INTRODUCTION
Our generation of lawyers is bedevilled by what I believe to be the loss of identity of ‘the ideal Lawyer’ and this, by necessary implication, has in no small measure militated against our ability to function in our primary calling as lawyers; a call to serve Justice. This will naturally bring about social, economic and political change to our country, Nigeria and will engender productivity, prosperity and empowerment of the people and thus guarantee the wellbeing of the entire citizenry – lawyers inclusive.
The performance of this primary role by each of us (lawyers) will aggregate to the birth of a Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) that will champion the course for the recovery, reformation and repositioning our nation yearns for. What seems like an abdication on our part as Lawyers, wittingly or unwillingly, can be addressed by galvanising the support and resourcefulness of lawyers towards this end.
The NBA under my leadership will not only be one, big, strong and inclusive Bar; it will look for and go after her members to bring them into the fold. This shall be done from the understanding that it is the responsibility of the NBA to look after the general welfare and wellbeing of her members – after the similitude of the “Good Shepherd”.
We shall seek out each member, bring them into the fold and deliver the benefits of membership to the entire body. We understand that it is only in identifying with her members that the NBA can appreciate their individual/collective needs and forge the required corporate resolve that will put the NBA in position to discharge her constitutional duties.
The legal profession has the potential to get Nigeria out of the woods if we are deliberate about discovering or rediscovering ourselves. Then what we do can be translated into the experience of our Nation at large and the NBA in particular. This understanding must motivate and drive us into looking after ourselves as a body of professionals for efficient discharge of the bigger responsibility identified above.
It is only a Bar which has placed a premium on standards and integrity; concern for the wellbeing, prosperity and empowerment of her members that can properly, effectively, purposefully and deliberately function in her primary role as standard-bearer for the larger society.
In doing this, the leadership of the Bar at all levels must understand that this ideal is the core responsibility of every legal practitioner. Therefore, we must be prepared to inculcate this ideal in all members of the profession in order to develop and sustain an unbroken succession of the ideology and philosophy through successive generations of lawyers.
My journey into the law profession and where I stand today is a function of providence and the privileges/opportunities I was given as a young lawyer. I firmly believe that the great potentials which lie within our younger colleagues are not fully discovered and harnessed, because there are either few or no opportunities given for their potentials to find expression.
I have, in the course of my growth in the profession, strived to afford younger colleagues within the limits of my reach, the opportunity to express the gifts in them.
I am persuaded from my experience that what we must do to recover lost grounds as an Association and regain our voice in speaking for the downtrodden and the oppressed, is to invest sacrificially and strategically in the great potentials and resourcefulness of our younger colleagues.
Read the full manifesto HERE
Download Maikyau, SAN’s full manifesto at Manifesto+-+submission+version
* To be continued.
