I watched a video on how some lawyers destroyed registration booths during the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) conference – and carted away registration materials: “Nigerian lawyers go on rampage, destroying registration booths and conference bags at NBA conference last night August 23..
“According to reports, the lawyers had gathered to collect conference bags which had hindered them from collecting other conference materials. The lawyers became impatient over the slow pace at which they were being attended to. Some of them forcefully reached out to get the bags containing the conference materials and this led to chaos that saw the registration booths being destroyed.”
We condemn this attitude exhibited by the supposedly learned men. But this is not typical: Nigerians live on the mindset of scarcity and that has remained our problem. We always think things will never get to us. And that is the reason we cut corners, fight and mess up things. Even the demons of corruption are rooted therein: steal for the great grandkids since before they are born, everything would have gone. But for experienced lawyers to do this, it means Nigeria is fading faster than some of us might have thought.
Those days in FUTO, we used to “fight”, bulldoze, etc just to pay the N25 school fees. The question remains: why must you fight to do that? In reality, it makes no sense why a student will push and be pushed to pay school fees. Then, go to motor parks: check what happens there. The bus has 14 seats and 7 people are waiting, yet, those 7 will push to board.
I do hope the Nigerian Bar Association issues small penalties to these lawyers. We cannot have angry lawyers in Nigeria. The woman in Akwa Ibom who locked up Inibehe Effiong is enough evidence!
Ndubuisi Ekekwe, PhD, Chairman of FASMICRO Group, is the Lead Faculty in Tekedia Mini-MBA. He writes regularly in the Harvard Business Review.
