The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Bar

  • Why many fail Bar exams‘

    Why many fail Bar exams‘

    Why do many students fail the Bar examination at the Nigerian Law School?  Director-General Olanrewaju Onadeko tells Eric Ikhilae how to improve performance and plans to modify the school’s curriculum.

    What is your assessment of the performance of students in this

    year’s Bar examinations?

    The results of the Bar examinations were released last Thursday. There were two examinations. One was held in April. That was the Bar re-sit examinations. The second was Bar examination for the April 2014 set.

    The two results came out the same day. The re-sit students recorded 60.2 percent outright pass, 3.6 percent conditional pass and 36.2 percent were unsuccessful. This is a great improvement from what we had last year.

    What was responsible

    for the improvement?

     

    One factor that we believe had contributed to this improvement was the mandatory eight-week revision course. The Council of Legal Education (CLE) prescribed that every student, willing to undertake the re-sit examination, should come back to school and go through the eight weeks’intensive coaching period.

    That was held between February and April of this year, before their examination. I think the result was because of the intensive training for those who are yet to pass the Bar final examinations after one or more attempts.

     

    What are the details

    of the results?

     

    For the regular students, that is, those who came in April 2014, their performance was 68.5 per cent outright pass, 2.9 per cent conditional pass, with 28.6 percent not making it.

    The total number of those who sat for the examination is 2,852. Of that number, four made First Class, 109 Second Class Upper, 418 came out with Second Class Lower and 1, 422 passed. Eighty-three had conditional pass, while 815 were unsuccessful.

    That is a good result. Put together, a little over 70 percent passed. We are happy for the First Class candidates in particular and other candidates that passed the examinations.

    Their Call-to-Bar will be held here in Abuja from October 20 to 22.  Interestingly, of the four First Class candidates, three are women. So, it appears the women are doing better than the men at the top level. We hope the men will not allow the women to overtake them outrightly in the near future.

     

    What major innovations have you introduced in the training of students since you assumed office as the DG?

     

    Yes, we have put in place several improved mode of training. There is what we called class room solution, which is being put in place for us by the Nigerian Communication Satellite,which is a parastal of the Federal Government, to enable us have total link with our campuses.

    That means, no campus will be deprived of the expertise of the members of the profession, who may come to the school, in a structured manner. We plan to do it to interact with the students. The presentation will be held and the students from all the campuses can be part of it, no matter which of the campuses, irrespective of the campus the programme is being beamed out.

    Now, that is going to be useful for us. Hitherto, some campuses have been at a disadvantage, while others are so lucky. Expectedly, Lagos and Abuja campuses have always had the benefit of the senior members of the profession, either from the Bar or the Bench coming to share ideas with our students.

    Other campuses have not been so lucky. Though they do have their own fair share. Most law firms in Nigeria are located in Lagos, Abuja, Port Hacourt and Kaduna. It is always easier for practitioners and other members of the profession to be in Lagos and Abuja for obvious reasons.

    So, we are bridging that gap now, in which case, all students of the Nigerian Law School will have the same level of exposure to the expertise of these senior members of the profession.

     

    Are there plans to modify

    the school’s curriculum

    as well?

     

    Yes, we are also restructuring our curriculum, to enable the students to benefit more. The important thing is that, we want to ensure that those lawyering skills, which they need to function as legal practioners are transferred to them. This is now being done in a manner that involves them.

    We are going to enhance the internship period, during which they are assigned to law firms and courts to understudy the rudiments of the profession in a manner that can be considered as practical. You will find out that it is useful.

    We are doing it in a more structured manner, with adequate supervision, to be sure that those three months, within their programme here at the Law School, is productive.

    We have, during debriefing exercise, which we conduct after the period of internship, found that there is a disparity in the level of exposure that our students get when they go out.

    For the courts, it is easier to monitor. We must commend our judges; most of them have been very wonderful. They take on the students. They even pause to explain to them what is going on in the courts and they ask them questions at the end of the day. Some even set examinations for them.

    The same goes for law office attachment. We commend the law firms for their input and cooperation.

    We have now decided to engage law firms to know what they expect of our students at the point of leaving the law school. This came about when we realised we are doing what the law wants us to do. We feel we should not cut out the recipients of our products.

    There is a committee in place to engage law firms in Nigeria. They have been divided into three tiers. Specifically, we are looking at the expectations of the law firms about our students after their call to Bar. When we get the information, we will come back to the drawing board to analyse them.

     

    Parents are concerned that their wards do not do well in Bar exams, whereas the same students came tops in their universities’examinations.  Are differences in the mode of learning at the universities and the Law School?

     

    I don’t think there is really any disconnect between the performance of a student in the university and the Bar vocational training stage at the Nigeria Law School.

    Indeed, if you take a look at our top students here, they take a similar pedigree from their universities. And if you go further to their secondary school, you will discover it is a consistent pattern of self-evolution and development in the legal studies.

    In the university, questions are asked in ambivalent manner, they (students) may be given a particular scenario or event and be asked to comment or discuss.

    But here, the questions come in a way to draw your knowledge to solve problems.  You must understand the principles and then, of course, the relevant case law and statutory law to proffer logical answers that will stand you in the good stead.

    So, if you don’t migrate from the ambivalent way of answering question in the university, where you can regurgitate what you are taught in the classroom, it may be difficult. From the regurgitation, the examiner in the university can find some answers relevant to the questions, but here, it is very empirical and the marking scheme is there to guide us. We have a standard marking scheme that is prepared by the examiners. That is what every marking script uses.

    So, if you are off point, or you do not understand what the question is or your response is devoid of the content expected, you are not likely to do well. Here, you must acquire the knowledge. It is not a matter of crash programme or working on past questions.

     

    What other factors, do you think, hinder students’performance here?

    You will see some students, who, rather than reading legal books or literature, go about with past questions and answers. By that, you are already limiting your scope of advancement.

    What this has shown us is that some students decide to rewrite questions; they answer what they have already ingested. You know, when you are dealing with an examination that is empirical in nature, you are going to run into challenges. I think that is one of the reasons that affect the students at that stage.

    The first thing we advise them, when they are coming in, is the difference between the approach in the university and the approach in the Law School. When you comprehend that, the rest will be smooth sailing.

    You must work hard. You cannot shy away from that. You must understand what you are taught, to give solutions to any given problem. Every examination at the Nigerian Law School is akin to a lawyer sitting down with a client and listening to the client’s story and proffering solutions to get relief for the client.

    As much as possible, we ensure that students understand what they should be doing well before examinations.

     

    What is your reaction to the observation in some quarters that the standard of legal educations is falling?

     

    Well, that is correct. We heard commentaries and other suggestions in like manner. I think there is no doubt that, when we look at the past, we are likely to conclude that the standard is falling. I will not contest that totally.

    Whichever way we look at it, the lawyers of today have access to more information and knowledge than those that preceded them for obvious reasons. It easier now to undertake research in Law, materials are available online. You can visit several legal platforms from where you can garner knowledge. And it is so easy; even cases decided in our courts here in Nigeria are available on some of these platforms almost immediately.

    Knowledge has become common place and copious in nature than what it was in my own time. To that extent, and for those who are hardworking, diligent and interested in learning, the horizon is very broad and they have all at their disposal.

     

    Are there challenges that inhibit the school’s effective performance?

     

    There are a lot of challenges. Funding is there; we love to have uniform infrastructure in all our campuses, but that is something we are yet to achieve.Some campuses, especially the younger ones still need to be assisted to come up.

    In the last 12 months, we have had to focus on security in our campuses, especially Yola and Kano campuses. I am happy to tell you that the two campuses are now fully fenced and we have adequate security now.

    We need more infrastructure. Apart from Lagos and Yenagoa, most of our other campuses are not located in the heart of the city. It is a distance to law courts and law firms. We have lost a number of students to road accidents, which we are not happy about.

    So we encourage our students to avoid moving around, except it is necessary. Accommodation in the campuses far away from the city becomes imperative. We need more vehicles for our students. Water supply is another problem. Poor staffing is another issue.

    Our new campuses started without recruitment of new staff and that meant we have to deploy staff in existing campuses. There are manifold issues to discuss in this realm.

     

     

  • Controversy trails Bar exam

    Controversy trails Bar exam

    Widespread dissatisfaction has continued to trail the Bar Part II results released last week by the Council of Legal Education, the body overseeing the programme of the Nigerian Law School (NLS). The candidates’ performance is believed to be the worst in the annals of the Law School. More than 4,000 of the over 5,840 students that took the Bar exam reportedly got poor grades. The unsuccessful students are requesting for a review of the results, reports WALE AJETUNMOBI.

    The Council of Legal Education last week released the results of the Bar Part II examination for the 2013/2014 academic session. But the law students who sat for the exam held in August are not happy with the results.

    Of the over 5,840 graduates of law from various universities that sat for the examination in four campuses of the Nigerian Law School (NLS), less than 2,000 reportedly passed. The results  appear to be the worst since the council was created in 1962.

    The council, under the Legal Education Act, has the statutory responsibility of training law students before they are called to the Bar.

    Before the results were released, majority of the law students were optimistic. In preparation for the Bar ceremony in November, a good number of them have purchased wigs and gowns. A host of others have booked for return flights to Abuja ahead of the Call to Bar.

    However, many were disappointed when the results were released. The students’ optimism was punctured, after many of them came out with poor grades. It was alleged that more than 70 per cent of the candidates failed.

    CAMPUSLIFE gathered that, of the 5,840 candidates, only four students graduated from the NLS with First Class. It was also gathered that 96 made Second Class (Upper Division). The rest made Second Class (Lower Division), Pass, Conditional Pass while others failed outrightly.

    Given the mass failure, it is expected that the unsuccessful candidates will re-take the examination with thousands of fresh law graduates that will enrol for the Bar programme next month. The affected candidates are dissatisfied with the unfavourable outcome, with many of them urging the council to review the results.

    Some of the NLS officials, who spoke to CAMPUSLIFE, attributed the woeful performance to candidates’ negligence. They said most of the candidates did not take their studies seriously as many of them travelled frequently, abandoning their studies.

    A 2010 graduate of the Law School, Jim Opaleke, disagreed with the notion that the candidates were ill-prepared for the examination. He said: “I am not convinced that such a mass failure should be attributed to the level of preparation by students. I am fortified in the belief that when an examiner sets an examination, where over 50 per cent of his students fail, it clearly shows that such an examiner has done a very poor job. It is an indictment on the entire system. Until we realise that the reputation of an institution is not improved by how difficult it is to graduate from it, we will continue to miss the point of the essence of quality examination.”

    Contrary to the claim of mass failure, the Secretary to the council, Mrs E.O. Max-Uba, said 57.01 per cent of the graduates passed the examination. She spoke to the PM News on Monday.

    The unsuccessful candidates and some, who are dissatisfied with their grades, are lamenting the outcome, requesting the NLS Director-General, Mr Olarenwaju Onadeko, to review the result. Some of them spoke to this reporter on telephone, pleading anonymity for fear of being profiled.

    One of them, who simply identified himself as Justus, said: “I finished from the Lagos Campus and I remember the day that Onadeko came to the school on an official visit, where he made a statement that there would be strict examination rule to overhaul the system and to restore the standard of the Law School. If he wanted to do this, he should have concentrated on improving the crumbling infrastructure on the campuses, especially in Lagos that is battling accommodation challenges.”

    A female student said the council graded the candidates according to their scores in the subject offered. “If one has grade A in four courses and grade D in one subject, he will be automatically graded to a pass grade. This system of grading is unjust and needs to be reviewed.”

    The system is corrupt, says another unsuccessful student. He said: “When you consider the years of study, the resources and the effort put in, one cannot but weep. Some of us have not failed any exam in our lives before. This is evidence that the system is corrupt. The ideal thing is to review the results.”

    A candidate at the Enugu Campus, who passed in the Bar exam, said: “I am not happy with my grade. They gave me a pass and God knows that I studied hard. There was no day that I missed lectures. But Onadeko came with the intention to fail students. They allotted 50 minutes for multi-choice question model, which should normally be answered in one hour. Besides, the questions were not difficult ones. All had been taught in class. That 4,000 students failed raises a lot of questions.”

    A candidate at the Abuja Campus, who simply identified herself as Ronke, said: “In every exam, there are always people who do not prepare. Is it not ridiculous that, despite paying N300,000 for the Bar programme, the mental and psychological stress in the last one year, a whopping 4,000 candidates were said to have ill-prepared for the examination? This cannot be true. There is something wrong somewhere, and if justice must be done, the results have to be reviewed.”

    CAMPUSLIFE could not reach the NLS Director-General at the time of this report.

    Meanwhile, the NLS has fixed November 25 for the successful students to be called to the Bar. In an online statement, the NLS said the event, which is normally held for two or three days, will only be held for one day.

    While the successful candidates are preparing to take the Bar oath, their unsuccessful colleagues are keeping their arms crossed, hoping that, one way or the other, the result will be reviewed.

    A management staff at Lagos Campus, who pleaded anonymity, blamed the students for their woeful performance. He said the students were looking for cheap mark after reading unapproved materials for the exam.

    He said: “Nobody can mark down the students. Whatever they got is what they deserve. The marking process is not individual but a conference method that ensures every candidate’s script is seen by all examiners. Computer does the final grading. We have mass failure because students are no longer reading the recommended textbooks. Most of them prefer to buy law materials being sold at gate and tutorial centres.

    “Many of them did not even know we are operating a new curriculum. They read irrelevant materials for the exam and they failed. How many of them have come forward to call for the review of their scripts? They are interested in cheap results. Law School won’t give bazaar marks to students, because we don’t want to compromise quality. If anyone feels he was unjustly graded, let him come forward to state his case.”

     

  • A ‘true Bar man and judge’ bows out

    A ‘true Bar man and judge’ bows out

    A valedictory court session was held at the Lagos State High Court for retired Justice Adesuyi Olateru-Olagbegi, who served as Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) General Secretary and Chairman, NBA Lagos Branch before his appointment to the Bench. JOSEPH JIBUEZE reports.

    Should the retirement age of High Court judges be extended from 65 to 70? Yes, says the Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs). It made the call at a valedictory court session held in honour of Justice Adesuyi Olateru-Olagbeji, who retired from the Lagos State judiciary on April 24.

    While Supreme Court justices retire at 70, High Court judges bow out at 65. This, to the SANs, is not fair. Besides, state courts lose judges with valuable experience acquired over the years at a time they could still be useful.

    Speaking for the senior lawyers, Mr Ebun Sofunde said the constitution should be amended to enable state judges serve till they are at least, 70. He does not see why there should be different retirement ages for judges and justices.

    “They (High Court judges) should be there (on the bench) for much longer. Supreme Court judges stay till 70, so I don’t know why there should be a difference,” he said.

    Sofunde said although Olateru-Olagbegi is still strong at 65, he would have no further business in the court as he cannot practise again as a lawyer. “He cannot by law appear in court,” he said.

    The SAN said judges retire at 70 in England, adding that it should be the same in Nigeria. “l advocate that the retiring age of High Court judges be reviewed,” he said.

    Chief Judge of Lagos, Justice Ayotunde Phillips, who will also retire this year, described Olateru-Olagbegi as “a fine gentleman.”

    “He has done well. He served the judiciary for a memorable 13 years and we thank God that he is leaving in good and sound physical health,” she said.

    Justice Phillips urged Olateru-Olagbegi to remain active. “Please do not go into hibernation,” she said, adding: “We’ll tap into his experience from time to time.”

    Lagos Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice Mr Ade Ipaye said the task of dispensing justice does not rest with judges alone: lawyers and litigants, he said, must do their part to ensure that justice is not delayed.

    He praised the retired judge for “caring for the improvement of the justice system,” adding the “our nation needs upright judges.”

    NBA Lagos Branch chairman, Mr Alex Muoka said he was distressed when Olateru-Olagbegi “abandoned the Bar for the Bench.” “I felt the Bar has lost one of its role models,” he said.

    His Ikeja Branch counterpart, Onyekachi Ubani said while all judges deliver judgments, not all of them deliver justice.

    “All those who sit on the Bench are judges, but not all become benchmarks,” he said, describing Olateru-Olagbegi as a man of “robust competence and robust sagacity.”

    Ikorodu Branch Chairman Sahid Shillings said not only is the retired judge a distinguished leader of the Bar, he represents one of the finest members of the Bench.

    Olateru-Olagbegi urged the NBA to intervene and deal decisively with “a tiny percentage of lawyers whose conduct bring the profession into disrepute”.

    The former judge said the rules of procedure must be strictly and courageously applied by judges to discourage tardiness, indolence, delay tactics and abuse of court process by unscrupulous lawyers.

    He urged appellate courts to support the trial courts in the strict application of the rules. “In Nigeria, the constitutional provisions of fair hearing are held up as magic wands by dilatory parties to excuse all forms of indolent conduct. This should be discouraged.

    “With the Bench and the Bar working together in partnership, the rule of law will be sustained and justice will reign in the land. So help us God.”

    Olateru-Olagbegi is the son of the late Olowo of Owo, Sir James Titus Olateru-Olagbegi. He studied law at the University of London, graduating in 1976, and was called to Bar in 1977.

    He served as NBA Financial Secretary when the late Alao Aka-Bashorun was President. He was elected General-Secretary in 1991 and later served as Lagos Branch chairman from 1999-2001. He had 24 years post-call experience before his appointment as a judge on May 24, 2001.

    “I am happy to say that under the NBA Constitution, having once served the Bar as a National General Secretary (who was not removed from office), I am thereby a life member of the NBA National Executive Committee.  I look forward to resuming my seat there,” Olateru-Olagbegi said.

  • ‘Bar leaders must resist interference’

    ‘Bar leaders must resist interference’

    The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) is preparing for its National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State between tomorrow and Friday. Its President, Okey Wali (SAN), has given an insight into the agenda – the independence of the Bar. In this interview with Legal Editor John Austin Unachukwu, he speaks on the Bar leaders’ meeting, which he attended in Geneva, Switzerland and the state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states, among others.

     

    What happened at the meeting in Geneva?

    It was a very refreshing experience to watch Bar leaders from various parts of the world addressing issues of common interest such as the problems of regulation, Bar services, generally, regulation is always high on the agenda of such meetings because, all over the world, there are issues of regulation. the legal profession is insistent on self regulation and resisting regulation from government agencies.

    How did you address this?

    We had to discuss problems of money laundering, terrorism vis-a-vis regulation. The fact remains that one thing is central to the position of Bar leaders all over the world — the independence of the Bar. It was resolved that Bar associations must resist interference in the independence of the Bar, knowing full well that the twin pillars of the rule of law are the independence of the Bar and the independence of the Bench.

    On money laundering, the NBA took a position at its NEC meeting in Makurdi to challenge the law which requires every lawyer to report any transaction with his client in which the lawyer is paid more than $1,000 to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)

    Yes, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was insistent on enforcing that regulation that lawyers must go and register with the Special, Control Unit on Money Laundering (SCUMOL) and had directed the banks not to allow lawyers and other designated Non Financial Institutions operate their bank accounts unless they registered with SCUMOL. So, we went to court and served on the parties and, inspite of that, the threats were still being issued, so we filed an application for injunction. I think that has made them to roll back a bit. We also wrote letters, I remember that I signed letters to almost all managing directors of banks in this country informing them that the NBA was in court over the matter, that their insistent would amount to contempt of court. While the suit and application for injunction were pending, it was only right and proper that they stayed action on the CBN directive. I also wrote a letter to the Governor of Central Bank, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi telling him that, inspite of the service of court processes on him and his organisation, we think that he should not go on and some how, the banks have not been insisting.

    The efforts notwithstanding, what is the way forward?

    Well, the chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, came to see me and that was one of the issues he raised and we had a committee of members of the Bar, the EFCC, the MFIU, the SCUMOL which agreed that the requirement is unreasonable — every transaction over $1,000 about N150,000 should be reported to the EFCC and SCUMOL. None of them, I believe, has the capacity to take in that magnitude of reports. So, that is where we are right now and I am hopeful that it will be resolved. I have even offered as a mark of good will to drive the process, so the nominations will come in and we will take it from there.

    The Director-General, Nigeria Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS), led a team of his management staff to your office. What was the purpose of that visit?

    We had a very warm meeting with the NIALS DG and his management team when they visited in my office. They donated some books to us and made a commitment to supply copies of every publication of the institute to the NBA towards our drive to build a library that befits the NBA. I assured them that space will not be our problem by the time we are done with the NBA house project . There will be enough space to take in any number of books donated to us.

    We also agreed to collaborate. We agreed to work together on the programmes of Continuing Legal Education (CLE)

    At the NBA fund raising dinner in Abuja, you promised to move to the building site by the end of this month if you raised enough funds; how far now, have you moved to the site, why not and when do you intend to move?

    Yes, we were ready to move to the site by the end of the month, but there were some technical issues that cropped up, the building committee is not set to go with their bids, they had to go through advertisement of bids and so on to get the desired contractor. We are waiting for them and I am sure that as at today, we can find the amount of money they require to go to site, so, we are there financially.

    A cross section of Nigerians have picked issues with President Jonathan over the state of emergency in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states; that the president did not transmit a gazette to the National Assembly as required by law and, that the state of emergency ought to be total with the demolition of every democratic structure in those states. What is your take?

    Well. I don’t agree that the declaration of state of emergency means the dismantling of democratic structures and institutions in the effected areas. There is not definition of state of emergency that says this.

    The President did the right thing. State of emergency means that every law would be relaxed and certain urgent actions could be taken by security agencies which ordinarily they couldn’t have taken in non state of emergency situations.

    I do not have the information available to the president, but like I said before, the President premised his actions on certain grounds: one he said that he had intelligence reports that the Boko Haram group wanted to declare a state of their own, they were planning to break away, that they had certain parts of the country where they operate as being controlled by them. No reasonable government in my Judgment will allow that kind of thing to go on.

    Why did the NBA call for amnesty for this group?

    We did that because we believed that if law enforcement was not working, then they should look at the second angle which is crime prevention and crime prevention would involved intelligence, negotiation and engaging the people that are involved and we called for that. But if the president comes out with a different approach like he has come out with, I have no reason to doubt the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and if that was the position then the government needed to do something more drastic

    What of the issue of compliance with the provisions of the Constitution?

    I listened to the Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma Egba, say the time would start to run from when the gazette is there. Our position at the Bar is that the rule of law must be maintained no matter the provocations. No matter what the position is, the Bar insists that at all times the rule of law must be maintained. Whatever the government needs to do, they must do that according to the provisions of the Constitution, they must do it quickly no matter the pressure on them.

    What is your advice for lawyers attending the NEC meeting in Yenagoa?

    My word to them is that NEC is a very serious business, that is what we have tried to achieve in this administration with our rule that NEC will be for NEC members only. This step was not taken for any selfish aggrandisement, it was taken to ensure that we have a conducieve atmosphere for serious deliberations by those who have either been nominated, elected by the positions they occupy in their branches, or by the positions they occupy at the Bar to come and deal with issues.

    What issues do you intend to deal with at the meeeting?

    We have a lot of issues to deal with at this NEC. Such topical issues include the state, national importance of the Bar, our NBA house, discipline in the profession. Some lawyers’ names were struck off the roll by the Supreme Court because of misconduct. We have the Annual General Conference which is coming and welfare of lawyers. We have a lot of issues to deal with and, in spite of that, I urge all lawyers to find time, sit down and enjoy Yenagoa.

  • Can the Bar Beach be saved?

    Samson Ajibade (not his real name) and his colleagues sat at one of the entrances to the wide concrete embankment on the Lagos Bar Beach on Ahmadu Bello Way, Victoria Island to collect N200 toll from picnickers. With his huge frame, he looks menacing. Many picnickers paid the toll without complaints. Some didn’t, but it was not to his hearing.

    Armed with an identity card purportedly issued by the Lagos State government, Ajibade, who is in his 30s, told a reveller: “Except you are bigger than the government, that is when you would be exempted from paying the toll; do you think we put ourselves here?” The reveller was not there for sight seeing, he had come to have his lunch at an eatery near the Eko Atlantic City sales office and showroom.

    There are others like him on the oldest Lagos Beach, who have made it their ‘cash cow’; feeding fat on unsuspecting visitors, by purportedly collecting tolls from them in the name of generating revenue for the Eti-Osa Local Government. They hide inside the 3.6 tonnes X shaped blocks to perpetrate their act. Their presence raises nostalgic feelings about the beach, which was the haven of fun seekers and revellers, especially during holidays and festivities. But neglect and frequent surges have made the beach a pain in the neck for residents of Victoria Island and motorists plying the Ahmadu Bello Way.

    Offices and homes are flooded when the ocean overflows its banks. A portion of Ahmadu Bello Way becomes impassable. Adjoining streets, such as Bishop Oluwole, Tiamiyu Savage, Adetokunbo Ademola, Oju Olobun, Ologun Agbaje and others are not spared.

    In 2005, when another surge occurred, the Bola Tinubu administration got the nod of the Federal Government to find a lasting solution to the problem. An extensive survey of severely affected areas showed places adjacent to the west of the Abia State Liason office on Ahmadu Bello Way, where the width of the beach was less than three metres. Shoreline protection, according to the Lagos State Government, was the best option. A Dutch shoreline protection firm, Hitech Group, was hired for the job.

    The project comprised the construction of shoreline protection of 1,000 metres length to start at a point to the west of Abia State Liaison office up to the defunct IMB Bank building. The design, according to the government, would use layers of rock placed on a geo-textile sheet with pre-cast concrete elements placed on the beach front, as the primary protection. The ‘x-blocks’ weighing 3.6 tonnes each, were designed to form an interlocking barrier to incoming waves. The sizes of the blocks, according to officials, were determined by computer simulation to withstand the worst predictable storm conditions within a 100-year period.

    “The restoration and stabilisation of the Bar Beach project was divided into two phases; Phase one of the project was awarded for N4.072 billion, while the Phase II contract was awarded for N2.259 billion,” the government said.

    The unprecedented success recorded at the waterfront protection made the Lagos State government to try reclaiming ‘lost lands’ in the last 100 years, which are estimated at about nine million square kilometres. This brought about the sealing of a multibillion-dollar concession deal in July 2006 with another foreign firm, South Energyx Nigeria Limited (SENL), to build a 21st century city, Atlantic City, meant to serve as the strategic business hub for the sub-Saharan Africa. Years back, the Federal Government tried many unsuccessful projects to check the over-flow of the beach without any success. It was alleged to be a sort of cash-cow for successive ministers. During the tenure of Alhaji Lateef Jakande as the Minister of Works and Housing, the government gave out a contract for dropping of sand bags on the shore to check the angry wave at the beach, but they were all washed away at the slightest surge. The value of real estate on Ahmadu Bello Way during this period dropped, which was hitherto a prime real estate axis that had most of the states’ liaison offices. But now the axis is having its groove back as the state government with recent developments on the beach seem to have found a permanent solution to the problem.

    The Bar Beach, according to those who know its history, is a beach with a natural bar. Rev Brother Steve Lucas of the Dominican Order of the Catholic Church, who lived on the Takwa Bay, adjacent to the beach, for 40 years, said the Bar Beach got its name from the bars it had in the past. “Because of those natural bars, no ship could berth at that beach. Each time any ship attempted it, it would crash as it would have run into a natural bar at the beach. This made the government to dredge it then, but that did not help much as there were other areas on Lagos coastline converted to ports,” the 80-year-old American Reverend Brother said.

    This natural bar, Rev. Brother Lucas said, might have accounted for the seeming neglect it suffered which invariably made it susceptible to erosion from the Atlantic Ocean. “Surges are natural occurrences, they happen when the ocean tide is high. We experience it often here and there is no human cause for it; it’s a natural phenomenon,” he said.

    The cleric would not support those who said the sand filling of the Atlantic City could have caused the flooding of some beaches in Lagos last year.

    As the raining season approaches, visitors to the beach have, however, noted that the embankment and the shoreline extension, though effective, may not last if periodic maintenance is not carried out. There are fears that activities of touts and miscreants may undo whatever good work was executed by the government.

    “My fear actually is that the beach may be no more. This reason is simple; the territorial reclamation of the government as it were, may phase it out. I’m talking about the Atlantic City, which I sense may swallow the beach later on,” said Akinwale Thomas, a property consultant who was at the Atlantic City showroom for a business transaction.

    The beach, according to him, has suffered seriously from the government’s neglect and various abuses from people who visited it for diverse purposes. “Is it the abuse from the so-called spiritualists, who have turned it to their churches you want to talk about, or the street urchins and miscreants who have made it their den?” he asked.

    But, in a statement, Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola (SAN) said the state has made inroads into checking the ocean surge. He recalled that the solution embarked upon then by the government at the centre was to pump sand every two years, which was costing the nation between N3 and N4 billion.

    He said each time the sand was pumped, the sea just came and washed it away. He explained that when the Kuramo incident happened, the wave was as high as seven metres, stressing that the waves that hit Kuramo were possible because there was no protection for it.

    The governor said what his administration has done is to build a defence wall in the sea after reclaiming what the sea washed away.

    He said some of the projects the state government has embarked upon in the last three years was the clearing of the Itirin Canal, which has saved the state from greater calamity.

    He said: “I am happy we had to remove a property that was blocking the Itirin Canal then and it even became an issue during the last governorship election campaign because it’s the Itirin Canal that leads to Kuramo and down to the Five Cowries Creeks.”

    Elaborating other measures taken by the state, the governor explained: “If you go to the Mobil House on the Lekki-Epe Expressway, what that road has done for us is to improve our coastal drainage system. Before now, there was only one the engineers refer to as box culvert at the Mobil House, which links Itirin Canal into the Five Cowries Creek. We undertook a project to expand it to four. That expansion allowed free passage of water from the Atlantic to discharge into the lagoon – thereby checking the coastal surge from the bar beach.”

  • 3,897 called to Bar

    National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola was among the 3,897 lawyers called to Bar yesterday.

    They were among the 5,449 who sat for the Bar final examination.

    Nine passed with first class, 195-second class upper, 900-second class lower, while 2,783 had pass.

    Over 1,000 failed the examination, it was learnt.

    The Director-General of the Nigerian Law School, Dr. Tahir Mamman, urged the new lawyers to be job creators and not seekers.

    He said the knowledge which the Law school had impacted on them was enough to make them fulfilled lawyers.

    Mamman said some young lawyers caught impersonating during the examination are facing criminal trial.

    The Chairman, Body of Benchers , Idowu Sofola (SAN) urged the young lawyers to be good, hardworking, trustworthy, thorough, reliable and full of integrity.

    ‘’These and many more qualities will make you distinct lawyers.

    “It will also earn you over the years trust and confidence, not only by clients, but your colleagues at the Bar and even the Bench’’.

    Sofola advised the lawyers to be prompt at court and handle any case assigned to them diligently, cautiously and confidentially.

    He also advised them to avoid trial by media.