The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) is not only the largest professional body in Africa, but also the most cohesive in terms of its broad-based programmes which impact its over 200,000 members. Onikepo Braithwaite and Jude Igbanoi took out time to speak with the Chairman of the NBA Welfare Committee, Mr Yakubu C. Maikyau, SAN. The first Senior Advocate from Kebbi State, spoke extensively on crucial issues, including the recent outright rejection of the gender-based bills by the National Assembly; the bid by the Senate to build six new Law School Campuses when the existing ones are not in the best of conditions due to a paucity of funds, and what would be the resultant effect of following through with such a ridiculous decision; and why he thinks Nigeria doesn’t have enough Lawyers
As Chairman of the Welfare Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association, kindly shed some light on the work of your Committee and the extent to which it has impacted Nigerian Lawyers so far, both young and old.
When the Welfare Committee, which I am privileged to serve as its Chairman, was constituted, we were charged with the responsibility of, amongst other things, identifying areas of welfare needs of members, and designing robust and implementable scheme that will ensure the advancement of the welfare of Nigerian Lawyers. We immediately set to work, and so far we have been able to attend to some welfare needs of the generality of our members as identified.
We struck a deal with LawPavilion, to make their electronic law report/search engine available to members at a very subsidised rate. To this end, the LawPavilion Primsol Search Engine, which ordinarily cost N90, 000.00 (Ninety Thousand Naira) was made available to members of NBA at the following discounted rates: 8–15 years = N3, 000, 16–30 years = 10, 000, 31–40 years = 15, 000, 41 years and above + SAN = N25, 000. For Lawyers 1–7 years post call who paid their Bar Practising Fee within time, the NBA paid one year subscription for them, so they got to access the product free of charge.
What is perhaps the most significant achievement of my Committee is the NBA/NHIS Partnership for Health Insurance – Group, Individual, Family, Social Health Insurance Programme christened Apkatacares. Under this programme, every member of the NBA who has paid his/her BPF can access health insurance for a premium of N15,000. The premium was negotiated from N45,000. This does not only benefit the Lawyer, but is also extended to his family members and dependents, including employees – they can all have access to primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare at just N15, 000 per annum for each person. Under the pilot scheme of the programme, the NBA paid the subscription fee for 1000 of its members pooled from the 125 branches of the Association. These 1000 persons thus subscribed to the scheme free-of-charge, the subscription fee having been paid by the NBA. The 1000 beneficiaries of the pilot scheme have been enrolled by NHIS; access cards were issued, and are being distributed by the Committee to the members. This partnership with the NHIS and NBA as a non-formal sector, is the first of its kind in the history of NHIS and as NBA; we are determined to take the lead in sensitising and encouraging Nigerians to get health insurance cover. The NBA Welfare Committee is preparing to hold town hall meetings around the country, where we will further enlighten our members on the scheme.
With the rising number of cancer diagnoses, our Committee entered into discussions with the CEO of MEDICAID Cancer Foundation, for a possible partnership with the NBA on cancer screening of our members. Flowing from our discussions, the MEDICAID Cancer Foundation graciously offered us generous rebates on screening, and is willing to decentralise the screening venues for accessibility to members. Under this arrangement, members who have cancer can get treatment at a discounted rate. With the approval of the President, Mr Olumide Akpata, the Welfare Committee has commenced fund raising, and the goal is to raise funds so as to offer free cancer screening to 3000 members of our Association.
There are several other welfare packages in the works, and I believe that before the end of this administration, members would have benefited from more of this.
The NBA recently reviewed its Constitution and has since filed it with the Corporate Affairs Commission. What sections do you find innovative, what aspects of this review interest you and why?
The recent amendment of the NBA Constitution, made a lot of bold innovations that have changed the status quo ante in our great Association. Most of the new provisions, deletions and alterations, are quite commendable. For me, the most significant is the restructuring of the administration of the National Secretariat – I find that very innovative and quite expedient. In Article 11, the amended Constitution created the office of an Executive Director to handle the day to day running of the secretariat. This structure will help shield the NBA Secretariat from the unnecessary interference and interruptions of politics/elections of the Bar, and will guarantee sustenance of programmes of the Association, proper record-keeping and the preservation of institutional memory. A strengthened and efficient secretariat will offer some relief to the national officers, particularly the President and General Secretary while their tenure subsists, and will mean less focus on them and more on the institution in the running of affairs of the Association.
Also, the reduction of the number of National Executive Council members, by scrapping the office of NEC Representatives and reducing the number of co-opted NEC members from 180 to 150, thus reducing the number of NEC members by 155 persons! This, I strongly believe, will make NEC meetings and the decision-making process less unwieldy, and will also significantly minimize the cost of hosting NEC meetings.
What are your views on Section 84(12) of the Electoral Act 2022? Do you agree with the judgement of Anyadike J. declaring it unconstitutional, or do you belong to the other school of thought that it is in order?
I will refrain from commenting on this for two reasons: (1) Like you rightly pointed out, the matter is currently being litigated; it is sub judice. It will be unprofessional to comment on the matter as that would be preempting the decision of the Appellate Courts. (2) The NBA leadership has already issued a statement on this issue and I stand by that statement. Suffice to say that in law, the process is as important as the result. Whatever the decision of the court, due process must be observed and dissatisfied parties are at liberty to seek redress on appeal. This is the process we know, and it is the only process that must be followed.
Many see the recent creation of additional Law School campuses not only as a waste, but counterproductive. Some also see it as a pure political gimmick. What is your take on this?
Given the lean resources of the Government in the face of our dire economic situation and the deplorable state of the existing law school campuses, I am yet to understand the rationale for the decision to create six additional Law School campuses. Complaints about the urgent need to renovate and properly furnish and equip the existing campuses had been met with, “there’s no money”. So, why are we creating more? We couldn’t maintain six, why approve an additional six, plus the one already under construction in Rivers State – that is 13! If we couldn’t maintain six before now, how do we propose to handle 13 – what magic are we expecting to happen?
The NBA, during the public hearing conducted by the Nigerian Senate, opposed the bill because of the poor quality of handling of the existing campuses, due largely to paucity of funds. The decision to create additional campuses of the Law School, will only further dilute what is left of the quality of legal education in Nigeria. I do not think the decision-makers thought of it beyond the mere establishment of these campuses.
Juxtaposing the curriculum of the Law degree programmes in the Universities and the one year Law School programme, what areas would you say need re-tweaking? Many think the programmes as presently operated, no longer meet the realities of modern law practice.
I have in several fora, submitted that the liberation of any society will as of necessity entail the discharge of the primary responsibilities of Lawyers in the pursuit of justice. The existing curriculum of our legal education did not and I dare say could not have been able to unleash the potentials of Lawyers into our society, because of what may have been the deliberate walls erected around the ideal legal education that would have prepared the Lawyers for this assignment; the socio economic and political transformation of the nation. A system of education that produces a Lawyer who is not only knowledgeable in law but conscious of his identity as an agent of social, economic and political change in the nation, is what is needed for the prosperity of the nation. Legal education must, as of necessity, be standardised.
Legal Education in Nigeria; the system as well as the content, has pauperised the psyche of Lawyers and reduced our function to that of traders or artisans who merely render services for fees. This has made ‘fees’ as opposed to “the search for justice”, the motivation for the practice of law as we know and do it. And, as long as this remains the status quo, Nigeria will continue along its present trajectory of lawlessness, disorderliness and disrespect for the rule of law with the attendant adverse effect on the wellbeing of Lawyers.
It is sad that the curriculum of legal education in Nigeria has not changed much from the days I was in school in the 80s. With globalisation and the impact of technology, Lawyers can only remain relevant and efficient in the discharge of services, when we have expanded our scope of practice to meet the demand of changing times. We have to improve our capacities by venturing into other emerging areas of law practice; Fin-Tech, IT; Environmental Law; E-Commerce, Space Law, Agric Law, Biotech Law, Entertainment, Sports, Mining, and other areas which are reflective of the changing times. Efforts must be channeled towards developing course contents that will afford hands-on training in the Faculties of Law and the Nigerian Law School, in order to cultivate Lawyers that will serve to meet the 21st century need of the society.
Would you support the creation of State Bars as is being canvassed by some? Is Nigeria ripe for State Bars, as obtainable in the United States?
I do not think this is an immediate issue in our society, having regard to our local peculiarities. I stand for one National Bar, properly regulated.
What did you think about the National Assembly shooting down all the gender-related Bills, only to be reconsidered as a result of public condemnation? It seems as if there is still a lot of discrimination against women. Why is that so? Or is that the men are feeling threatened?
The outright rejection of all the gender-related Bills, almost with a wave of hand, did not portray a good picture. I know that Nigeria is not there yet on a number of issues, and so one is not surprised at the stance of the National Assembly over some of the Bills, but I did not expect that the bills would be dismissed summarily. This is because it sends the message that Nigeria is not ready to recognise the equal status of women. It reveals a tenacious hold to the old order of things with regard to the status and treatment of women, and that is worrisome. After so many years of advocacy for the inclusion of women and improvement of their status, it appears we have not progressed much from the pre-Beijing days. As a father of two biological daughters and several adopted daughters, it is a matter of great concern to me and I do hope that something will be done urgently that will change the narrative. In any event, I am keeping hope alive and I urge all women to do the same. Having said this, I am not unmindful of the impact of cultural, traditional and religious beliefs as they relate to this subject; but, the right balance must be struck and it must be in favour of recognising and improving the status of women in our society.
Given the exponential increase in the number of Lawyers in Nigeria in the past 15 years, do you support the call to separate the profession into Barristers and Solicitors as obtainable in England and Wales?
I do not think we have too many Lawyers in Nigeria. I just think we have too many Lawyers doing the same things! There are many aspects of the law that are begging for attention, and with globalisation, there has been an exponential rise of emerging legal markets where Lawyers can key in to make a living. But, they are not doing so, primarily because they do not know about these markets, and secondly, because they are not equipped to handle the market demands.
This takes me back to what I said earlier, about the need for extensive review of the curriculum of legal education in Nigeria, which is presently outdated. Then, we have to sustain aggressive Continuous Legal Education training for Lawyers, to prepare them to participate in these emerging market areas. The United States of America with a population of 350 million people has about 1.3 million Lawyers, and they are not complaining. On the other hand, Nigeria with a population of about 220 million people (about two-thirds of America’s population), has only about 200,000 Lawyers. A simple mathematical ratio will show you that Nigeria has too few Lawyers – we need over half a million more Lawyers! Why it looks like we are too many, is simply because so many of us are clustered in a limited practice space – land matters, chieftaincy, landlord and tenant, debt recovery, the occasional election petition and then the criminal cases – that’s it! Meanwhile, there are so many emerging areas of practice, with great potentials that remain untapped. That is why, as a matter of urgency if not emergency, we must not only take deliberate steps to protect the small legal practice space that we currently occupy, we must embark on massive capacity building and expansion of practice areas.
The present NBA administration has surprisingly surpassed the expectations of many in terms of the execution of its programmes and new initiatives. Things can never be perfect, what therefore would you suggest that the Exco should improve on holistically before the end of its tenure?
It is undeniable that the current administration has done so well in many areas. I had previously mentioned the welfare of members; establishment of access to finance for Lawyers with an NBA stabilisation fund of over N1.5 billion; NBA life/accident insurance cover for members in good financial standing, just to mention but a few. There have been massive training/capacity building exercises, under the auspices of the Institute of Continuing Legal Education. Several public interest litigations have been initiated. Earlier this year, in conjunction with other group and bodies, the NBA organised a Justice Sector Summit, which involved all the stakeholders in the justice delivery sector, with the theme: “Devising Practical Solutions Towards Improved Performance, Enhanced Accountability and Independence in the Justice Sector”. At the Summit, there was a general consensus amongst the stakeholders that there is urgent need for reform of our justice system, and several resolutions were made in that regard. I know the present administration will ensure the full implementation of the resolutions reached, as contained in the Communiqué issued at the end of the Summit. The NBA is indeed taking the lead. It is my firm conviction that the responsibility of recovering, reforming and repositioning our Nation, rests principally on the shoulders of Lawyers, and these efforts must be sustained.
Things seem to have quietened down with regard to kidnapping, banditry and insurgency. Do you think that the Government is finally succeeding regarding its campaign promise to eradicate insecurity in Nigeria? However, it does seem that the economy on the other hand, is not doing too well, judging by the financial hardship that the majority of Nigerians are experiencing. Kindly, comment on this
The aim of the efforts and resources that have been, and are being channeled to security, is to minimise, if not wholly eradicate the cases of kidnappings, banditry, insurgency and suchlike. If things seem to have quietened down, every optimist in the nation, of whom I am one, will like to believe that the Government is finally winning this fight. We hope and pray that the relative peace we seem to be experiencing at the moment, will be permanent. While I commend the efforts and sacrifices of our gallant men/women of the armed forces and other security agencies, many of whom have paid the ultimate price, in the fight against this menace, within the limits of the tools/equipment available to them, I must also not fail to call on Government to do more. We have suffered so much bloodshed, and we cannot, both as Government and people of this nation, carry on as if nothing is happening. We must all rise to the occasion, and be decisive in dealing with matters of insecurity in whatever shape or form.
We are, however, not faring well at all economically, and that is attributable to a lot of factors. I can say that the current state of things didn’t just happen overnight; it was a long time coming – economists warned us for years that we were living in a bubble with our oil boom, but our leaders refused to listen until the price of oil crashed all over the world, and our bubble burst. From there, it has been a downward spiral, going from bad to worse every day, with the average Nigerian being worst hit by the harsh conditions. No thanks to the insecurity challenges.
We need strong economic policies that will help us grow our economy, so that we can come out of our present situation. It will take time; but, if we put the right policies in place with strong men that will steer the economic ship, I believe that in a few years, we will not just dig ourselves out of this hole, we will be better and stronger economy-wise.
Thank you Learned Silk.
Culled from ThisDay
