State of the Bar by AB Mahmoud SAN
“At some point in the history of every organization and association, it must face the challenge of reinventing itself or face the odious fate of decay or even extinction. We are at that juncture in history when we must reinvent the legal profession. I doubt there is any of us who is satisfied with the state of the legal profession in Nigeria today”. The NBA President, Abubakar Balarabe Mahmoud, OON, SAN said during the NBA-NEC Meeting in Ilorin, Kwara State.
The President noted that concerning the affairs of the Association, his administration has sustained her activities at a vigorous level faithfully executing her strategic plan and carrying out programs notwithstanding the enormous challenges and distractions that the Bar have been facing.
Mr. Mahmoud said in his report that, “the NBA has received the first tranche of the MacAurthur Foundation grant in the sum of $600,000 for the execution of Criminal Justice Work, and the project as a result gained momentum.”
The present administration has taken the sensitization and advocacy campaign for domestication and implementation of Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 to seven States namely; Akwa Ibom, Adamawa, Bauchi, Ogun, Jigawa, Kano, and Kogi States. Other states that are yet to domesticate the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) will be covered in the course of the year as they roll out the next phase.
The NBA President called on the Kwara State Government to accelerate the process of enacting the Administration of Justice Act, 2015 into a State law. This he stressed had become absolutely necessary when one remembers that the current Speaker of Kwara State House of Assembly Dr. Ali Ahmad was the Chairman House Committee on Justice in the House of Representatives, when the ACJA, 2015 was passed into law. He said, “In any event, Kwara State has given its rich legal tradition and has always been a pacesetter in legal reforms. The NBA expect that the tradition will be maintained.”
You recalled that in AB Mahmoud’s address at the last NEC meeting in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, he stated that; “The Regulation agenda is one of the cardinal programmes of this administration. He said the NBA has setup an NBA-Legal Profession Regulation Review Committee (LPRRC) as fundamental and central to the efforts of this administration at modernizing the legal profession and equipping it to meet the challenges of the modern state and demands of a competitive economy.”
“The program also centre around regulation of the legal profession, reform of the NBA to improve its governance processes, public interest pursuits and the promotion of the interest and welfare of our members, especially the younger members of the bar.”
“These and many more projects, the Association has continued to pursue vigorously within the context of the strategic plan of the NBA,” Mahmoud concluded.
The NBA President reported that considerable progress has been made in strengthening the ideas around our regulatory reforms and also the governance reforms of the NBA as an organization and the UK Mission was highly successful. He pointed out that colleagues and friends around the world, whether at the International Bar Association, at the American Bar Association, the Law Society of England and Wales, the UK Bar Council or the Law Society of Australia or the South African Law Society, all of whom the NBA have, in the course of the last several months engaged with, are all highly thrilled about the prospects and outcomes of reforms of the Nigerian legal profession and are willing and happy to assist her attain our goals.
“Mr. Mahmoud informed the NEC that, the Human Rights Committee of the NBA Council conducted a two weeks training in Abuja for the lawyers in the North East region on the legal protection for internally displaced persons.”
“He stated that the NBA had also signed an MOU with the Bar Council on future trainings for lawyers across the country. A similar MOU was signed in November last year to expand the scope of her collaboration with the International Section of the American Bar Association.”
The NBA has continued her engagements with various stakeholders trying to explain and familiarize them with the focus and necessity for our reforms. On Monday 26th February in Abuja the NBA convened a bar leaders consultative summit to present various reports on the architecture and goals of these reforms. The meeting was attended by three past presidents with written commentaries by two others and eight past general secretaries, the Sections and Forum leaders as well as Chairmen and Secretaries of branches. All of these leaders hailed these efforts.
The NBA President stated that come 22nd of March, 2018, he will be making a major presentation to the Body of Benchers to discuss the major ideas of these reforms and to seek the buy-in of members of the Body.
Mr. Mahmoud declared that, there are three policies of his administration’s reform efforts to move the Bar forward. The first is the Regulatory Architecture and framework of the legal profession; which seeks to interrogate the regulatory objectives, the role of regulatory institutions, issues of standards, professional development, discipline and integrity of the profession. This Legal Profession Regulation Review Committee is headed by Chief Anthony Idigbe SAN.
The second deals with the NBA as an organization. The association consulted KMPG’s Professional Services to undertake a holistic diagnostic survey of the corporate governance framework, financial management and reporting processes. The work has been completed and report circulated was presented by the KPMG at the meeting.
The third policy which is headed by Yusuf Ali SAN is the Constitution Review Committee. It would bring together the other two ideas and consolidate them into a dynamic and progressive constitutional expression which at the same time address extant grievances and concerns of all stakeholders.
He said, this administration hoped that these efforts will give birth to a new and transformed NBA that will be well positioned to meet the challenges of an increasingly modern and globalised legal profession. Such profession that will meet the expectations of consumers of legal services, its members and stakeholders, and also a profession that is respected by its local and international partners, that would at the same time remain a potent force for national development.
“Mahmoud urged members to see through these efforts of his administration and agree on an implementation road map that will call for sacrifice at individual and collective levels.”
“He further admonished all to put aside narrow interests and concerns and put the benefit of the profession and the national interest above anything else.”
“The NBA President stressed that his administration is committed to pursuing these with sincerity and dedication.”
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