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Tag: NBA section

  • NBA section gets new officers

    The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Section on Public Interest and Development Law (SPIDEL) has elected new officers to pilot the affairs of the association for the next two years.

    Those elected to run the affairs of the Section include: Dr. Paul Chibuike Ananaba (SAN), who was elected chairman, Mr. Ikhide Ehighelua, Alternate chairman, Mr. Kola Omotinugbon, Secretary and Aishatu Hassan (Treasurer).

    Ananaba, in his acceptance speech, quoted English Mathematician Isaac Barrow: “Wherefore for the public interest and benefit of human society it is requisite that the highest obligations possible should be laid upon the consciences of men.”

    He said he was priviledged to lead the section.

    SPIDEL, the third section of the NBA inaugurated on December 19, 2006, has the following objectives: to ensure the credibility and development of national institutions; to promote development and practice of public interest law and litigation and to ensure access to effective remedies for victims of violation of the law and abuse of power.

    The section was also set up to address legal aspects of economic reforms, and to advocate effective laws and institutions to guarantee public safety and security in Nigeria.

    Other objectives are to promote harmonisation of regional integration institutions and Nigeria’s constitutional framework; to contribute to development of appropriate legal and policy framework, management and protection of environmental, marine maritime resources and rights, and to promote legal and policy framework for safe and equitable exploitation and management of natural resources.

    Ananaba said: “The essence of the SPIDEL is to cause the NBA using the formidable tool of law to engineer and reengineer social behaviour and the economic progress of our nation. This can be achieved where members of the association are properly positioned in that regard.

    “It is based on this that I have come out with six basic points as roadmap towards a progressive Section on Public Interest and Development Law,” Ananaba said.

    The six points are: to encourage and support public interest litigation; legislative input; review and publications, continuing legal education, legal aid/human rights, international collaborations and partnerships

    “We are solidly convinced that with these six points sufficiently put in focus, SPIDEL will take the heights and as always maintain the pride of the NBA.

    “Let me call upon my fellow elected council members and other members of this Section to key into these six points and freely contribute to its fruitfulness.

    “We are intellectually equipped and well positioned. We must know that we owe posterity a duty to make SPIDEL and our society better than we met it.”

    NBA General Secretary Aare Isiaka Abiola urged the new executive to live up to expectations and be a good ambassadors of the Bar and the legal profession.

    Former NBA First Vice Chairman Mr. Ikeazor Akaraiwe urged the new exco to restore the section’s glory.

    The new exco was sworn in by NBA First Vice-President Mr. Caleb Dajan.

  • NBA section, others honour late SAN with play

    NBA section, others honour late SAN with play

    Members of the Nigerian Bar Association Section on Business Law (NBA-SBL) converged on the MUSON Centre in Lagos to see the play: Just an Ordinary Lawyer.

    It was written and performed by multi-award winning actor/playwright, Tayo Aluko.

    The play was performed in honour of Aluko’s elder brother, the late Bankole Olumide Aluko (SAN), who was not an ordinary lawyer.

    The late Aluko was the co-founder of one of nation’s biggest commercial law firms, Aluko & Oyebode, which sponsored the show.

    The play is about Tunji Sowande, who left Nigeria to study law in Britain and who in 1968, became the first black  head of a major barrister’s chambers.  It was a fascinating show that interweaves politics, music and Sowande’s abiding passion – cricket.

    Aluko seizes on the fact that 1968 was a turning point in Sowande’s legal career to bring together the themes that animated the show.

    The audience, which included former NBA President Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), was reminded of that year’s internal conflicts in Africa, which were part of the imperialist legacy of the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy and of the black power salute by two African-American athletes at the Mexico City Olympics.

    SBL Chairman Mr Olumide Akpata explained why the section partnered the producers.

    “We’re about the well rounded development of the lawyer. So, it’s not only about work, but also about recreation, one that is very educative.

    “This play is about the life of an exceptional Nigerian lawyer, Mr Sowande. We’re looking at our  young lawyers and we’re thinking we must show them role models, who will inspire them. And definitely this is an inspiring story,” he said.

    Apata described the play as exceptional, adding that Aluko pulled it off brilliantly. “It was a worthy honour to the late SAN,” he said.

    Aluko told newsmen after the performance about how he abandoned architecture for acting. His other one-man play, Call Mr Robeson, won the coveted Fringe Review Outstanding Theatre Award at the Brighton Festival Fringe in June 2016.

    “I always sang and acted as an amateur when I was in primary school, Kings College and university in England. I knew I wouldn’t want to do it professionally even though I was good at it. Then I stumbled on the story of Paul Robeson, an African American actor and singer.

    “When I read his biography, I said ‘this is a story that has to be told’. After looking for playwrights and actors, I decided I was going to play and act it myself.  When I started performing it, my architecture business was going down the drain.

    “When my late father saw the play here in 2008, the following morning he said: ‘If you want to do this professionally you have my blessing’,” Aluko said.

    He said it took him about 18 months to write Just an Ordinary Lawyer, spent months reading and memorizing the sections, and performed it last August for the first time.  He works with a director, a stage designer, among others.

    On why he dedicated the play to his late brother, he said: “My late brother was very highly respected in legal circles in Nigeria. He was a brilliant lawyer. The play is about another brilliant lawyer so it’s a good way to honour him.”

  • How lawyers can adapt to changes, by NBA section

    The legal profession is dynamic and only those willing to adapt to changes can survive, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Section on Business Law chair Mr. Olumide Apata has said.

    Such changes, he said, include innovative trends and the impact of disruptive technology on legal practice.

    Apata said such changes, global evolution of legal practice and the future of the profession will be examined during NBA-SBL’s 11th Annual Business Law Conference holding from June 18 to 20 at the Eko Hotel and  Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos.

    At a briefing in Lagos, Apata said major highlight of the conference would be a session on globalisation and the prospect of open borders vis-à-vis the provision of legal services.

    Another session, he said, will highlight how the practice of law is changing at a rapid speed in other jurisdictions, examining how prepared Nigerian firms are to embrace this new facet of the profession.

    “There will also be a Corporate Counsels’ session, which will provide an opportunity for legal practitioners to network with General Counsel and other in-house counsel,” he said.

    Senate President Bukola Saraki will be the keynote speaker at the opening ceremony.

    Day one of the conference will look at The future of legal practice, are you ready?

    Panelists include, Gbenga Oyebode, Chairman Financial Reporting Council Nigeria,  Dotun Sulaiman, Mia Essien (SAN), Kem Iheanacho and Moray Mclaren.

    Another session will discuss Developing skills and capacity in the profession, redefining the architecture.

    Other sub themes are: Is the current training regime fit for purpose? Should we evolve to training contracts? Best practices in CLE, Should the law school be privatised or decentralised? How do we build and improve capacity under the current architecture?

    The session will be Chaired by Professor Konyinsola Ajayi, (SAN), other  panelists include:  Professor Ernest Ojukwu (SAN), Olamide Oladosu,  Dr. Mirian Kene Kachikwu and  Kenneth Okwor.

    Other sessions will discuss issues like  creating an efficient system of justice delivery, urgent reforms that are required to create an efficient system of justice delivery, relying on comparative analysis of what obtains in jurisdictions where the justice delivery systems are perceived to be ‘more’ efficient.

    The panelists will examine what is required from the government, the judiciary, the legal profession and the end users, the litigating public, to make this happen.

    The session will be chaired by Dr. Babatunde Ajibade (SAN). The main Speaker is Fola Arthur-Worrey or Prof. Fidelis Oditah, QC, (SAN), while panelists include Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany,  Ingo Herbert, Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High Court, Abuja, Attorney-General of Oyo State, Seun Abimbola and Igonikon and Malaysian nominee.

    Another session will examine Technology, Innovation and the Law Firm of the Future.

    This session is designed to address two major subthemes: technology in the changing face of law practice and professional development; and substantive law issues in the digital economy. Discussions will touch on leveraging technology to improve service delivery, law firm management and professional development; as well as online reputation, cryptocurrency, the malaise of fake news, over-the-top services, and new platforms threatening to disrupt legal education and legal services delivery in Nigeria as we know it.

    Session Chairman  is Mr. Kola Aina, the Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer  of  Emerging Platforms, the  Group Managing Director Zinox,   Leo Stan Ekeh. Speaker is the  Founding Principal and  Chairman, Edge International Gerry Riskin. Panelists are Yetunde Johnson, MacJohnson Odey II,  Enyiola Madubuike, John Edokpolo and  Rotimi, Ogunyemi.

    The highpoint of the conference is the debate session which is  the first of its kind at the NBA-SBL Conferences. This would be a light-hearted debate on key professional rules; with one moderator,  two teams of four debaters to be judged by live audience vote.

    The topic of the debate is ‘ Rules of professional conduct in the 21st century,: challenging the status quo’. In a bid to challenge the status quo, each debater will have a go at the Rules of Professional Conduct, arguing for or against its relevance in the 21st century.

  • Create jobs to end violence, says NBA section

    Create jobs to end violence, says NBA section

    The Nigerian Bar Association Section on Business Law (NBA-SBL) yesterday urged the government to create more jobs to if it wants an end to violence.

    Its chairman, Gbenga Oyebode, said if wealth is created for the majority of Nigerians, insecurity would be reduced.

    He spoke in Lagos at a press briefing on the section’s Eight Annual Business Law Conference, to be held from May 26 to 28 at the Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, with the theme: ‘Exemplary governance – Enhancing economic development in Nigeria.’

    Expected at the conference are the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Aloma Muktar; House of Representatives Speaker Aminu Tambuwal, who will give the keynote address, and Lagos State governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN).

    Oyebode said the conference would explore how good governance can be translated to development, which Nigeria needs.

    “Nigeria is fraught with all kinds of challenges, be they corruption and lack of transparency, be it security-type issues, infrastructure deficiency. Those are the evils that bedevil our society. We want to highlight what needs to be done to change these things.

    “Our view is, let us speak about these things, not necessarily in a purely political tone, but about how we can use governance to enhance economic development, because at the end of the day, if you create wealth, you’re going to have less people lounging around the streets looking for trouble.

    “We have a limited agenda at the conference, which is: How do you take good governance and use it to grow the economy? What is exemplary governance? What is visionary leadership? What should government do to enhance economic development?

    “Being business lawyers, our focus is purely on using good governance to achieve economic development,” Oyebode said.

    Chairman of the Conference Planning Committee, Mr Seni Adio, said young lawyers would pay N20,000, which is half the cost of the conference fee.