National Association of Catholic Lawyers (NACL) Holds Seminar & Colloquium in Lagos [Photos)

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National Association of Catholic Lawyers (NACL) Holds Seminar & Colloquium in Lagos [Photos)

At the just concluded one-day programme of the 4th Professional Development Seminar and Colloquium organized by the National Association of Catholic Lawyers (NACL)  on Saturday 28th of April, 2018, at the Colonades Hotel in Ikoyi, Lagos, the array of speakers and discussants sought to awaken the God-given potentials of attendees by enlightening them on their purpose for humanity.

In her welcome address, the President of NACL, Ms. Geraldine Wey said lawyers must acknowledge the fact that the atmosphere is bursting at the seams with exciting opportunities for them to expand their areas of expertise and also enhance their incomes. She emphasized that, the organizing committee came to the conclusion that the professional development of NACL members was better assured by a more conducive atmosphere for them to ply their trade.

Reputable speakers were specially selected to discuss the theme for the double-barelled programme: ‘Exploring Emerging Areas of Law Practice’. It is a commonly-held belief that without a stable Nigeria, the question of professional development of lawyers and other professionals would be merely academic. This idea informs the inclusion of the theme, ‘The Nigeria its People Desire, Deserve & Demand’ into the Colloquium programme

In her presentation on the seminar’s main topic: ‘Exploring Emerging Areas of Law Practice,’ a Law graduate of the Ahmadu Bello University and the Managing Director of DCSL Corporate Services Ltd., Mrs. Bisi Adeyemi asserted that one way to describe the future lawyer was to list key challenges attorneys would confront, then identify skill-sets required to meet them. “In our society today, which boasts of a fledgling democratic foundation,” she said, “lawyers are supposed to be its first responders and last defenders. The rule of law is under siege around the world, and lawyers – present and future – must respond to the challenge. Last year’s political, technological and industry earthquakes have shaken up the business world and will leave law firms scrambling to keep up with an influx of demand for their expertise in the new era.”

Lawyers, she said, had a duty to ensure access to justice, adding that the rule of law is always undermined when a significant portion of society lacks meaningful access to legal representation – as is the case with Nigeria and elsewhere in the world. “Law has a distribution problem,” she added. “There are too many unemployed and under-employed attorneys while millions of potential clients go unrepresented because they cannot afford counsel at current rates.”

Adeyemi appealed to young lawyers in particular to take advantage of global developments to keep up with current trends. “There are tools that exist to correct current imbalances, namely, technology, processes, project management, collaboration, and new delivery models that are at the fingertips of future lawyers willing and ready to use them to refashion legal services delivery.”

In his presentation on the topic, “Prospering in Law Practice in Difficult Times” Mr. Chukwuemeka Ndu, began with a joke: “A bad lawyer can drag out a case for about ten years. But a good lawyer can even drag it out for twenty years.”

The present economic climate, he said, has forced prospective clients to be more circumspect with their money.  For that reason, Ndu said, continued focus on efficiency across our diversified platform must bear fruit especially on core businesses rather than mere growth in revenue.”

On the issue of specialisation, he emphasised the importance of building multi-disciplinary teams if lawyers are to compete in the emerging global market. “If you want to compete with an accountant in tax advisory, you need to have people who can understand numbers and understand the issues that impact with the balance sheet at the events that would help you save taxes for your clients. The accountants set-up these practices and suck away the business. So there is no reason for lawyers not to be able to attract accounts to join their practices so as to expand the business. We must continue to focus on the delivery of our key strategic and business areas by providing an outstanding customer service experience to our clientele”.

The Colloquium, which was moderated by Mr. Chuks Ojidoh, attracted an array of professionals from different areas of endeavor. Its discussants comprised of luminaries of repute such as Prof. Akin Oyebode, Prof. Pat Utomi, Prof. (Rev. Fr.) Anthony Akinwale, Prof. Charles Ugochukwu Ukeje and a sociologist with over 20 years of experience, Dr. Chichi Aniagolu-Okoye,

In expounding on the topic, “Aspiration in the 21st Century and the Desire for Modernity: National Visioning and Desire Articulation,” Prof. Utomi said the obligation of the modern state to provide security of life and property and pursuit of greatest good for the greatest number of Nigerians has been lost on successive governments in Nigeria, thanks to their wrong-headed policy formulation and implementation approaches. For sustainable and responsive governance, Utomi said, Nigeria thought- leadership and-working institutions.

“For Nigeria as a nation to rise again,” Utomi emphasized, “we need strong participation and representation through ideas and values anchored political parties that meticulously recruits, socializes and develops its members.”

Stepping to the podium, Prof. Akin Oyebode, a professor of International Law, put an interjection to the topic of the day in terms of life experience. The search for an inclusive, even-handed and equitable modality of governance, he said, was age-long and of tremendous interest and appeal among all peoples in the world. But, he continued, a lot would be gained from interrogating both the nature and structure of government.

This is particularly so on the African continent, emphasized Oyebode. “The colonial oppressors that came here to civilize and Christianize us, tried to turn us into ‘Afro-Saxons’ we are neither Africans nor Saxons. That is one of the reasons why the Nigerian ruling class has not been able to discharge its functions because it keeps blaming the white man (especially the British).”

Referring to the recently-concluded Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in the UK, Prof. Oyebode the group had not yet come of age, because the leaders that were in London two week ago accepted without a word of protest the ascent of Prince Charles to succeed his mother, when the Commonwealth, he said, could have to some form of election or rotation of leadership. But no objection was raised because the Commonwealth was no more than the gathering of former colonized – people who speak English, whose lawyers normally wears wigs and gowns, who are enamored of legalise and who revere Lord Denning.

“The law that we practice is not yet domesticated,” he lamented. “We don’t even understand the nuance … Unless and until we arrive at a point where we have to interrogate, with the law that we practice, Nigeria will not make much progress.”

Prof. Charles Ugochukwu Ukeje’s began his presentation on the topic, “The Nigerian Youth, Restructuring and the Future of Nigeria” by describing his fascination, though not surprise, at how the Catholic Church, perhaps more than other religious group, has consistently been at the forefront of sociopolitical emancipation  around the world, including in Nigeria. “Even though I come from a different liturgical tradition,” Ukeje said, “let me put it on record that this is not the first time I would be invited by an institution of the Catholic Church to discus pertinent issues of national concerns. Describing the Nigerian society as ‘autistic’ he lamented the sidon-look posture of the citizenry – without which Nigeria would not be in the mess that it is today, he pointed.

Ukeje reflected on the key spaces where the voice and agency of the youth are active and likely to become meaningful and decisive in shaping the future, concluding with a number of proposals on what should be done to invest in and work towards mainstreaming the voice and agency of youth to bring about a Nigeria its people deserve, desire and demand.

The focus of Dr. Chichi Aniagolu-Okoye’s topic, “Effective Leadership in Nigeria” was on empathy, which she defined as the ability to understand another person’s experience, perspective and feelings, as well as the ability to put oneself in another person’s shoes.  “Empathy enables you to know if the people you’re trying to reach are actually reached,” she said. “It allows you to predict the effect your decisions and actions will have on core audiences and strategize accordingly.  Without empathy, you can’t build a team or nurture a new generation of leaders, lawyers or any professional.  You will not inspire followers or elicit loyalty.”

Prof. (Rev.Fr.) Anthony Akinwale, Vice Chancellor, Dominican University. Ibadan, who spoke  on the topic “Pseudo-Religion and Ethnicity: A Bane of Accountable and Transparent Leadership in Nigeria” reflected on the tendency among Nigerians to blame failure of leadership on religion and ethnicity in Nigeria, saying that the problem with leadership in Nigeria was neither religion nor ethnicity but the instrumentalization of religious and ethnic affiliation by egotism and power-addiction.

“The British subjected this vast territory to her colonial control” he said, “because of the economic potentials of the land and of its people, potentials which Nigerians have not had the political will to actualize and exploit to their own advantage.”

Though imperfect in their nature and intention, he said, the constitutional conferences that proceeded October 1, 1960 sufficiently brought together representatives of the various ethnic and religious groups. (Rev.Fr.) Anthony Akinwale repeatedly harped on the need to identify the common core values of Nigeria.  “If citizens of the United States of America, for example,  can itemize their common core values as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, what, apart from the Super Eagles, are the values that bind us together as Nigerians? We cannot respond to the challenge of religious and ethnic diversity without addressing this question.”

In a re-envisioned Nigeria, he added, the relationship between the citizen and the state needs to be redefined such that the state and its functionaries are transparent and accountable to the citizen.

“Whether or not we will enjoy the benefits of transparent and accountable leadership in Nigeria is contingent on whether or not we are willing and able to seek and to find such leaders of multiple competence.  It takes good education to form such leaders, and good education is itself a tripod: a tripod of intellectual formation, ethical formation and technical formation.”

Thanking the lead speakers, discussants and participants at the end of the seminar and Colloquium, the NACL President, Ms. Wey and the Marian Jones-led Planning Committee, expressed the hope that the deliberations at the colloquium would proffer solutions to the Nigerian problem.

“The behavioural or attitudinal development and implementation skills acquired during the Seminar and Colloquium, should greatly improve participants productivity when they eventually return to their respective places of work and businesses,” Ms. Wey said. “While there is no doubt that all speakers and discussants are eminent and accomplished Nigerians, everyone present was nevertheless exposed to the highest level of intellectual and cross fertilizing discourses that in the long run will enable them gain a deeper understanding of our country and how to improve it, as well as widen their perspectives on Nigeria’s relations to the wider world.”

The seminar and Colloquium are a testimony to the commitment of the National Association of Catholic Lawyers, and the Lagos Archdiocese of the Catholic Church, to continue lending their voices to the collective task on the part of both the citizenry and the towards building a sustainable, responsive and accountable new Nigeria – a nation founded on justice, equity and fair play, a society built on the principle of shared values, shared responsibilities and shared benefits.

See photos below:

      

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