A cross-section of the Nigerian legal community was joined by members of the media, the academia and the general public at the main auditorium of the National Secretariat of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) on the occasion of its customary Press Conference in Abuja, the Nigerian federal capital city, on Saturday, August 26, 2023 to usher in this year’s edition of the NBA’s signature event, the Annual General Conference (AGC).
The theme of the Conference – the 63rd in the NBA’s storied history – is ‘Getting it Right: Charting the Course for Nigeria’s Nation Building.’
Graced by Bar leaders and members from all 36 states of the federation and the FCT – among them Life Benchers of over 50 years post-call experience, Learned Senior Advocates of Nigeria, past Attorneys-General of states, among others – the press conference, according to NEWSWIRE Law and Events Magazine’s correspondent in Abuja, was convened to give relevant stakeholders a preview of what promises to be a highly-engaging week-long affair.
The choice of this year’s topic, the NBA helmsman said, was predicated on the motivation derived from a statement famously made by Sir Sapara Williams, the country’s first-ever trained lawyer, namely, that a lawyer’s chief duty is towards the progress of his society and the welfare of his people.
Williams’ statement, Maikyau said, encapsulated the ultimate responsibility of every Nigerian lawyer, urging legal practitioners across the length and breadth of the nation to forge a common consensus based on the overall responsibility of lawyers to the people of the country.
Nigeria’s fortunes, he maintaned, are a function of the law, and none but a lawyer can appreciate the implications of what law means to the good ordering of society.
In view of this, he added, the AGC would be emphatic in its demand for economic growth in Nigeria by tackling issues bordering on the critical nexus between national security and the administration of justice – for which reason the theme and focus of the AGC are apt at a time when the Nigerian economy is experiencing some level of transformation.
NEWSWIRE Magazine’s correspondent reports that about 17,000 fully registered lawyers are expected to physically participate in the 63rd AGC (a hybrid event) while other thousands will join the proceedings virtually – a turnout that confirms the NBA’s status as unarguably the largest Bar in the continent of Africa, and its signature event the largest single gathering of lawyers anywhere in the world.
The NBA President’s presentation was followed by an equally lively question-and-answer session, during which a number of attendees – notably from the media – expressed concern over what they saw as the rising spate of conflicting judgments and pronouncements in various courts and tribunals across the country. To which the NBA President countered by saying that in spite of its existing challenges, Nigeria remains a creation of law, which has provided its citizens with ways, means and procedures to ventilate complaints and even challenge judicial rulings and pronouncements which may be considered undesirable by parties at the receiving end of such outcomes. He vehemently condemned the denigration of the country’s judiciary by many stakeholders as unacceptable, unethical and unprofessional, and cautioned against what he described as the practice of rocking the foundation upon which justice is dispensed. Far from being a cesspit of corruption, he said, the Nigerian judiciary has in recent years been the beneficiary of a spate of progressive reforms – many of which were initiated by his administration.
NEWSWIRE Magazine’s correspondent reports that, as a precursor to the formal opening ceremonies and subsequent panel discourses at the 63rd NBA-AGC, the Press Conference was adjudged by attendees to have covered a substantial part of the issues that would be engaging the minds of delegates and guests at the Conference proper.
-Advertisement-
Grab our latest Magazine, "Chief Wole Olanipekun, CFR, SAN, A man of wide horizons and deep intentions". Get your order fast and stress free.
For more details about Newswire Law&Events Magazine, kindly reach out to us on 08039218044, 09070309355. Email: newswiremagazine@yahoo.co.uk. You will be glad you did
