Text of the Talking Points by the President of The Nigeria Bar Association, Abubakar Balarabe Mahmoud, OON, SAN During A Courtesy Visit to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari (GCFR)

ON Thursday 21ST of December, 2017.

 PROTOCOL

• Your Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
• Your Excellency, Vice President Yemi Osibanjo SAN, GCON
• The Secretary to the Government of Federation Mr Boss Mustapha
• The Chief of Staff to the President, Mallam Abba Kyari
• The Honorable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami SAN

2. INTRODUCTION.

Your Excellency, on behalf the Nigerian Bar Association, I would like to express our deep appreciation for granting us this opportunity to pay this courtesy visit. The request to call on you was first made back in 2016 shortly after my election as President of the Bar. We know of course that circumstances have not made this possible until now. We are nevertheless grateful that you are able to receive us today.

3. It is appropriate therefore that I should begin by thanking the almighty Allah for healing you and granting you good health. A few months ago, we had joined many Nigerians to pray for your recovery and good health. We are thankful to the Almighty that those prayers have been answered. I would also like to congratulate you and your family as you celebrate, only last week, your 75th Birthday. We wish you many happy returns of this day, in good health so you may continue to enjoy your growing family and also to continue to serve your country and humanity.
4. Your Excellency, we cannot on occasions such as this fail to bring up a few matters to your attention. And of course to request that you look into them. The matters I would like to bring up today, on behalf of the Nigerian Bar Association, would center around three broad thematic areas:
5. National Security and Governance
6. The Economy and Welfare of the Citizens
7. The Judiciary and the Legal Profession

I would therefore like to thank your Excellency in advance, for your patience and the opportunity to speak on these issues. Before I go into these issues, it is perhaps appropriate to say a few words about the Nigerian Bar Association.

5. THE NBA

• Umbrella professional association of all lawyers in Nigeria. We presently have approximately 110,000 members across the country organized in 125 Branches. The NBA is the largest Bar Association in Black Africa, second in Africa perhaps only to the Egyptian Bar. It is easily the most influential Bar Association on the continent.

• The NBA as a Self-Regulatory Organization, combines regulatory responsibilities as well as representational role of its members. Our motto is the Promotion of Rule of Law. We speak not only on behalf of our members but also on behalf of ordinary citizens especially on

matters of national importance, or matters that affect the rule of law in the country or could affect the rights and freedoms of ordinary citizens. Our constitution enjoins us to protect the independence of the Judiciary and also the independence of the legal profession both of which are considered critical components of all democratic societies.

6. NATIONAL SECURITY AND GOVERNANCE

On Security

6.1 Your Excellency, I want to on behalf of the Bar Association congratulate you and your administration on the giant strides you have made in the area of National Security. A few months before your election, the survival of Nigeria as corporate entity was a matter of debate. Fear and anxiety were pervasive. Today the situation has much improved. We are all more confident about our safety and security. The insurgency in the North-East is now more or less contained. We salute your steadfast leadership and congratulate men and women of Nigerian Armed Forces for these successes.

6.2 We are of course aware that a lot remains to be done to completely secure the region. We are also aware that insurgency is a complex regional problem that requires multifaceted approach. We therefore wish to encourage the Government to do more to secure the North East Region.

In addition to the insurgency, we are aware of the several flash points of conflict:

• The situation in the Niger Delta which remains of critical importance;
• The lingering Biafra agitation in the South East;
• The various communal conflicts in Southern Kaduna, the Plateau, Taraba etc;
• The recurring feud between the Herdsmen and Farmers across many states;

Your Excellency, all these remain significant issues and have continued to undermine the peace and security in the country. We want to urge your administration to continue to do more to improve peace and security.

6.3      On our part, the NBA has been doing its best to contribute to addressing these issues. Early in October 2016, I set up two Task Forces: the Niger-Delta Task Force and the North-East Task Force. These we charged with the responsibility of coordinating our intervention in the two regions with the ultimate aim of promoting peace, reconciliation rehabilitation, and reconstruction in the regions. In the North East for instance, the justice sector has all but been destroyed for most part of Bornu State and parts of Yobe and Adamawa States. We are mobilizing to support the rebuilding of justice sector institutions. We are also working to support the victims of these conflicts. We have been able to attract international support to aid our intervention. We have just been able to secure the support of a number of agencies including the UNDP and the Human Rights Committee of the Bar Council in the UK to assist our work.

In the Niger-Delta we believe the NBA can be a strong ally in brokering peace in the region as an independent intermediary. We are currently working with the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and other stakeholders to map out a framework for this engagement.

6.4      Back in February 2016, I led an NBA mission to Southern Kaduna to demonstrate our concern and also to engage with various stakeholders including the State Government and community leaders. The visit was very successful. Part of the fall out of this was clear need to develop a Transitional Justice Legal and Policy Framework. We are now working with other civil society groups to do this with the support of Development partners. I want to urge Your Excellency and your administration to support this important initiative which will assist the Governments and other partners in peace and reconciliation efforts in conflict torn communities across the country.

6.5 Your Excellency, the NBA wishes therefore to make these specific proposals with a view to enhancing peace and security across the country:

1. Although the Biafra Agitation has somewhat mellowed in the last few months, we suggest that work continues in identifying the specific grievances of especially the youth in the region and ensuring that those are addressed.

2. Peace in the Niger –Delta should remain a top priority and in particular we continue to prioritize addressing the environmental problems in the region.

3. A national framework be developed to address the perennial conflict between herdsmen and farmers across many states.

4. The Government should work to develop a Transitional Justice Legal and Policy Framework to assist peace building and reconciliation in conflict stiffen communities.

Your Excellency, the NBA wishes to offer its complete support in all these areas and make the expertise of our members available.

On Governance Generally,

6.6     Your Excellency, rightly at the beginning of your administration you made the fight against corruption a top priority. We whole heartedly support you in this regard. In the past, we have made many recommendations on how this fight should be fought if it is to succeed. These include:

1. The need to be consistent and resolute;
2. The agencies involved in the fight must be professional, independent and well resourced;

iii. There must be synergy amongst the agencies;

1. We recommended very strongly the need to avoid over concentration of powers in the agencies. We considered combining investigative, prosecutorial powers in a single agency to be detrimental to checks and balances needed in criminal justice institutions;
2. The need to secure the investigative and prosecutorial agencies from political interference.

6.7 At the meeting of the National Executive Committee of our Association held in Uyo Akwa Ibom State on 23rd November, we noted with concern the seeming dissonance amongst the various agencies of the administration. We were concerned that many agencies appeared to be working at cross purposes. We noted with particular concern the unhealthy relationship between the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Department of State Security (DSS). We also noted the appalling handling of the Pension Fraud and some of the High Profile Suspects by various agencies. We called on Your Excellency to do something urgently to rein in the erring agencies and officials. We felt this was necessary so as not to undermine confidence in the government and promote lawlessness in the country. We will like to reiterate our call on your Excellency on the need to address the seeming dissonance amongst various departments of government. Government needs to be seen to be acting in a coordinated fashion in order to maintain confidence of the citizens.

7. Economy and Welfare of Citizens

7.1       Your Excellency Mr. President, we would like to commend you on the efforts and successes you have achieved in promoting good governance, fighting corruption and getting the economy out of recession. We are aware much has been achieved in the two and a half years of your administration. We do not in any way underrate the enormous challenges of governance and the problems that your administration inherited. We are also aware that many new initiatives have been introduced to enhance economic management, address issues of youth unemployment, extreme poverty and improve the diversification and competitiveness of the Nigerian economy. The Nigerian Bar Association has the requisite expertise amongst its members to contribute to policy work in all the areas of the economy and we are willing to cooperate and work with government to improve economic management in all Sectors.

7.2      In August this year we organized one of the most successful conferences not only in the history of the NBA but I dare say it was the most successful of conferences in the country in recent times. The theme of that conference was “African Business, Penetrating through Institution Building”. The theme was carefully chosen to address the twin dilemma of promoting prosperity in our country, and indeed the whole continent, and understanding the constraints that impede that, the most significant of which is institution building. We wanted to draw attention to some of the key challenges of promoting economic growth and development not only of the country but across Africa. The conference attracted a rich international faculty and huge array of participants from the public sector, the business community and of the legal, with nearly 12,000 participants it was the largest conference in the country.

Your Excellency, we have developed a Policy Book containing a range of specific recommendations which we would like to, at the end of this meeting, present to you as part of our contribution to improving governances and economic management in the country.

We are confident that the recommendations if implemented will significantly improve the economy, enhance prosperity and build more confidence in the country especially amongst its youth who are increasingly being frustrated by lack of opportunities.

8. THE JUDICIARY AND THE LEGAL PROFESSION

The Judiciary

8.1       Your Excellency, the Nigerian Bar Association, believes that the Judiciary and the legal profession have a pivotal role to play in the national development. A strong and independent judiciary is the bulwark of democracy and the rule of law. We recognize that in recent years, there has been a dwindling confidence both in the Judiciary and the legal profession. The NBA on its part therefore, has made the reform of the legal

profession, a top priority in order to rebuild confidence in the legal profession. The judiciary also must regain the confidence of the Nigerian people. The country deserves a more effective, efficient and transparent administration of justice. We are therefore working hard to support efforts of the judiciary in this regard and the various reform initiatives currently being pursued by the Chief Justice of Nigeria Hon. Justice Walter Samuel Onnoghen (GCON) to address issues of integrity in the administration of justice and rebuild confidence. I also want to recognize the effort of the Hon. Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mallam Abubakar Malami, SAN in the work he is doing to enhance the administration of justice. Worthy of note is the recently lunched National Justice Policy which seeks to achieve greater synergy and efficiency amongst justice sector institutions. Whilst commending these efforts, the NBA would still proffer some additional suggestions.

8.2      Before I do that however, we cannot fail, particularly since this is the first time we would have the opportunity of meeting your Excellency, to register our strong disapproval with the very strong arm tactics employed back in October 2016 by Security Agencies in trying to address the allegations of corruption in the judiciary. We do not wish to stir any old controversies, but your Excellency Mr. President will appreciate the need to ensure that these ugly events to do not recur. No citizen of Nigeria is above the law, not lawyers not judges. However, nothing must be done to encourage wholesale undermining of the Judiciary as an institution. We believe that the investigations of allegations of corruption in the judiciary could be done in line with the tenets of the rule of law and due process and respecting accepted administrative measures and conventions that will protect the institution whilst pursuing corrupt elements within.

8.3      As we move forward we will like to reiterate:

1. Our support for all efforts by your administration to assist the judiciary to rid itself of all elements of corruption in order to enhance public confidence in the administration of justice.
2. Your Excellency, the NBA will like to commend your administration for significantly improving the level of funding of the judiciary. We note the proposed N100 Billion in the 2018 Budget proposals will be a significant enhancement over the 2017 Budget. The 2017 Budget of the Judiciary was about N70Billion. This was approximately 1.1% of the National Budget. The proposed N100 Billion is still only about 1.2% of the National Budget. These figures still remain far from the internationally recommended funding ratio vis-à-vis the national budget which should be a minimum of 2.5% of the National Budget.

ii.       The NBA remains very concerned about what appears to be blatant disobedience of court orders by this administration. We are firmly of the view that the strength of any State or Government and indeed

any system will be better demonstrated by rigorous adherence to dictates of the rule of the law than by the government itself disobeying the orders of its own courts. Your administration would be sending a strong message to ordinary citizens by directing that ALL agencies especially security agencies to respect and obey orders of court. There are many citizens being held in disobedience to court orders, we urge that your Excellency does something about this.

1. We commend the recent modest efforts by this administration to decongest the nation’s prisons which generally remain over-crowded and in appalling conditions. We are working with the Attorney General’s task Force to support prison decongestion. The Statistics however remain appalling. Out of a prison population of 72, 179 persons, only 23,491 are convicted persons. That is over 67% of persons held in our prisons are persons awaiting trial. Many of the prisons are carrying 3 to 4 times their capacity. Whilst efforts must be maintained to scale up prison reforms, we urge the administration to do more to expand and modernize the facilities to make conditions humane and consistent with the objectives of rehabilitation.
2. We strongly recommend far reaching reforms to deal with the issues of prisons in Nigeria. There appears no reason why Prisons must remain in exclusive legislative list for instance.

8.4      We will like to assure Your Excellency that we remain willing and committed to promoting the goals of the administration in building strong institutions and improving the Justice Sector in particular. The NBA is working to support Criminal Justice Reforms and has recently secured substantial funds from International partners to work on the improvement and adoption of Administration of Criminal Justice Act across the country. We are collaborating with various agencies generally to support justice sector reforms and access to justice. These include the Legal Aid Council, the National Human Rights Commission and recently also the Office of the Special Adviser to the President on Sustainable Development Goals with

whom we have signed an MOU to work on the attainment of the Goal 16 of the UN SDGs.

The Legal Profession

8.5      Your Excellency, I will like to use the remaining few minutes we have with you to give you a brief summary of what we are doing to reform the legal profession as part of our efforts to rebuild public confidence in the profession. Since I became President, I made it a top priority to look at the regulatory framework of the profession. We are determined to advocate for far reaching reforms that will modernize the profession and bring it at par with international standards. This we believe is necessary. Nigeria deserves a modern legal profession that will enjoy not only the confidence of the Nigerian Public but also of the international community. It is critical in our view, to our journey to economic prosperity.

8.6      The Committee I set up in December 2016 has since submitted its report with far reaching recommendations including a draft new law that we hope will replace the Legal Practitioners Act. This law if approved and passed, we hope, will introduce far reaching changes aimed at enhancing legal education, setting better entry standards, continuing professional development and discipline. The law sets out clearly the regulatory objectives and defines more clearly the role of regulatory agencies.

8.7      Your Excellency we have in the last several months exposed the draft law alongside the report of the Committee as we are seeking to galvanize support of all stakeholders. We have engaged with various Law Societies and Bar Associations and legal regulators around the world to better understand current trends in regulating the legal profession. Only 3 weeks ago, I led a team of about 30 Nigerian Lawyers to the UK where we held intensive 3 days consultations with various agencies involved in the regulation of the Legal Profession in the UK. The report of this mission will be shared with all stakeholders.

8.8      Your Excellency, I want to urge your administration to support our efforts to reform the legal profession. A strong modern legal profession is key in our view to building the country’s legal system. Necessary for peace and

development. Necessary for attracting confidence of all those who seek to do business with Nigeria. If Nigeria must transit to a modern economy and be competitive globally, it must have a respected legal profession and judicial system. This is our objective.

Thank you very much your Excellency, for your attention.

God Bless the Nigerian Bar Association!

God Bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria!!!

Abubakar Balarabe Mahmoud, OON, SAN, FCIArb (UK), SFNLI                           President, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA)

December 21st 2017.

Do you need to be heard? Or your articles published? Send your views, messages, articles or press release to: newswiremagazine@yahoo.co.uk  >>> We can cover your (LAW) events at the first Call: 08039218044, 08024004726

-Advertisement-

Grab our latest Magazine, "Ayodele Akintunde, SAN: Legal Titan Celebrates and Reflects on His Life Journey.". 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

Do you want to be heard, your events covered, your articles published, or need to advertise your products and services on our Blog and Magazine, reach out to us at Newswire Law and Events, you will be glad you did. For more details about our services, please call: 08039218044, 09070309355. Email: newswiremagazine@yahoo.co.uk