The Nigerian Bar Association seeks by its theme for its 2019 Conference to “face the future” in the areas of legal practice and education, rule of law and future of human rights, sectoral and structural transformation, diversity and inclusion for development, technological innovation and disruption.
The magnitude of the scope of issues this conference hopes to cover is indicative of the understanding by some of the leading practitioners in this country of the enormity of the problems that confront the future of the profession in Nigeria. Therefore, let it not turn out that the laudable ideas behind this impressive theme and its array of sub-topics will again be no more than a mere fleeting noise with no substantial impact.
I am persuaded that the only reason the profession is still marginally relevant to the development of this country today is because of the few developments we have seen in recent years, including the lessons learned from the International Bar Association, the NBA’s association with the American Bar Association Section on International Law, the creation of specialized practice sections and new interest from non-litigation lawyers.
However, we must admit that a lot needs to be done if this country is to have a future for lawyers. Today the pursuit of excellence that ought to be the hallmark of the profession has lost ground alarmingly to the pursuit of title and advantage.
The strictures of a corrupt and mediocre national system foisted on the country by its myopic military rulers continue to hamper the progress of the entire country, no less the legal profession.
We must accept that the future of Nigeria will determine the future of the legal profession in the country that the real showpiece of a vibrant and progressive legal profession is the legal system it operates and the benefits this brings to the polity.
In “facing forward” then, it is important for our profession to deliberately remove the blinkers of narcissism and take a clear look around it at the environment in which it is operating in order to be sure that it is looking in the right direction when it says it is looking at the future.
Having done that, it should then “face forward” by preparing the profession through deliberate developmental steps to meet the challenges that the future will pose to the country, its legal system and consequently the profession of lawyers that (in the order of Roscoe Pound) ought to repair, maintain, invent, innovate and implement measures to ensure the society does not experience a complete break down as current trends in our country seem to portend.
There is a lot to say and listen to about the need for the profession to “face forward” and no doubt the conference promises an array of capable speakers who will properly interrogate the theme.
However, I take the liberty of my freedom of speech to make this modest contribution to the discussion regarding the process of “facing forward” from the perspective of (i) ensuring we are actually looking in the right direction (ii) preparing for the challenges of the future.
Sometimes I have wondered if the Nigerian legal profession will be able to stand the test of time and some of my positions about certain aspects of the organisation and management of the profession has stemmed from my conclusion that unless the profession repositions or reinvents itself, it will not be a relevant institution in the future, at least not in Nigeria as we know it today.
Fortunately we have been able to elect a new President of the NBA who has the capacity to see the profession holistically and therefore better apprehend what the future holds.
Disregard of the problems of ACCESS TO JUSTICE has been one of the major hindrances to the relevance of the profession. Over 75% of Nigerians today find no relevance for lawyers in their lives. They see the profession as elitist with its formalities, rankings, and corruption.
Legal aid has failed to take off in this country in a manner that would be useful to the daily-oppressed peoples of Nigeria. In any event even if it was available it would be ineffective since it could not provide the kind of service that would enable their cases get the traction and solution that they need in view of the scheduling problems faced by the courts.
Where a judge’s daily cause list is populated by over 30 cases on the average and the only hope any case has of being heard is if it involves a “Senior Advocate of Nigeria” (SAN), legal aid would not be of any benefit since only some of those aspiring for the SAN title find involvement in legal aid matters relevant.
Once they have the title, they immediately become experts in areas that they consider more lucrative and forget the “expertise” they professed in order to procure the rank.
The rank of senior advocate in this sense (as in many other ways) poses an obstacle to the future of the profession in so far as these “leaders of the Bar” are satisfied with this state of affairs, which they believe is part of the glory of being a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.
Rather than waste a lot of effort trying to reform the ‘unreformable’ process of appointing SANs we should find a solution to the scheduling problem in the courts. I believe that resolving the scheduling problems of the courts alone will go a long way in reducing the desperation fuelling the almost mindless pursuit of the title of SAN.
Ideally, no litigant should have to wait in court watching “African Magic” only to find at the end of the day that his case scheduled for hearing that day is so far down the list that the tired judge has to throw in the towel before that litigant’s case can be called.
I have appeared in various capacities in litigation in many other countries (including in England where our inspiration often comes from) and I find that every case is scheduled in such a way that you only have to show up in court at a particular time on a particular day and your case will be called and heard for the period of time allotted to it.
Why can’t we do that in Nigeria? Is it because of inadequate facilities, judges or just the pleasure of those who benefit from this gross inefficiency? In some courts even the court clerks have made a business out of positioning cases on the “cause list”.
My junior colleagues in our firm report to me often that if one is not a senior advocate but one is willing to pay for it, one can have one’s case/s positioned higher up on the list so that, after the senior advocates have been served, one’s case may then stand a chance of being called before the poor judge’s energy fails him for the day. What a mess.
This scheduling mess makes a mockery of our justice administration system and further cements the mediocrity that the rank of SAN seems designed to institutionalise.
I am not criticising SANs here; I am criticising the entire concept. I believe that it is anachronistic, unnecessary and unconstitutional. It is a vestige of our colonial mentality and has served no useful purpose in the profession that I can point to other than creating a mythical class of lawyers who are, mainly undeservedly, regarded as the best in the profession.
Our constitution, a Republican one, finds no place for the stratification that the SAN scheme (an imported and adapted English Queens/Kings Counsel concept) seeks to establish amongst litigants in Nigeria.
Nigerian lawyers need to be sensitive to the socio-political needs of the country, particularly the urgent need to RESTRUCTURE NIGERIA to abate its ongoing partitioning.
Many of the ailments bedevilling our country today are outcomes of the long years of military rule including the unitary constitution we currently fraudulently call a federal constitution.
The failure of this country to rise to its potential of greatness is directly related to the concentration, by our constitution, of power in the hands of one man at the centre: “The president of the federal Republic of Nigeria”.
The future of Nigerian lawyers is dependent upon the future of Nigeria. If we are not more sensitive to the happenings around us in this regard we may eventually find that we no longer have Nigerian lawyers. Perhaps we may have Arewa lawyers, Odua Lawyers, Biafra Lawyers, etc, but certainly not a Nigerian Bar Association that we currently so cherish.
