The Nation Newspaper

Tag: mentors

  • Firm mentors Law School students

    A Law firm, primera Africa Legal (PAL), has held its mentoring programme for students of the Nigerian Law School in the Lagos Campus.

    The event, which is the sixth in its series, featured judges, in-house counsel of leading conglomerates and Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs).

    Speakers, including Justice Oluwatoyin Ipaye of the Lagos State High Court, former Ogun State Attorney-General ( A-G) and Commissioner  for Justice, Mrs. Abimbola Akeredolu (SAN),  Mr. Eyo Ita and Ms. Bina Idornijie of General Electric, guided the students on career paths.

    PAL Senior Partner Mrs. Boma Ayomide Alabi explained that the programme was part of the firm’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

    Alabi added: “The Lagos Campus of the Nigeria Law School is privileged to have benefited from the programme in the past five years of its operation in the School.”

    Speaking on “A day in the Life of a Judge”, Justice Ipaye said the life of a judge involves “a lot of hard work, leaving very little time for family or leisure”.

    The court, she noted, must sit at 9am, and if for any reason the court fails to sit on time, “the judge must apologise to lawyers for keeping counsel waiting in court.”

    Justice Ipaye said: “A judge must be impartial and objective at the same time. The judge must be able, willing and ready to do justice at all times, no matter whose Ox is gored.

    “The modern day judge is not just an impartial arbiter, but also a managerial judge. The judge must be able to manage his allocated time to domestic duties and official duties. The court rises at about 2-4 pm, then the judge retires to the chambers where the real work in done.”

    She advised those looking forwarding to a career on the Bench, to possess good organisational skill to manage precious judicial time and be ready to work hard.

    Justice Ipaye noted that although Lagos has 56 judges and 199 magistrates, more are still needed to reduce the workload.

    “You must not start at the High Court. You can start at the Magistrates Court and if you work hard, you will get to the Supreme Court.”

    She cited former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Miriam Mukhtar (CJN) (retd) and Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun (JSC) as those who started from the Magistracy and “because of diligence and hard work, they ended at the highest court of the land”.

    Former Ogun State Attorney-General, Mrs Abimbola Akeredolu (SAN), told the students of her momentous rise in legal practice which culminated in her appointment as the first female A-G of Ogun State.

    Speaking on her topic ‘A Day in the Life of a Litigator,’ she said a litigation lawyer should always keep his or her mind open for opportunities in legal practice while making career choices.

    She told the students that litigation requires a lot of hard work, including working late hours to meet deadlines because cases are won or lost in chambers.  Although this impacts negatively on the family life of female lawyers, they shouldn’t be discouraged as it will eventually pay off when the children get older.

    Ms. Bina Idorgie, who spoke on ‘A day in the life of an In-house Counsel’, shared her experience as Labour and Employment Counsel at General Electric.

    This, she said, also includes responsibilities as a ‘legal risk thermometer’ of the Africa Region of the conglomerate. Her duties, she said also include litigation, oversight functions and overseeing mergers and acquisition agreements.

    Mr. Eyo Ita spoke on what it takes to transit from litigation into the corporate world. He told the students that if they desired a career in the corporate legal practice, they must ensure they build an ethical foundation and make reading a second nature.

    At the end of the programme, Alabi shared tips with the students she called ‘Tips for Passing a Job interview.’

    She advised them to be clean always and understand the language of the profession, the language of the court, which is English. She advised them that modern day employers are looking for people who will add value to the system.

    Alabi also advised the law students to package their Curriculum Vitae ( C-Vs) very well so as to gain the confidence of their would be employers.

  • Artist mentors students

    Last year’s winner of the National Art Competition Mr Erasmus Onyishi has urged  fine art students of the University of Lagos (UNILAG),  to remain steadfast and  focused as challenges are inevitable in the art field.

    He urged them to start producing works while in school as the money they make will take some burdens off their parents. shoulders. He also encouraged them to create artworks even if the works are not bought because “The time will come when someone will discover you.”

    Onyishi spoke during a mentorship programme organised by the African Artists’ Foundation (AAF) during its second edition of Meet the Artist. The event took place at the Creative Art Department of UNILAG.

    He told the students that producing outstanding works and discovering their strength are some of the ingredients that will make them standout as the art industry is very competitive. “If there are 100 artists in Nigeria, only 20 are practicing, others do other jobs. It is only the dogged ones that succeed.”

    Sharing how he was able to succeed in school without depending on his parents, he said: “Art was perceived as luxury, and in order to foot my university education, I produced art objects within the understanding and patronage of the common man. I predominantly made carved wall clocks, mirrors, stools and chair at this stage.” Onyishi called this era of his career, “From Hand to Mouth-surviving the challenges of being independent.

    Onyishi is known for his use of waste to create beautiful artworks. Line, Patches and Pathos according to him explore the ironies between facts and representations, like the refuse (plastic waste) that now in use (work of art). “Plastic waste is my principle medium. Plastic wastes are the refugees, the used and abused useless ones, the victims of violence-induced displacement, which I recover and entrust with a visual eloquence to enjoy the freedom of speech. Just like the irony of harmful beauty in the images of diseases viewed from a microscope, the killer is beautiful. Thus beauty is relative and could have ugliness as its vapour trial.

    “My earliest works were functional and utilitarian. Such is still silent in my practice till date.  He fell in love with art when he came in contact with “Uche” and he left his first love, Law, for Fine Art. “Uche read sculpture and teaches the same at his almameta, The University of Nigeria, Nusukka (UNN). I assisted in different levels of his practice during his undergraduate days. This must have triggered my artistic traits,’ he told the students. “I willingly joined in doing what I love. I gave up my ambition to read Law and took to art.”

    Onyishi studied sculpture at the University of Nigeria. He has participated in more than thirty exhibitions both locally and internationally. He is one of the earliest exponents of Video Art in Nigeria. He has also won many awards including the National University Commission (NUC) for Research and Development in the Humanities. He is currently teaching Sculpture at the Federal University of Lafia, Nasarawa State.

     

  • Student mentors pupils

    A 200- Level student of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Ile-Ife, Osun State Sunday Abegunde, has embarked on a mission of grooming young writers.  He has visited secondary schools to teach pupils how to be good writers.

    For two weeks, Sunday was in some schools in Lagos and Ogun states for this purpose. He said the mentoring programme tagged: Let your voice be heard was to hunt for talents in writing.

    It started in February at OSMA International School in Ayetoro, Ogun State.

    After a writing contest for pupils of OSMA International School, Ganiyu Mubideen emerged the overall best writer.

    Also, Olasumbo Ajibade of GEC Comprehensive College in Mosan, Lagos is the best writer in his school. He wrote three short plays; Ganiyu wrote a poem.

    The pupils’ works would be sponsored by Caprecon Development Foundation and Speaking Pen International Concept.

    Other schools visited included Samlad International School, Blossom palace Children School and Government Secondary School in Ipaja, Lagos.

    Sunday, who is also the representative of Caprecon Development Foundation, said children must be given chances to liberate their potential, saying young people would do better if they were guided and mentored properly.

    He said he was privileged to have helped the foundation in its mission in Africa, adding that the days he spent with the pupils teaching them how to write good stories were precious and rewarding.

    Also, during the first week of the programme, an online contest was organised for students of higher institutions. Winners emerged from various universities.

  • Why women entrepreneurs need mentors

    No fewer than 30 women at the weekend held a mentoring walk in Gbagada, Lagos.

    Organised by Ideas Builders Initiative, the event is held on November 16 yearly worldwide as a platform for women who are established in their careers and young women who are aspiring to make it.  During the walk, the women talked on issues of empowerment and their problems. They also discussed the importance of women’s leadership, and the impact of women leaders through mentoring.

    According to the group’s Executive Director, Lucy Kanu, mentoring is critical to women empowerment to enable them build their potential and succeed. She said those mentored were likely to succeed compared to those who were not.

    She said: “Mentoring corresponds with strengths that are often associated with women; building personal relationships, caring and nurturing of others. It is an effective support system for meeting challenges that women face in common or that affect women in particular. For instance, the glass ceiling or the obstacles to career growth that women commonly face in corporate and professional environments.’’

    She said mentoring helps to draw the potential from women, noting that successful women could share their experiences with their younger ones and guide them into success, adding that such guidance helped to overcome any obstacle on their ways.

    On the merits of mentoring, she said they include helping the mentees to reach their goals in life. “These same mentees often become mentors, paying it forward by empowering even more women to be successful leaders,” she said.

    She described mentoring as flexible, adding that it is different from coaching and professional development programmes,”which often take place only in a professional setting and have a set schedule with a beginning and end; a mentoring relationship is more organic – growing and changing as a relationship progresses’’.

    A guest speaker and Health Consultant to Nestle Nigeria PLC, Dr. Eno Attah, said one’s altitude determines his attitude, urging women to always aim high. She also urged women to stay fine despite the stress they face.  She listed good food, healthy living, and regular exercises, among others as panacea for good living.