By John Austin Unachukwu
The new leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association Section on Business Law (NBA-SBL) has pledged its commitment to strengthening the section’s institutional and governance structure.
It said it was also open to new ideas that would help it build systems to enable the section increase its value to members and constituents.
NBA-SBL’s newly elected Chairman Ayuli Jemide stated this in his acceptance/inaugural message, adding that his administration would aim to achieve these through ad-hoc task forces.
He said: “I enthusiastically look forward to working with the new Council, Committee Chairs, Committee Members and SBL Members in the coming days. We will knock on doors from time to time as we aim to achieve a lot through ad-hoc task forces. We would as great listeners be all ears, please bring on every thought and many new ideas. I love new ideas and I think new ideas are the best diet for great institutions, like the SBL,” he said.
The NBA-SBL inaugurated a new council on Friday, August 28, 2020 to steer the affairs of the section for the next two years.
Elected alongside Ayuli Jemide, are Dr. Adeoye Adefulu, Vice Chairman; Ozofu Ogiemudia, Secretary. She chaired the Conference Planning Committee of the just concluded Section on Business Law Conference and Isaiah Bozimo, Treasurer. The council was elected unopposed.
The Chairman and his Exco have hit the ground running with the announcement of a new Council, whose composition is inclusive and caters for all demographics “particularly people who represent yesterday, today and tomorrow.”
This new leadership has increased the number of women on council from four to eight. Also introduced, is the office of a Membership Secretary, whose duty is to ensure value to members of the Section, while the chair of young lawyers committee has also been co-opted to Council.
In line with its developmental strides, an email address has been set up (Chairman@nba-sbl.org) for members to share their thoughts, ideas and complaints, while this communication channel will also be open for the Chairman to report to members as frequent as possible.
Jemide, who is the Lead Partner at Detail Commercial Solicitors, is also a pioneer member of the NBA-SBL. He served under George Etomi as a Committee Chair, and thereafter served every other Chairman of the section in various capacities – Mfon Usoro, Gbenga Oyebode, Asue Ighodalo, Olu Akpata, and Seni Adio SAN. He has been re-elected to the SBL Council three times in various capacities. He has also been a conference planning committee (CPC) Chair.
In his earlier remarks, he described his SBL journey as a long engaging road with lots of fine and rewarding moments. “All these experiences make me realise the amount of hard work that has been deployed by all preceding Chairmen and Councils to bring our dear SBL to its enviable state as an association known for trail blazing and innovation. I have no doubts that our major immediate tasks would include strengthening the institutional and governance structure of the SBL and building systems for SBL to increase its menu and value proposition to paying members and constituents,” Jemide stated.
The NBA Section on Business Law is a specialist section of the Nigeria Bar Association set up to promote the professional development of commercial lawyers.
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