Last week, I shared the introductory part of my keynote address delivered at the 2023 Annual Summit of the Legal Services Department of the Niger-Delta Development Commission, NDDC. Apart from the formal presentations, I observed the fluidity of the engagements and interactions between the legal officers and their Director, which in turn explained the robust contributions that characterized the discussions. This to me highlights the need for independence of ideas and thoughts within the public sector space more so that the law is settled that public officers do not serve at the pleasure of their employers but that of the state.
The current state of quality decline in legal services: Tracing prevalent causes
That there is today a general trajectory of quality decline and palpable deficiency in competence and legal professionalism in legal services in the public sector is an unarguable reality. To deny that fact is to lie to ourselves and deny ourselves of the possibilities of solutions. The initiative of repositioning legal services can only be said to have become necessary at this time meriting the kind of critical look and deliberation we are now giving the subject because of the undeniably ubiquitous incidence of endemic and systemic corruption in our public life to which lawyers and legal stakeholders have become willing collaborators. Day after day, we read and hear on the news platforms, and see with our eyes and at times, unfortunately, even participate or at least are tempted to participate in the rankest kind of unsavory legal service deliveries. Methinks that a solid long-lasting repositioning of legal services must begin with a good appreciation of the current position which has raised challenges upon our professional life collectively.
The prototype bar man: Understanding the nobility, qualities and influence of a lawyer
Before we delve into examining some of the factors that influence legal services and make recommendations for the desired repositioning for optimal impact in the public sector, it is essential to make a statement or two as a reminder of the nobility of an ideal lawyer. It is sad that today many legal professionals and practitioners whose line of practice and clientele base are largely in the domain of the public sector, seem to have totally lost sight of the nobility and loftiness of the profession to which they have subscribed. We strongly hold the view that at the core foundation of the problems of this country are lawyers. It is not possible to have come to the rust and rot we are in today without both the passive acquiescence as well as active participation of the legal caste. Nigeria could not have come to a screeching halt of hopelessness it now is, in which it has become a basket case of political, socio-economic and religious stagnation, without the complicity of lawyers. It is lawyers who advice politicians on policies; it is they who explore and dig up the loopholes in the law and advice corrupt public office holders to exploit the law’s Achilles heel; it is they who deal with the complex underground work of legisprudence and legal drafting in the legislature; it is they who, by the power of ingenious argumentation in litigation, can bless and entrench corrupt policies, and practices of government; it is they who by misinterpretation of the law, lay the groundwork for the mistuned voice of judicial decisions and contradictory judicial pronouncements. They could indeed, with the power of the law, deal a corrective and reformative blow to bad policies of the government and its agencies and parastatals.
Need to cultivate professionalism and embrace competence above mediocrity
By virtue of his calling and training, a lawyer is not only an attorney or barrister and solicitor, he is a model, a leader/administrator, a mentor, a teacher, an opinion-molder, a counselor, a social crusader/reformer, and an influencer. He can be these things either for good or bad, reflecting the same in his legal services in the public or private sector. And that is our reality in our country; the bad ones, by their bad legal services, seem to overwhelm the remnant good ones who endeavour to do the right things. The qualities of the prototype lawyer may largely be divided into skills qualities and ethical qualities which, in a manner of speaking, translate to qualities of the head and qualities of the heart, respectively! The two sets of qualities are inextricably intertwined. Lawyers who possess the former while lacking the latter may deliver “excellent legal services” that are totally morally bankrupt and lacking in conscience. The two must go together.
Some of the qualities of a good lawyer/legal officer include but are not limited to:
· Honesty, decisiveness and integrity,
· Being objective in a matter,
· Being objective to distinguish facts from irrelevant details,
· Confidence,
· The ability to solve problems,
· Exceptional communication skills,
· Discretion, diplomacy, and tact,
· Working well under pressure.
It is our submission that through a dynamic and practical combination of these blends of qualities, the legal officer shall be able to provide valuable legal services wherever they are engaged in the public sector. Moreover, it is our heart-felt admonition that public sector legal providers should have a profound sober reflection on the far-reaching impact their works have on the entire framework of the society and re-orientate their operations and legal services to the public sector to uphold rather than tear down! Let us now consider some of the factors that influence legal services in the public sector and provide practical ways to reposition legal services for optimal impact in the public sector.
Some determinant factors that influence practical ways to reposition legal services for optimal impact in the public sector
1. War against the “leaven of political/ public sector corruption:
The current level of infiltration and influence of corruption of legal services in the public sector is both epic and staggering. Corruption has become a systemic thing as if now chronically ingrained in the very blood stream of the public sector. One really formidable albatross that militates against hygienic legal services in the realm of public sector is political corruption. There is, today, a perverse wedlock between unscrupulous politicians and certain prodigal members of the bar. Unfortunately, the unholy partnership has metamorphosed into a full-blown group orgy admitting even many high clout members of the inner bar, judges and justices as well! The entire system bleeds from head to toe with inducement, graft, extortion, bribes and ingenious corrupt practices in both public and private sectors. How then will there ever be hygiene in the legal services delivered when justice, morality, due process, rule of law, regulatory compliances, and ethical rectitude are eroded? A really gut-wrenching scenario is the depth of corruption lawyers get enmeshed in during election petitions episodes. A situation where lawyers canvass diametrically opposing arguments in cases with similar facts is disturbing. No wonder we have a proliferation of contradictory judicial decisions. The ripple effects have greatly impacted our country negatively in no small measure.
The story is by no means any better in the public service and all of its subsidiaries including the civil service, armed forces, judiciary and statutory corporations, etc. It is not uncommon in our day for lawyers and very eminent senior lawyers, judicial officers to be caught pants down giving and receiving bribes to pervert justice! Where then lies the much-desired sanity in legal service deliverables? Public servants in the judicial sector have turned their offices into a den of extortion! You pay through your nose navigating their “road blocks” to get a legal process filed or processed in the registries of the courts. The redundancy, bureaucracy/red-tapism, the ghost workers plague and the borrow-beg-or-steal syndrome of the civil service are yet another monument of corruption.
In light of the foregoing unsavory revelation, how then can legal service be repositioned in order to achieve optimal impact in the public sector? We submit that as the hangman tightens the noose around the neck of a candidate of a capital sentence, stringent disciplinary measures must be ramped up against perpetrators of all such misfeasance, professional misconducts and corrupt practices whether they be judicial officers, lawyers in private practice providing services to the public sector or lawyers in public service at all levels and in other sectors and all other partners-in crime in the ruinous business of polluting legal services. As long as lawyers and judicial officers remain ventriloquist dummies and puppets in the hands of politicians, we can never clinch hygienic air we so desperately gasp for in our legal service delivery in the public sector. A great deal of judicial and quasi-judicial disciplinary ink has been poured out by judges and justices, especially the Legal Practitioners’ Disciplinary Committee, in handing down decisions/directions either accusing or excusing certain legal practitioners embroiled in professional misconduct. The plethora of decisions and directions churned out by the LPDC in recent times is an eloquent testimony of the numerous professional infractions and improprieties that many a lawyer in this country is enmeshed in.
