The Nation Newspaper

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  • Drivers, riders told to abstain from drugs, others

    Comercial bus and taxi drivers, and motorcycle operators have been enjoined to stay off drug and alcohol.

    According to the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), drug and alcohol are the major contributors to road accidents.

    At a campaign against drug abuse and alcoholism organised by National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members serving at the agency, its Director-General, Dr Paul Orhii condemned drinking and smoking by drivers and motorcycle riders before embarking on a journey. This, he said, may lead to impaired mental function, which affects the ability of the users to make accurate judgement, especially when driving or riding.

    Quoting, the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) 2012 report, he said alcohol and cannabis are the most abused substances in Nigeria.

    The effect of the use of alcohol and other substances abuse impact negatively on the health, economy and social life of the people.

    Chairman, Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Mallam Ahmadu Giade said the problems associated with drug abuse and alcoholism are enormous, adding that the practice is not only dangerous to the individual but also the society at large.

    Giade, represented by Assistant Director, Drug Abuse Prevention Education (NDLEA), Mrs Stella Ngwoke said major organs of an abuser such as the kidney, liver and heart can be affected.

  • ‘How to strengthen democracy’

    ‘How to strengthen democracy’

    Experts who converged last week at the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS) for the 2012 memorial lecture of a distinguished lawyer, Dr Felix Okoye, have said that a strong judiciary is requred for true democracy.

    They said an effective judicial system is necessary to achieve political stability.

    Among the participants at the lecture were Justice of the Supreme Court, Dr Ibrahim Mohammad, Appeal Court Judge, Dauda Bage, former Director General, NIALS, Prof. Ayo Ojomo, former Senator, Oyabo Obi, wife and brother of the late Dr. Okoye, Mrs. Ijeoma Okoye, and Chief J.C. Okoye respectively, and constitutional lawyer, Mr. Fred Agbaje.

    They said although the apex court had lived up to its responsibility in ensuring constitutionalism, there was more to be done to avoid anarchy, even as they maintained that laws that restrict the powers of the judiciary should be reviewed by the legislature.

    Mohammad in his lecture “Judicialism and electoral process in Nigeria: what the Supreme Court did; what it may do”, noted that the apex court had since 1979 intervened in the electoral process as many elections have been litigated.

    Citing disqualification, substitution and tenure elongation as examples, he said the essence of the apex court’s intervention has always been to promote democratic culture among the populace, strengthen the confidence of the people in the process as well as promote constitutionalism and due process in the political system.

    He said: ‘’The fact remains that for a constitutional government to emerge and democracy to become institutionalised in any nation for that matter, the role of the judiciary is crucial because the responsibility to ensure that the standards and procedures laid down in a constitution are observed rests with the courts.’’

    On the issue of disqualification of a candidate political party’s candidate by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the judge noted that the apex court in a unanimous decision held that such powers was vested solely in the court.

    He said there was nothing within the provision of section 137(1) of the 1999 Constitution that empowers INEC to disqualify any candidate. ‘’By virtue of section 6(1) and (6) of the Constitution, it is only a court of law that can exercise a function which is exclusively adjudicative in nature.

    ‘’The court pronounced with finality that within the meaning of section 32(4) of the Electoral Act, mere allegation of crime or dishonest conduct, without evidence of trial and conviction, is not enough to ground the disqualification of a person from contesting a primary election of a political party or any other election,’’ he said.

    On the substitution of an elected candidate’s name by INEC or a political party, Mohammad said the court held that no party is permitted to bulldoze its way to rescind the mandate given to a nominated candidate whether wrongly or rightly for no justifiable cause.

    He said: ‘’The Supreme Court per Oguntade held that politics is not anarchy; it is not disorderliness. It must be punctuated by justice, fairness and orderliness.’’

    Although the apex court holds itself bound by its previous decision, Mohammad pointed out that there are cases where the court has overruled itself because it gladly accepts it is better to admit error than persevere in error.

    ‘’For the Supreme Court, the most important consideration is the interest of justice, the development of the law and issues of public policy.’’

    He called on the government to institute deep and elaborate reforms that will lead to the restoration of the integrity of the electoral system as well as ensure that future elections meet minimum acceptable international standards.

    ‘’Government should be magnanimous enough to implement the enduring and durable recommendations made by the Uwais’ panel on electoral rest of the democratic comity of nations as having arrived,’’ Mohammad said.

    Agbaje who described section 285(7) of the constitution which gives limited time within which electoral matters should be heard and disposed of as an infringement to the right of hearing, even as he asked if the said section 285(7) was not usurpation to the doctrine of separation of powers.

     

  • Five injured as trailer crushes vehicle

    Five injured as trailer crushes vehicle

    Angry commercial motorcyclists (Okada riders) yesterday converged at the entrance to a company on Fatai Atere Way in Mushin, Lagos.

    They were protesting the crushing of a car by a trailer.

    Five people were injured in the car, including a two-year-old boy, Olalade Mubarak. The boy was in a critical condition yesterday.

    The accident victims include Mr Akeem Olalade, his wife, Funmi, and Mubarak, their son. There were also two others. One of them was identified as Momo Malik and another person.

    Olalade, a civil engineer, said: “I was driving towards Oshodi and, suddenly, I saw this trailer without light reversing on the expressway. I quickly swerved, but we were trapped under it.

    “It would have been a completely differently story if I had not tried to avoid the trailer.”

    He urged the reporter to call his father and sister.

    At the Accident and Emergency Unit of the Mushin General Hospital, where the victims were taken, sympathisers, including Okada riders, pressurised the medics to attend to the victims, who were writhing in pains.

    The accident occurred about 8pm. It was reportedly caused by the trailer which eyewitnesses said crushed the Audi salon car, with registration number (Lagos) FS330EKY, which had five occupants.

  • ‘Preventive therapy will reduce maternal anaemia’

    A Professor of paediatrics at the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), Olugbenga Mokuolu has said the use sulfaxodine-pyrimethamine by expectant mothers will help reduce maternal anaemia.

    According to him, the therapy will also reduce delivery of low birth weight babies and prevent malaria in infants.

    Prof Mokuolu spoke in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital at the 114th inaugural lecture of UNILORIN. The lecture was entitled: “Saving the innocent from unsolicited encounters: The worm as a sharp threshing instrument.” Mukuolu whose contributions to the study of malaria in children has won international recognition said the use of low cost technologies and care strategies are important panacea for reducing neonatal deaths in Nigeria. “Some of these include the recycle incubation technique, use of oxygen concentrators, and fabricated radiant heaters among others”, he said.

    He urged the Federal Government to facilitate the scale up of some of these technologies and make them available at secondary and primary levels of health care as a means of further improving access to quality health care.

  • ‘Nigeria suffers from lack of vision, national goals’ (part 2)

    We hope that the traditional principle of promotion according to qualifications, experience, merit, without regard to race will be maintained”.

    The British Ministers had advised that “It would be disastrous to have a Civil Service under the control of the Executive, and for appointments to change according to the turn of the political wheel would lead to instability. In some countries such a system had proved nearly fatal”.

    So it was that during the crisis years of 1966 – 1970 of two military coups and the Civil War, Nigeria had a Federal Civil Service which had authority. Its morale was high. It was confident, professional, competent, non-partisan, disciplined, non-corrupt and much respected. It was dedicated to the service of the people generally. The Civil Service was able to :

    •Maintain day-to-day orderly administration of the country despite the escalating confrontation and defiance of the Federal Military Government by the Eastern Region Military Government;

    •Organize the campaign to rally the rest of the country to support the Federal Military Government in its desire to maintain one united country;

    •Insist on and eventually persuade the Military Authorities to invite well-known political leaders of the country into the Government to give credibility to the Government, ensure the people’s support and assure the external world that the Federal Military Government was not a military tyranny. Thus Chief Awolowo, Chief Enahoro, Mallam Aminu Kano, Chief J. S. Tarka, Mr. Wenike Briggs, Mr Okoi Arikpo and others were brought into the Government;

    •Plan and co-ordinate the required diplomatic effort to maintain the support of the UN, OAU and of nearly all sovereign countries for the Federal Government;

    •Organize the resources and logistics to enable the Federal Army grow from under 10,000 men to over 200,000 men and to prosecute the War;

    •Develop the 3Rs Programme (Rehabilitation, Reconciliation and Reconstruction) to address the immediate Post Civil War situation; and

    •Develop and launch the 1970 – 74 Plan.

    There is an attempt at the beginning of the 1970 – 74 Plan to suggest the adoption of some national objectives or ideology. Five principal national objectives are indicated :

    (i)A united, strong and self-reliant nation;

    (ii)A great and dynamic economy;

    (iii)A just and egalitarian society;

    (iv)A land of bright and full opportunities for all citizens; and

    (v)A free and democratic society.

    One must also give due credit to the competence and resourcefulness of the Regions’ Civil Services, particularly the Eastern Region Civil Service.

    In 1970, Chief S. O. Adebo, who was the Chairman of the Salaries and Wages Review Commission stated in his Report : “We have earlier referred to the arduous responsibilities which the Civil Service shoulders. We have suggested that it is on its creditable performance as a flexible modern machinery for the management of complex programmes that the survival, stability, progress and development of Nigerian society ultimately depend. This thesis has been amply borne out by our national experience over the last decade and does not require further elucidation”. Chief J. O. Udoji, The Chairman of the Public Service Review Commission also said : “It is fitting here to state our appreciation of the achievements made by Nigeria’s public servants, especially over the last 14 years. ………”.

     

    The 1975 Overthrow of the Gowon Administration

    The 1975 coup which overthrew The Gowon Administration may have been planned over a considerable period but again the planners did not develop beforehand a long-term plan for economic development and growth, or for continuing the task of developing and strengthening the Nigerian nation by pursuing concrete uniting and integrating programmes. However, the Murtala Mohammed / Obasanjo Administration which succeeded Gowon implemented three measures which have impacted negatively on governance and the development and cohesion of a Nigerian nation :

    1. Whereas, the creation of 12 states in May 1967 on the eve of the declaration of Biafran Secession was meant firstly, to address the old demand of the Middle Belt Movement in the North and the Calabar-Ogoja-Rivers State Movement in the East to complement the creation of the Mid-West Region in 1963, and secondly, as a strategic imperative to contain Biafran Secession Attempt, the 1975 division of the country into 19 states pandered to the desire of some influential sectors for dividing and sharing the national cake, not for baking it. The rapid expansion of oil production and with it the OPEC – led dramatic increases in oil revenues accruing to oil producers made it possible to indulge in this pre-occupation with sharing oil revenues while paying less attention to genuine development and growth of the economy. The formula for the allocation of federally collected revenues (more than 85% of it from oil and gas taxes) – 50% allocated in equal proportion to each state and 50% on the basis of population encourages the demands for further creation of more states.

    2.The traumatic massive purge of about 10,000 officials over a period of two months, without due process, involving officials from the rank of Permanent Secretary to the class of messengers being retired or dismissed, including some obvious leaders and role models, some without any terminal benefits or pensions destroyed the professional, non-partisan, fearless, prestigious, merit-driven Civil Service and Public Service inherited from the British Colonial Administration. In the process, the nation lost a great deal of institutional memory and valuable international connections.

    The more senior ones, who inspired by the ideals of the Pre-Independence movement and the patriotic commitments of the leaders of the First Republic, were still energetic in suggesting and developing policies, programmes and projects and who also imbued as they were with the old core values would be able to provide some checks and balances were swept away. The suffering, including the pre-mature death of scores of officials affected by the purge fuelled the resort to “make hay while the sun shines” an obvious euphemism for corruption which now threatens the future of the country.

    3.The new Administration abandoned the implementation of the 1975 – 80 Plan with its great promise of creating the basis for economic diversification and industrialization. Some very significant new projects were embarked upon while some properly costed Plan projects were aborted or not started. More destructively the discipline of planning was abandoned.

    This set the stage for the economic stagnation and the degradation of infrastructure, educational, health and other sectors over the next two and a half decades despite the fairly high level of oil revenues compared with the Pre- Civil War situation. The statistical data clearly illustrate this. Indeed the growth rate in the decade up to 1999 averaged only 2% per annum, while the population was growing at 3% per annum.

    The woes of the Civil Service were compounded by the promulgation of Decree No. 43 of 1988 which politicized the Civil Service. Under it the ministers, transient as they often were, could hire and fire civil servants; the functions of the Independent Public Service Commission were transferred to the ministries; the Minister replaced the Permanent Secretary, now re-styled Director-General, as the Accounting Officer of the Ministry. Although repealed in 1995 the great damage done to the Public Service under the decree still afflicts the Service.

     

    Vision 20 : 2020 And The Jonathan Transformation Agenda

    After the death of Gen. Abacha in 1998, democratic rule was hastily restored with the election and installation of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo as President in May 1999. Towards the end of his second term Goldman Sachs published a Report which listed Nigeria amongst 10 other countries, and which suggested that if Nigeria pursued all the right policies and achieved international competitiveness she could become one of the 20 largest economies in the World by 2025. The other countries are Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Korea, Mexico, Pakistan and Turkey. We should note that even in this list we are No. 7. In adopting the target of the Report, the Nigerian Authorities brought the date nearer by 5 years to 2020!

  • ‘Igbo have no outstanding candidate for 2015’

    A Non-Government Organisation (NGO), the Transform Nigeria Movement (TNM), yesterday said Igbo have no outstanding candidate for the 2015 presidential election.

    The group was reacting to the Southeast’s clamour for Igbo presidency in 2015.

    The group said yesterday in Awka that it has not seen any credible candidate in the Southeast.

    Speaking with The Nation yesterday in Awka, the Anambra State capital, TNM leader Comrade Obi Ochije said Igbo have no candidate that can defeat aspirants from other geo-political zones and urged the Southeast to look beyond 2015.

    Ochije said: “There are three questions Ndigbo need to answer on this issue. The first is who zoned presidency to Igbo? The second is on what platform can they realise their dream in 2015? Thirdly, does the zone have a credible candidate for the position?

    “It is not going to be a zonal affair; all the six geo-political zones would be involved. For now, I cannot see anybody in Igboland, who can win enough votes from other political zones in 2015.

    “From what is playing out, it is obvious that Ndigbo have no person to stand for such election. What they should do is look beyond 2015.

    “We should stop quarreling over who becomes the next president. Rather, we should pray fervently for the country’s unity.”

    TNM said Ndigbo must liaise with the Southwest to realise its ambition.

     

     

  • Delta North: DPP aspirant petitions CJN

    A senatorial candidate of the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) for Delta North in last year’s election, Mr Jude Eluemuno Azekwoh, has petitioned the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Aloma Mariam Mukhtar over what he described as the alleged unjust termination of his appeal at the Court of Appeal in Benin-City.

    Azekwoh was said to have also petitioned the former CJN, Justice Dahiru Musdapher, over the issue.

    In his latest letter addressed to Justice Mukhtar, the former aspirant argued that the manner his appeal was struck out by the Justice Raphael Agbo-led panel at the Court of Appeal in Benin City is contrary to the position of the law and decided authorities of both the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court in a plethora of cases.

    Dissatisfied with the April 9, 2011 senatorial election in which the Independent National ElectoralCommission (INEC) declared Dr Arthur Okowa of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) winner, he proceeded to the National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal in Asaba with a petition.

    According to him, on August 2, 2011, the petition was struck out on technical ground that the pre-hearing application was by a letter and not through a motion despite the fact that all parties in the suit had taken steps in the case.

    He contended that on August 18, he filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal in Benin-City demanding for justice only for the case to be terminated prematurely without being heard.

    “My Lord, as a citizen whose confidence in the judicial system must not be shaken, I am deeply concerned and gravely pained that no decision one way or the other has been reached on my matter, nearly one year after the complaint,” he wrote.

  • Court restrains govt from executing five by hanging

    A Lagos High Court Judge,Justice Mufutau Olokoba,has nullified the death sentence passed on five persons.

    This declaration followed an originating summons filed by Mr Norrison Quakers (SAN) in 2008, against the Attorney-General of Lagos State on behalf of the five condemned persons, who were convicted at various occasions and for various offences between 1984 and 1995. They were to die by hanging or firing squad.

    The judge, who described the mode of execution of the said punishment as an infraction on the right to human dignity of the condemned persons, granted a perpetual injunction restraining the respondents (Lagos State Government) from executing the condemned persons by hanging or firing squad

    The applicants had, in the summons, sought the relief of the court to declare: the prescription of mandatory death penalty for offences such as armed robbery and murder a contravention of their right to dignity of the human person as well as not to be subjected to inhuman or degrading punishment under Section 34(a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999; that the Criminal Code or Robbery and Firearms (Special Provisions) Act of the Federation 1990 in the circumstances of the applicants’ case unconstitutional, null and void.

    An order of the court nullifying the mandatory death sentence by hanging or firing squad imposed on them pursuant to Section 319 of the Criminal Code Law of Lagos State, Cap C18 vol.2 and Section 1(2)(a), (b) and 3 for the offence of armed robbery under the Robbery and Firearms Act (Special Provisions) Cap 398 vol. XXII Laws of the Federation 1990 and Section 367 of the Criminal Procedure Law of Lagos State, Cap C18 col.2 as unconstitutional.

    Reports from expert psychologists, pathologists and forensics from the University of Lagos (LUTH), Federal Neuro-psychiatrist Hospital, Yaba and Lagos State University Teaching Hospitals (LASUTH) were filed to support the claims of the applicants that death sentence inflicts mental torture on prisoners.

    In his written address, Quakers proposed that the court should determine whether the imposition of mandatory death sentence on the applicants for murder and armed robbery violated their rights to dignity as enshrined in Section 34(a) is inconsistent and in conflict with the provisions of 34(1)(a) of the Constitution since the mode of execution is cruel and degrading; whether the applicants’ continued stay or confinement on death row under threat of execution for a long period of time is inherently cruel, inhuman and degrading and whether the National Assembly can legislate or prescribe the sentence of death as contained in the provisions of Section 33(1) and (2) of the 1999 Constitution.

    He argued that although the Constitution in Section 33(1) sanctions death penalty, the modes of execution by hanging or firing squad as provided in sections 367 of the Criminal Procedure Law 1(2)(a), (b) and 3 of the Robbery and Firearms Act, violate 34(1)(a) of the 1999 Constitution since it involves torture and inhuman treatment.

    The applicants’ counsel opined that the very pronouncement of the sentence of death by hanging or firing squad imposes mental torture on the convict which extends to the period between the pronouncement and the actual execution; and the actual execution itself is barbaric, inhuman, degrading and violative of Section 34(1)(a) of the 1999 Constitution.

    Counsel to the state in a counter- affidavit urged the court to disregard the medical reports by experts submitted as exhibits by the applicants on grounds that they do not relate to the applicants and was merely an academic work.

    Citing Ogugu vs the State where the Supreme Court held that death penalty per se does not under any circumstance amount to inhuman or degrading treatment but the manner or way a condemned prisoner is kept or executed, he urged the court to dismiss the application as the applicants have adduced no iota of evidence illustrating the way and manner in which they had been treated which amounts to inhuman and degrading.

    In his ruling, Olokoba held that mental torture was an inevitable consequence of death sentence on the victims.

    “My view on the first part of the argument is that it is an inevitable consequence of the sentence of death. It is a common human reaction to such pronouncement. I do not think there is a man or woman who upon hearing that he has been sentenced to death would shout for joy or would not experience mental torture.

    “Once the sentence is pronounced the reaction is one of sorrow, anger, despondency and extreme fear as stated in the further affidavit of Francis Moneke sworn to on October 2, 2008 which itself contains the facts disclosed to him by Professor J.O. Obafunwa, Provost of the College of Medicine, University of Lagos and also contained in the affidavit of the respondent dated March 17, 2009.

    “Since the death penalty itself is constitutional any reaction to its pronouncement by the convict is necessarily concomitant to it and cannot invalidate the law providing for it,” he said.

    Addressing the constitutionality of the methods of execution provided by the Criminal Procedure Law and the Robbery and Firearms Act, Olokoba said it was a violation of the right to human dignity of a person as provided by Section 34(1) of the 1999 constitution

    Citing the case of Peter Nemi against the State (1996), Olokoba said the ruling of Justice Uwaifo was an eloquent illustration for questioning the method of execution of a condemned prisoner.

    “That is why in my humble opinion, a challenge to sections 367 of the Criminal Procedure Law and section 1(3) of the Robbery and Firearms Act questioning their constitutional validity in the face of Section 34(1) (a) of the Constitution is appropriate. It is therefore clear that the court may uphold the death penalty and declare the method of execution unconstitutional.

    “Learned counsel for the defendant urged the court to disregard the evidence of experts in the medical field on the question of whether or not death by hanging or firing squad amounts to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment. I cannot.

    “This is simply because the court cannot appropriately rely on its own evidence. On any issue of facts, the court must take from witnesses from which it may make inferences.

    “Clearly from the affidavits sworn to by medical experts, the overwhelming evidence before the court is that death by hanging or firing squad amounts to torture and inhuman or degrading treatment.

    “It is therefore my conclusion that death by hanging or by firing squad amounts to a violation of the condemned’s right to dignity of the human person and inhuman and degrading treatment. It is consequently unconstitutional being violative of Section 34(1)(a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999. Section 367 of the Criminal Procedure Law of Lagos State and other Law which provides for hanging the condemned by the neck till he is dead is accordingly declared unconstitutional. Section 1(3) of the Robbery and Firearms Act in so far as it seeks to be implemented by the respondent is also declared unconstitutional and void.

    “In the final result of the originating summons prayer (a) on the originating summons is refused. Prayer (b) is refused. Prayer (c) is granted. The penalty of death by hanging or firing squad is declared unconstitutional and the respondent is perpetually restrained from inflicting the penalty of death on the applicants by hanging or by firing squad,” Olokoba said.

    Reacting to the judgment by the court, Quakers said it has revolutionised the administration of criminal justice as it is a departure from conservatism.

    The lawyer said death by hanging or firing squad strikes at our humanity and questions our dignity as human beings.

    He noted that until the judgment is reversed or set aside by an appellate court, it remains binding and any court that pronounces death by hanging or firing squad can be challenged based on the judgment by Olokoba.

    Calling for the review of the Criminal Code Laws, Quakers observed that there has been some unwritten moratorium on the execution of death sentence since the unveiling of the democratic umbrella, as no governor has signed a death warrant for the execution of a condemned person.

    “There is a need for us to work on the administration of criminal justice. Lagos is at the forefront of this. Beyond custodial sentencing, there should be alternative sentencing such as community service.

    “I am happy that the learned Judge considered constitutional provisions side by side expert evidence before arriving at the judgment. This case has no doubt improved our jurisprudence and it is hoped that more of such cases will be taken to uphold the fundamental rights of the Nigerian people.

    “My friends and colleagues initially did not see the possibility of any court in Nigeria upholding my view point on the mode of execution. So, to convince the judge, I had to embark on an extensive research in this area and I was strengthened when I came across a Malawian case of Kafatayane vs Attorney General of Malawi where the court was called on to interpret the constitutional provision of Malawi which, on all fours, is similar in terms of its fundamental rights sections with that in our constitution. The court in Malawi held that it was unconstitutional and an infraction on the right to dignity of the human person,” he said.

  • Whither NBA?

    Whither NBA?

    Weeks after his emergence as Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) President, Mr Okey Wali (SAN) has convened a Bar Leaders’ Summit on the association’s future. The summit came on the heels of some members’ agitation for reform and inproved welfare at the last NBA General Conference in Abuja. Legal Editor JOHN AUSTIN UNACHUKWU reports.

    The legal profession is facing monumental challenges. Often times, lawyers and judges are in the news for the wrong reasons, such as corruption and unethical practices. The executive is not spared. It is accused of manipulating the legal system for selfish reasons. President Goodluck Jonathan’s alleged refusal to recall suspended President of the Court of Appeal Justice Isa Ayo Salami is cited to buttress such claims.

    Lawyers believe that the legal practice should be strengthened by legislation to ensure that there is no encroachment or abuse by others.

    To find a way round these challenges, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) President Okey Nwali went to work soon after being sworn in. The Bar Leaders Summit on the Future of the NBA, held last week in Abuja, was his first major assignment.

    After his inauguration as the 26th NBA President on August 31, Wali inaugurated the Bar Leaders Summit Committee, chaired by Chief Solomon Awomolo (SAN), to chart a course for the strategic development and reformation of the NBA for the benefit of lawyers.

    The committee started work immediately. Last weekend, at the Lagos/Osun Hall of Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, Bar leaders from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory gathered to brainstorm on how to restore the glory of the Bar and positively affect the lives of the average lawyer.

    Wali said the association has the historical duty to build a 21st Century Nigerian Lawyer for the 21st Century Nigeria.

    “We are worse for the alarming disconnect between the average Nigerian Lawyer and the social and legal challenges of our time,” he said.

    He added: “This state of affairs has robbed lawyers of the ability to participate in the affairs of the country, both as citizens and as professionals. Our earning capacity as lawyers and the learning environment for aspirants into the profession are far from optimal.

    “The painful truth is that the dynamism of the Bar falls short of the dynamism of our society.

    “The Bar is not able to perform its role in the society due to structural inadequacies. Professional growth has been stifled by a combination of inadequate training, harsh economic realities, poor regulatory environment, and poor institutions.

    “Our great forebearers in the profession did not have to contend with the challenging realities of the internet and globalisation. They lived and practised our profession before deregulation, economic and political reforms, fast-paced transactional environment, that we must live with in today’s Nigeria.”

    Nwali went on:“Our practice environment changes around us by the minute. The challenges that have confronted us as citizens and professionals are evolving rapidly.

    “If we are to approach anywhere close to the respect that our great professional forbearers commanded in their time, then we have to go the extra mile to renew our profession and build 21st Century Bar for the Nigeria of tomorrow. This is the burden we are carrying today, the burden of renewal.”

    The summit, he said, was, therefore, organised to chart a new course for the NBA. It had the theme: The Nigerian Bar Association, the past, present and the future.

    The reason for the summit, he said, was to bring together some eminent Bar leaders to appraise the Bar with a view to identifying gaps and articulating recommendations for reform.

    Wali said: “Burdened as we are as Bar leaders with charting the direction and role of the legal profession in Nigeria, we must query how well we are discharging our duties. Are we leading the profession in the right direction? Are we performing all the duties thrust upon us by history?

    “Should we redefine our role by increasing or decreasing our responsibilities? The NBA plays a tripartite regulatory role in the area of regulation, representation, and focus on public interest. At the heart of representative role is welfare of lawyers and delivery of Bar services to our members.

    “My vision is to develop and deliver new and existing Bar services, to manage the relationship of lawyers and key stakeholders, to generate new legal work for our members.

    “This will include insurance and welfare scheme and others. We are working on the establishment of co-operative societies, and even micro finance bank to be run by the NBA,” Nwali said.

    A discussion of the NBA’s future without some talk of succession planning, Wali said, was incomplete. “We must prepare the future leaders and members of the profession and its body.”

    According to him, many organisations spend most of their time reacting to unexpected changes, instead of anticipating and preparing for them. This, he said, is called crisis management.

    His words:“Organisations caught off guard may spend a great deal of time and energy playing catch up. They use up their energy coping with immediate problems with little energy left to anticipate and prepare for the next challenges.

    “It does not have to be that way. A sensible alternative is a well-tested process called strategic planning which provides a viable alternative to crisis management. Strategic planning looks at three to five years ahead.

    “It charts a definite course based on strong indicators of what the business environment will be like in those years.”

    Wali believes that besides personal satisfaction of taking charge of an organisation’s future, strategic planning offers, at least, five compelling reasons for its use.

    “It forces a look into the future and therefore provides an opportunity to influence the future, or assume a proactive posture. It provides better awareness of needs and of the facilities related issues and environment. It helps define the overall mission of the organisation and focuses on the objectives.

    “It provides a sense of direction, continuity, and effective staffing and leadership. It plugs everyone into the system and provides standards of accountability for people, programs, and allocated resources.

    “In view of the importance of strategic planning as stated above, my administration seeks to design a five year strategic plan that will define the present and the future. The envisaged strategic plan will contain issues, programs and policies for future NBA administrations. These will ensure continuity of programs and policies and smooth transition in the NBA.”

    In a paper entitled: Professional challenges of the Nigerian Bar Association in the 21st century, eminent lawyer Chief Afe Babalola (SAN) said the legal professional had always been the most respected and loved.

    Represented by Prof. Yemi Akinseye-George (SAN), Babalola said the role lawyers play place enormous burden on them.

    According to him, being “influential agents of change” requires more than mere rhetorics. It involves action, determination, doggedness, grave risk, diligence and, above all, consistency, as changing the status quo in any society, anywhere in history, has never been an easy task.

    According to him, change is often achieved at great cost, sometimes with human blood. But when the change is finally effected, (positive change of course), he said, the aroma of victory travels far and wide.

    Lawyers, by virtue of their calling, are looked upon by the larger society sometimes for rescue operation (figuratively speaking) especially when the society is in dire straits, he added.

    Babalola said: “If Nigeria and indeed the world community must succeed in making the transition from traditional to modem society, persons of proven integrity who are endowed with requisite skills and social conscience must initiate reforms and manage the legal systems.

    “Thus, the tasks of reformation and, by necessary implication, development call for lawyers who can effectively serve in the specialised roles of judges, government lawyer, law teacher, private practitioner and at the same time serve as guardians and therefore shapers of processes of law at sub-national (local), national and international levels for the good of all.

    “The role of lawyers, especially in the area of costs of legal development, cannot be overemphasised. This is more profound in developing nations of the world.

    “Often, the assumption has been all too frequent in both developed and developing countries and international organisations that legal systems and institutions can take care of themselves while investments in development can safely by-pass the legal sector.

    “Ours is a profession that is very unique in many respect. As I stated earlier, lawyers have a role in nation building. The credible discharge of this role is a topic that should concern all legal practitioners.

    “Therefore, it is my hope that summit of this nature will be a regular occurrence in the activities of the Nigerian Bar Association. We must as a body of professionals remain alive to our duties.”

    The Director-General, Nigerian Law School, Dr. Mamman Tahir identified the challenges facing the profession as environmental factors that may hinder ethics; transformation from Profession to Business; prevailing culture of impunity; declining opportunities in Legal Practice/Economy; distortions in reward/value system and ignorance of the rules of professional conduct.

    In his paper titled: The paramountcy of the welfare of the members of the Bar, need for versatility and job creation, the Director-General, Ethics and Corporate Compliance Institute, Jideani Chukwuemeka said legal practice is a professional business of formidable societal influence steeped in idealism, self-discipline, public spirit, economy and wisdom.

    His words: “Originally it was not enveloped in mercantilism of the Adam Smith persuasion. However, we are living in changing times and no institution, however gorgeous, should be impervious to change.

    “Consequently the profession must embrace change, form the training of the would-be lawyer, to the practice in the bar and the relationship between the various areas/spheres of practice, up onto the administration of justice and the Judiciary.”

    According to him, the legal education system should be modified a little bit to prepare law graduate for life in the modern market place.

    In addition to strengthening professional ethics, organisational and business ethics should be incorporated into the curriculum. This, he said, will equip them with proficiencies in such areas as “conflict of interest”; “enterprise risk management”; “Regulatory Compliance” among others.

    Chukwuemeka said: “Let the truth be told, no jurisdiction has ever been able to absorb all its trained lawyers in core legal practice.

    “Consequently it serves us better to equip practitioners (through capacity development programs) to secure opportunities in other areas for which legal training is an asset.”

    A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Dr. Onyechi Ikpearu, in a paper entitled: Institutionalisation of cordial Bar and Bench relationship for professional development, said members of the bar and the bench are like Siamese twins.

    He said: “With the realisation that most lawyers and judges do not belong to other associations, it is rather obvious that the Bar and the Bench are not only married to the legal profession but are indeed fused as members of the same family.

    “With similar interest, objective and aspiration towards the preservation of the Rule of law, cordiality in the relationship is not only imperative, but necessarily healthy.”

    After the paper presentations, the meeting broke into working group. Former NBA Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), OCJ Okocha (SAN), Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), Joseph Bodunrin Daudu (SAN) and former Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Bayo Ojo (SAN) took turns to chair the sessions. A communiqué will be issued later.

     

  • Election dispute: DPP, others seek abolition of time limit

    The Democratic People’s Party(DPP) has approached the Federal High Court, Abuja, to challenge the legitimacy of the constitutional provision, limiting the period a court or tribunal must decide electoral disputes.

    The party and six of its members in Delta State argued in a suit before the court that the National Assembly was in error in inserting sub-sections 6 and 7 to Section 285 of the Constitution, without complying with Section 9(3) and first amending Section 36 (1).

    They argued that the insertion of both sub-sections in Section 285 violated the provisions and intentions of Sections 4(8), 6(6), 9(3), 36(1) and 294(1) of the Constitution.

    The plaintiffs stated that they contested election into various offices under the party in the last general election, challenged the outcome at the tribunal, but that the provisions formed the basis on which the court denied them the right to fair hearing by dismissing their cases without determining them on merit.

    Other plaintiffs in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/448/2012, filed by their lawyer, Nelson Imoh include Kingsley-Noye Philips, Cyril Abeye Ogodo, Lovethe Edirin Idisi, Odjuwu Okumagba, Napoleon Gbinije and Denbo-Denbofa Oweikpodo.

    Named as defendants are the Senate, the House of Representatives and the Attorney General of the Federation.

    The plaintiffs raised seven questions for the court’s determination, to include whether Section 285 of the Constitution as altered by the insertion of sub-sections 6 and 7 to the section is not void, having been done in fragrant disregard of section 9(3) of the Constitution.

    They also asked the court to determine whether by the combined effects of Sections 4(8), 36(1) and 294(1) the National Assembly has the constitutional powers to delimit the time for the determination of the civil rights and obligations of the plaintiffs by the court or tribunals established under the constitution.

    The plaintiffs want the court to among others, declare that the National Assembly lacked the powers under the Constitution, to alter Section 285 by inserting sub-sections 6 and 7 in so far as the alteration breaches the determination of the plaintiffs’ civil rights to have their rights and obligations determined within reasonable time as required by the Constitution.

    They also want the court to declare that Sections 36(1) and 294(1) are the only parts of the 1999 Constitution dealing with the time for the determination of the civil rights of the plaintiffs. They are seeking an order declaring as void and unconstitutional all decisions taken on the basis of the said alteration.

    The plaintiffs also praying the court for an “order of perpetual injunction restraining the defendants, all authorities in Nigeria, courts, tribunals, agencies” in the country from enforcing or giving effect to the said Section 285 “in the manner as unlawfully and unconstitutionally alerted by the National Assembly.”

    The plaintiffs, in a supporting affidavit, contended that 18 appeals filed by DPP and its candidates at the Court of Appeal, Benin for both the National and State Assembly were not heard because of lapse of 60 days provided for in Section 285 (7) of the Constitution.

    They averred that their governorship appeal in the 2011 elections in Delta State allowed on the issue of competence by the Supreme Court was struck out for lapse of 60 days by the court which declared an earlier decision of the Court of Appeal null and void on the ground that it was delivered out of the 60 days time line provided in Section 285(7).

    The plaintiffs argued that the alteration to Section 285 prevented the tribunals and Court of Appeal from determining their election appeals on merit. Hearing will open in the case shortly after the court’s annual vacation later this month