One of the most impactful dicta to have proceeded from a judicial mind was uttered by Lord Denning in the case of Parker v. Parker (1953) 2 All E.R. 121 when the former Master of the Rolls said these immortal words:
"What is the argument on the other side? Only this, that no case has been found in which it has been done before. That argument does not appeal to me in the least. If we never do anything which has not been done before, we shall never get anywhere...
"...The law will stand still while the rest of the world goes on and that will be bad for both.”
In exactly 1 month from today, we Nigerian lawyers will be going to the polls to elect national officers to pilot the affairs of our Association for the next 24 months. It is a testament to the changing times that I am even able to do this thread in respect of NBA elections.
Believe it or not, when I was called to the Nigerian Bar 8 years and for some years afterwards I did not have the right to vote in NBA elections due to the then applicable delegate system. This changed in 2016 when the Association introduced universal suffrage.
Those days of delegate voting are now long gone. May they never come back.
A feature of the 2020 NBA elections season has been the endorsements from eminent lawyers for the different candidates, which has added to the intrigues of this year's contest. I don't consider myself worthy to make an endorsement. What I can however do, is to say it as I see it.
The choices facing Nigerian lawyers in this year's election, especially in respect of the candidates for the office of NBA President have never been starker. We have three candidates with three different messages or policy thrusts. This is good for the democratic process.
Candidate A is a senior member of the Bar whose candidacy, if we are being honest, is representative of the past, and whose strongest claim to the office is the roles he played in the NBA 16 years ago. This is a candidate that the electorate has already rejected on two occasions.
In light of the rapid developments that are taking place all over the world in real time, I am confident that Nigerian lawyers know better than to take such a regressive step.
Candidate B is a fine & charismatic gentleman and undoubtedly a very distinguished practitioner. But his messaging centres on needed reforms of the justice system in isolation from the other challenges facing the Association including the wellbeing of the Association's members.
In fact, it is easy to mistake Candidate B's message as coming from one aspiring to be the Attorney General of the Federation as opposed to the President of the NBA. In the overall interest of all, I believe Candidate B's qualities will be better off deployed in another capacity.
Candidate C represents a fantastic opportunity for the NBA to redeem its battered imagine & regain its rightful place as the defender of the rule of law and a platform to advance the wellbeing of ALL Nigerian lawyers, regardless of practice area, year of call & place of practice.
For too long the policy thrusts of successive NBA leaderships have been somewhat removed from what should be the raison d'etre of any association, the welfare and wellbeing of its members.
The poor remuneration of Nigerian lawyers has made the profession a laughing stock. I was privileged to have travelled round Nigeria earlier in the year before COVID-19 struck. The condition of the majority of Nigerian lawyers esp the young lawyers, is frightening.
Many lawyers do not have contracts of employment and are at the mercy of their 'Principals'. Many have only one source of livelihood, court appearance fees. You can then imagine what has been their fate since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Some senior lawyers, even in Lagos pay their lawyers LESS than their own drivers and they still owe these lawyers salary. This includes those who obviously earn enough to pay well but are just wicked. It is also in this Nigeria that some lawyers send their 'juniors' to buy Amala.
And do you blame the young lawyers who accept to work under these inhumane condition? The answer is No! Unemployment is real! And so if poverty. If they reject it, there is a long line of other lawyers waiting to take their place.
The respect that lawyers once commanded in Nigeria, that attracted some of us to the profession, has all but eroded. There is at least one Nigerian lawyer is in the custody of the security agencies at every point in time.
I can go on and on. It is depressing. The result is that many lawyers have since given up on the NBA as an Association that is only interested in collecting their Bar Practicing Fees and Branch News every year and do nothing for them. And do you blame them?
To appreciate how the legal profession in Nigeria has held itself back permit me to digress and take you down memory lane.
When I gained admission into the Faculty of Law ABSU Abia State in the summer of 2005, my sole aspiration was to graduate, proceed to the Nigerian Law School, pass the bar exam, get called to the Nigerian Bar and return to practice law (read litigation) in Aba, Umuahia or Okigwe.
While there is absolutely nothing wrong with practicing law in those places and indeed nothing wrong with dispute resolution practice (which I have enjoyed for 7 years), the problem is that I didn't know that there was more to the profession other than to litigation.
This remained my prevailing mindset until after my Bar final exam in August 2012 when I heard for the first time that there is something known as commercial law firms in Lagos, which pay decent salaries to their lawyers.
Almost 10 years after graduating from University, I conducted a webinar for students of my Alma Mater, and was stunned to realise that although information & more opportunities now abound, there is not much diff between my mindset then and theirs now. Therein lies the problem.
There is a huge disconnect between the law that is taught in Nigerian Universities and the Law School and the practice of law, if not in Lagos then at least in the developed countries in the world. In 2020, that is unacceptable.
The legal education in Nigeria is predominantly litigation focused. Consequentially, majority of lawyers know nothing other than litigation, thereby saturating the market and giving the impression that we have too many lawyers in Nigeria.
Even the disputes we learn is narrow minded. It is sacrilegious that only a few faculties of Law teach Commercial Arbitration as a course/module in the University. At the Law School, Arbitration is taught for a few hours as part of a topic in Civil Litigation. Imagine the irony!
Meanwhile the world long gravitated towards arbitration as a preferred dispute resolution mechanism esp in cross border transactions. To realise how lucrative arbitration practice is and what we are missing, simply search online for the legal fees in Yukos v Russian Federation.
Unwittingly, the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria has over the years perpetuated this imbalance. We are called to the Bar as Barristers & Solicitors of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. And there is a rank of Senior Advocates of Nigeria, which is specifically for Barristers.
If the SAN rank is available for the lawyers in dispute resolution practice and a few slots available each year those in the Academia, what rank is available for those who are in commercial practice (i.e. the Solicitors components)... perhaps Senior Solicitor of Nigeria?
Perhaps this explains why in the past 30 years, all Presidents of the Nigerian Bar Association have all been Senior Advocates of Nigeria. Isn't it incongruous that out of a profession of 150,000+ members, the office of President is the exclusive reserve of less than 500 members?
There is a whole world of commercial Law practitioners who have no intention of becoming Senior Advocates of Nigeria (excluding me), but this by no means makes them inferior in stature or wealth to their distinguished counterparts in the dispute resolution practice.
It's impossible to drive home my point without specific reference. No one no matter how highly placed in the profession can challenge the preeminent position occupied by the likes of George Etomi, Gbenga Oyebode, Asue Ighodalo, Oghogho Akpata etc simply because they are not SANs.
It is against the backdrop of these that Olumide Akpata's candidacy comes as a breath of fresh air and a golden opportunity for Nigerian lawyers who are fed up with status quo to contribute to actualise the needed changes in the running of the Association's affairs.
We can no longer afford the status quo. We all know about the popular saying about the person who continues to do the same thing over and over again, and yet expects a different result.
It was from Olumide Akpata that I heard the profound illustrations that blew my mind. All over Nigeria, there are huge projects going on, Dangote Refinery, NLNG Train 7, Ibom Deep Sea Port, 2nd Niger Bridge, Rail projects, SuperHighway etc.
While all these require legal services, most Nigerian lawyers only believe they are needed when the parties fight. And do you blame them?
For too long we Nigerian lawyers have perished for lack of knowledge. Olumide Akpata is not going to start sharing money to young lawyers or flog senior lawyers into paying them fees that are commensurate with their services. But one thing he brings to the table is empowement!
Olu has a time-honoured track record of participation in, and support of, NBA activities that date back at least to my admission to the Nigerian Bar 8 years ago. I starting seeing him when I attended my first SBL Conference. There was just something captivating about him.
I have listened to Olumide Akpata many times and it is impossible to miss the passion with which he speaks about the NBA and what he can do to improve the lot of the Association and the members. His track record demonstrably show that he has what it takes.
I believe in the saying that he who is faithful in little shall be faithful in plenty. Olu performed so creditably as Chair of NBA-SBL that other candidates are now crambling to identify with the Section. We now hear that Candidate A formed it while Candidate B resurrected it.
Indeed success has many fathers. What is often forgotten is that if the various Chairpersons of the NBA-SBL including Olumide Akpata had not performed creditably and elevated the status of the Section, there would have nothing for someone to claim ownership of or resurrector of.
Olumide is not a sudden preacher of welfare of Nigerian lawyers esp young lawyers. His firm had been at the forefront of championing the welfare of employees and is one of the highest paying in the country. We can't say the same about others. You cannot give what you don't have.
Under him, young lawyers were sponsored from diff parts of Nigeria to attend SBL Business Law Conf in Abuja (some for the first time since their call to Bar). It didn't stop there, he organised in collaboration with the IBA, a special training for them on modern law practice.
More than the other candidates, he knows about the contemporary problems in the Association and has practical answers. As he himself said, of the three, he is the one with the recent relevant experience and the only one that can immediately hit the ground running.
The tenure of NBA President is just 24 months and the NBA can afford neither a candidate with no experience nor one whose experience is dated!
What is argument against his candidacy? That he is not a Senior Advocate of Nigeria or a Litigator. In view of what I have said above, I believe you now agree that this is a non starter.
The other point is that he is not from the South West part of Nigeria. As my intervention here demonstrates, that argument also does not hold water.
businessday.ng/legal-business…
businessday.ng/legal-business…
So what then is the argument of the other side? That Olumide Akpata cannot keep the promises he has made. My response? We need these nay sayers to make way for those who know what they are doing and who believe that the legal profession in Nigeria can be salvaged. #OluForAll
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