Eighty per cent of Nigerian Law School graduates every year, end up in Lagos, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Lagos branch said yesterday.
The attraction for the young lawyers, it said, is Lagos’ status as the country’s commercial hub.
The branch’s Chairman, Ikechukwu Uwanna said most of them join his branch, the biggest in the NBA with about 14,000 members.
He added that it was important for the NBA, especially his branch, to properly train, mentor, and equip them for the demands of the profession.
Uwanna, who spoke with journalists in Ikoyi ahead of the NBA Lagos annual law week programme, said his branch would induct them into its young lawyers’ programme which would provide them an opportunity to learn how to navigate their way to greatness.
The Lagos NBA Law Week begins Monday and ends Friday, June 23. It is themed “Facing the Future: Law in a Globalised Economy”.
Nwanna said: “NBA Lagos branch over the years has cultivated this tradition that has taken it further to have a law week every year and our law week is the intellectual festival of our branch members.
“The NBA Lagos branch has over 14,000 members and it’s the biggest branch of the NBA; we have robust members who are quite interested in having their intellectual capacity always rejuvenated so they can impact in the legal sphere.”
Read Also: Anidi named among ‘billboard top music lawyers’
The Chairman, 2023 Law Week Planning Committee, Adewale Adesokan (SAN), said the programme would be engaging with an array of intellectuals to stimulate minds on a lot of topics.
According to him, there would have about nine breaking sessions where various topics such as globalised economy, the ease of doing business in Nigeria, regulations of doing business in Nigeria, Data protection law, artificial intelligence transforming the judiciary, and restoration of civil disputes among others, would be interrogated.
Vice Chairman Folashade Alli, who is moderating one of the plenary sessions, said it’s a time of networking where older members of the branch will also have the opportunity to mentor the younger ones.
She said: “Some of us are getting old, the younger ones need to get closer to us; it’s a mentoring, a time of socials, networking. We have a guest artiste, if you come, you’ll find out who it is. We are going to dance. It’s a formal event and we also have loads of gifts we are giving out at the raffle draw”.
“And the good thing is we are going back to out alma mater, Law School, so people can see what law school is and the fact what we need to improve the law school. We need all lawyers to realize that this is the school that taught us years ago and they need money, more funding, so we are going back to see how we can also help”.
Vice Chairman, Dr Adesola Falaiye is confident that this years conference is an improvement on previous years. She urged participants to come expectant and reiterated the fact that the conference was physical and hybrid.
The Vice Chairperson, NBA Lagos Branch, Mrs. Abiye Tam-George thanked the members of the planning committee for all the activities they put together and wished everyone an enjoyable conference.