By Chinyere Iwunna , 08184027402
The hallowed principles and practice of the legal profession have become entrenched in the Nigerian society. The profession which is older than the nation has gradually broken loose from the firm grip of the aristocrats in the Nigerian society and unfurled into the toiling eager arms of the common man.
In 1886, Williams Nash Hamilton was enrolled as the first person to practice law in Nigeria but the position of the first lawyer in Nigeria is today accorded to indigenous Christopher Alexander Sapara Williams who was enrolled at the Supreme Court on 30th January 1888. He was called to the English Bar on 17th November 1879. Sapara Williams lived from1855-1915 and chaired the Nigerian Bar Association from 1900-1915.
In 1933, the Nigeria Bar Association was officially formed as a non profit, umbrella professional association of all lawyers admitted to the Nigerian Bar. The association presently has 100 branches with a national secretariat managed from Abuja and Lagos offices.
Early this year, an NBA committee on Professionalism of the Nigerian Bar Association secretariat headed by Professor Chidi Odinkalu who is currently the Chairman of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) submitted a report which indicted the past and present leadership of NBA vis-à-vis the running of the national secretariat.
The committee reported that sexual misconduct thrives at the NBA national secretariat. That however, is not the focus of this piece.
The committee was apprehensive that the secretariat has become so dysfunctional that it could endanger the continued existence of the association as it could rubbish it with “adverse pecuniary and reputational consequences”.
It was also discovered that members of NBA complain that they get nothing in return for their loyalty to the association in form of branch membership and practicing fee which are the association’s mainstay.
“There is no defining vision or programmatic agenda that offers growth, value added or a competitive existential or professional edge to the members of the NBA or effective platforms for involvement outside the politics of bar activism” the committee reported.
The Odinkalu led committee could not but warn “if any other organization or entity can rise to offer to members of the NBA a unifying promise of professional growth or edge, the NBA as we know it could become history”.
Coming down to the branches of the NBA, Owerri branch in particular which I belong to, what do the members benefit in exchange for their financial and physical commitments? Members of the NBA Owerri who were recruited under the 10,000 jobs scheme of the Chief Ikedi Ohakim led administration in Imo State were thrown out of the jobs just at a snap of fingers by the present government, the Owerri Bar did not utter a word.
There have been reports of harassment and intimidation of members of the Bar by members of the Bench in Owerri; the association did not on any occasion bat an eyelid.
Magistrates were recently appointed in Imo State via text messages without an existing appointing authority- the State Judicial Service Commission, and the Bar could not rise to that abuse of power.
The justice delivery system in Imo State is presently being hampered by the shortage of High Court judges in the state. The state which is meant to have at least 30 judges sitting at the various High Courts in the state now has only 15 High Court judges. The monstrous consequences are staring us in the face, some of the High Courts are under lock and key for some months now, the sitting judges are overworked, what is more, cases are adjourned at two or three months interval. What then becomes the fate of a citizen who approached the court in search of justice? The NBA Owerri has not taken any concrete move to get this issue addressed.
It costs as much as N20, 000.00 just to conduct a search at the Lands Registry in Imo State while in the neigbouring Abia State, it is about N1, 800.00 and less than N1000.00 is charged in Cross River State for the same purpose, and the Owerri Bar is comfortable with that.
Several dictatorial policies have been foisted on the people of Imo State by recent administrations in the state, yet an association which parades itself as promoting the rule of law and good governance could not react and let it be that its suggestions were discountenanced. A senior lawyer in the state attributed this inaction of the Owerri Bar to the fact that the executive of the Bar is peopled by those who are biologically and professionally young and are preoccupied with the pursuit of their personal aspirations rather than the objectives of the association.
Very recently, the Owerri Bar amended its bye law bringing down the minimum post call age requirement for the office of the Chairman from 15 years to 10 years. This change was made amidst warnings and a walk out on the meeting by senior members of the Bar who argued that a person who is 10 years old at the Bar may not be able to cope with the challenges of the office as regards relationship with the Bench.
The chief proponent of the said amendment, a man richly endowed with academic prowess, a man who has an enviable adroitness in imparting knowledge to people, I have benefitted from this finesse of his. He contended that if a lawyer of 10 years post call is qualified to be a High Court judge and an Attorney General of a State, such a lawyer is also qualified to chair the Bar. To that submission, I join Late Fela Anikulapo Kuti to sing “teacher, teacher abi na lecturer be your name, make you no teach me again”
Apart from qualifications and experience, all a judge and an Attorney General need to occupy the offices is competence. But the case of a Bar chairman is different. His office in addition to the aforementioned qualities requires one with unwavering courage and a fighting spirit. More so, a High Court judge is to busy himself with dispensation of justice and an Attorney General is to be busy doing cases for the state government and overseeing the affairs of the ministry he heads. But a Bar chairman is to among other things fight for the welfare of members of the association and the promotion of rule of law in the state.
The legal profession being one anchored on seniority, it is widely believed by analysts that a person who is 10 years old at the Bar may lack the intrepidity to look into the eyes of a judge nay a Chief Judge to tell him that his action was wrong. What of the Senior Advocates of Nigeria and other senior lawyers alike? He definitely would be caught in the web of the highly revered “respect for seniors” at the Bar.
Those in support of the said amendment named one or two branches of the NBA where the 10 years requirement is obtainable. The branches mentioned are not as elitist as Owerri Bar; they are branches where commercial legal practice thrives far above litigation which is the hallmark of the legal profession.
The same issue of post call age requirement generated a lot heat at a meeting of International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) Imo State, but at the end of the day, it did not sail through irrespective of the fact that majority of members are junior lawyers who argued massively in favour of 10 years post call for the office of the Chairperson. The leaders of FIDA resisted the call to put the issue to vote and pegged it at 15 years.
The argument that such positions should be occupied by a lawyer of a minimum of 15 years post call accords with the reasoning behind the decision that only Senior Advocates of Nigeria are eligible to occupy the position of National Chairman of NBA.
Speculations are rife that the leadership of Owerri Bar made that amendment with an ulterior motive which is not unconnected with the succession of the present chairman.
This development if not properly managed, may reduce Owerri Bar to a platform upon which young lawyers pursue their personal yearnings at the detriment of the welfare of members of the association.
Chinyere Iwunna is an Owerri based legal practitioner
