The 59th Annual General Conference (AGC) of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) adjudged as the most well attended in the history of NBA has come, though ended, it is not gone as the association has resolved to move recommendations made at the 42 sessions of the conference from discussions to taking deliberate steps for their actualisation.
The recommendations include the involvement of the NBA and the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) in the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AFCFTA) negotiations on services, owing to its potential impact on the legal profession upon full implementation; the determination of status of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) in the Nigerian system by the Supreme Court, among 16 others adopted at the conference.
“The status of the CCT has remained a gray area in Nigerian jurisprudence which has given rise to great contention,” NBA
said in a four-page communiqué issued at the end of the conference in Lagos. “With a view to resolving this great contention, the supreme Courtisurgedtoavailitselfanyopportunity to make an unambiguous determination on the status of the CCT, and clarify whether it is an organ of the Executive or a quasi-judicial tribunal capable of being vested with criminal jurisdiction.”
Parts of the measures aimed at ensuring these resolutions become vital tools for resolving Nigeria’s current problems, developing legal practice, and taking the nation and by extension Africa into the future were to set up a monitoring process to track implementation of all recommendations and hold a monthly press briefing to keep the pubic abreast of progress made.
The theme for 2019 edition of the AGC “Facing the Future” was carefully chosen to underscore the future of the legal profession, businesses, the judiciary and government amidst a rapidly changing world driven by fast-paced technological innovations and increasing external competition in a globalized world, according to NBA.
“The conference achieved the objective of speaking to the task of ‘Facing the Future’ with new initiatives for taking our people . forward,” NBA said. “In terms of the overarching policy objective, the message of the conference is to move from dialogue to taking positive steps.”
Astepinthisdirection,according to the association, would help NBA achieve its true potentials through scalable and sustainable solutions that would impact the daily life of Nigerians; and through solutions anchored on the true rule of law; fair treatment of women and youths; and inclusion of all in the benefits of technological innovation and new thinking.
NBA noted it adopted the recommendations in “acknowledging the roles of the different stakeholders in ‘facing the future’ for the betterment of the legal profession, the Nigerian economy, and the general public.” These recommendations comprise 11 relating to the Nigerian government and 7 others involving legal practice and other stakeholders.
In addition to involvement in AFCFTA negotiations and determination of CCT status, judicial officers were encouraged to be independent and fair in the execution of their functions in order to bolster and retain investor confidence, businesses and the public in the judiciary, while the government was advised to explore alternative financing structures to bridge financing gap.
Similarly, the conference urged the government to adopt the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights, while it also resolved that the NBA should work with the Office of the Attorney General of the Federal (AGF) and Solicitor General of the Federation to amend existing laws and draft new laws to introduce appropriate structures that would advance the development interest of Nigerian lawyers and legal services delivery standards.
