each kit contains essential items such as tissue, soap, body cream, toothpaste, toothbrushes, and other personal care products. These basic hygiene supplies play a vital role in promoting health, preserving dignity, and improving the overall well-being of those in need, including the elderly. By addressing these fundamental needs, the initiative strives to support individuals in situations where access to such products is limited.
Donated over 200+ kits
within Abuja and Lagos
Donated over 200+
books to nursery and
primary school
EDUreach Initiative
The EDUreach Initiative is an initative of the Detainees Welfare Foundation (DWF) dedicated to expanding literacy and promoting educational empowerment within underserved communities. The initiative focuses on students in public schools, children in orphanages, and inmates in correctional facilities—ensuring they have access to essential learning resources and meaningful opportunities for personal development. Through EDUreach, beneficiaries receive vital educational materials such as exercise books, reading resources, pencils, pens, sharpeners, and other learning essentials that many lack due to financial or systemic barriers. Beyond providing materials, the initiative also nurtures a positive culture of learning, curiosity, and self‑improvement. By equipping individuals with the tools and mindset for education, EDUreach supports them in building skills that can transform their lives and open pathways to a brighter future.
More then 345 000+
People Were Helped
DWF Know Your Rights Initiative (The Law in Your Language)
Law in Your Language is a social media initiative by the Detainees Welfare Foundation (DWF) created to spread knowledge and awareness about the rights of Nigerian citizens. Through this program, the DWF team research key legal topics and simplifies them into short, T engaging videos that are shared on our LinkedIn and Instagram pages. The goal is to make legal information accessible and understandable for everyone, regardless of background or education level.
More then 345 000+
People Were Helped
Adoption of Schools
The Adoption of Public Schools is an initiative of the Detainees Welfare Foundation (DWF) aimed at enhancing the learning environment for pupils in LEA Nursery and Primary Schools across Nigeria. The project focuses on upgrading essential infrastructure to create a safe, conducive, and inspiring space for quality education. LEA Nursery and Primary School, Pigba 1, serves as the pilot school for this initiative.
Aims & Objectives
Free Legal Aid & Reintegration Support
To organize & provide free legal assistance to detainees and all persons in the “awaiting trial” category and help in their reintegration back into society.
Welfare & Rehabilitation Advancement
To ensure the implementation of welfare and rehabilitation programmes for detainees and prisons in collaboration with the relevant government agencies within the community and the nation at large
Strategic Government & Stakeholder Collaboration
To Liaise with the government and support the implementation of commitments made by government, the private sector and other agencies towards the enhancement of the welfare of detainees within the community and throughout the nation.
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Foundation
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donors
incredible
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Meet Our Current Trustees
What People Think
My name is Hassan Abidun and I was remanded to the Kuje Prison for over a year for assault. I honestly don’t know how long I had left, but I know that the life I was living there has been unbearable. I really appreciate the DWF team for all the assistance they have given to me to ensure that I was released as soon as possible. They perfected my bail and I owe my freedom to them. I know better now and I will use this second opportunity to do better in the
world.
Hassan Abidun
Kuje PrisonI was remanded to Suleja Prison for trespass. It was a big misunderstanding. I was in Suleja for several months, and it was a very painful and confusing time for me. Life inside was hard and I had lost hope of coming out anytime soon.
The day DWF came to visit was the day my story changed. They listened to me, took up my case, and helped ensure that my bail was perfected. Today, I am free because of their support. I am deeply grateful to the DWF team and I promise to use this second chance to live a better life.
Zainab Sadiya
Suleja PrisonDetainees Welfare Foundation is dedicated to supporting a part of our society that is too often overlooked; a group whose needs rarely stay in focus, even when they matter most. Working here has been deeply fulfilling, and each day reminds me why this work is necessary. I look forward to creating even more impact in the lives we touch.