The NBA, Its Image And The Year 2018 By Akorede Habeeb Lawal

(National Assistant Publicity Secretary, Nigerian Bar
Association)

The Nigerian Bar Assoan enviablepies an enviable space as a
non-governmental organization in the national set up of Nigeria.
This is no mean feat in view of the obvious fact that the whole
make up of the country revolves around the government, particularly
the Federal Government. Outside the government and the activities
of its parastatals, its actors – the politicians that govern, few
issues and persons commonly interest Nigerians, except of course,
religious matters and personalities. It is in this complex maze of
citizens’ reluctance to be concerned that the Nigerian Bar
Association catches some reasonable attention aided by the media
occasionally in need of the ‘other news’, even if it is untrue.

The truth however is that the year 2018 has thrown the Nigerian
Bar Association up and down the national gaze. It was at the Annual
General Conference of the Association in August 2018, that the
Nigerian President’s speechwriter deemed it fit to include in his
principal’s address to lawyers that the rule of law is subject to
national security. Also, the nation heard of how difficult it was
for the Bar to conduct an electronic election to elect fourteen
national officers. And very recently, without an order for
substituted service, the EFCC served Nigerians her charge against
the NBA President through Sahara Reporters and other media outlets,
while it took her almost a week and a court adjournment before
serving the subject of the charge, after several requests from the
subject who also had to go to EFCC’s office to collect his charge
sheet. These are the highlights of the headlines commanded by the
NBA in this ending year.

Another truth is that as negative as these headlines may seem,
their effects on the image of the Bar is as insignificant as
throwing waste in a busy waste bin. For some years, citizens have
exhausted their hope for a serious Bar to lead the civil vanguard
against the recklessness of politicians that have made Nigeria
spiraling down economic definition of backwardness to find a space
beneath a third world nation, despite the abundance of resources.
Since the turn of the millennium and the return to democracy, the
NBA has struggled to replicate the sort of fine form that earned
her popular respect of Nigerians during the military era. It is
arguable that the military was in part responsible for bringing the
Bar to its knees by fueling the crisis that created leadership
hiatus in the association between the year 1992 and 1998.

It is a cliché that government is a continuum, but leadership is
in phases and it is important to apportion successes and blames
where they belong, in order to avoid past mistakes while seeking
improvements on previous successes. The NBA now has a new
leadership that is just four months into a two year term, and of
the 2018 headlines earlier referenced, only one has relationship
with the present bar leadership. It may be early days, but going by
the evidence of the last four months, this new bar headship has
clearly set itself apart and shown bravery and determination of
purpose.

The NBA is a big organization by reasonable financial standard.
It is the largest bar in Africa. Members’ yearly subscriptions
alone run into hundreds of millions of Naira. However, the
management of the funds of the organisation has always been of
concern to her members, and aside the eight storey edifice housing
her national secretariat, there is hardly anything that could be
identified as the product of the use of members’ practice fees.
Going by the recent financial statement of the Association, the
money is not even in the bank, hence the Paul Usoro led
administration commenced its term from the financial scratch with
the NBA Administration account not only empty but in huge deficit
running into hundreds of millions of Naira.

It is therefore apposite to note that the first indicator of the
positive efforts of the Paul Usoro-led NBA administration at
repositioning the Association is the apparent prudence and
transparency in the handling of the finances of the Association.
Paul Usoro and his hardworking team of national officers are
committed to institutionalizing corporate governance in the NBA and
one great index of their readiness is the decision to issue to
members quarterly reports of the Association’s financial
statements. Two of such financial statements have been issued in
the last four months and members now know where their monies are
and what and how their collective funds are being used.

It is ugly to acknowledge, but for the first time in more than
sixty years of her formation, the Association is talking about
budgeting. Before now, expenses were made without a foresight of
the expected income, leading to the Association borrowing funds to
fulfill her financial obligations. Also, the present leadership is
cutting costs in small and big measures. The last statutory meeting
of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the association – the
first to be organized by this administration was a departure from
the money-burden-laden meetings of the past. Tags of NEC members
will not be reprinted at every quarterly NEC meetings as the ones
given to them in December, 2018 will be used until 2020 when their
term as NEC members will expire. Also, the heavy NEC bundles were
emailed to members long before the meeting, thereby avoiding some
millions in printing costs. These fine steps being taken by Paul
Usoro – the new sheriff in town in returning confidence to the bar
earned him a standing ovation at the end of the last National
Executive Committee meeting of the association.

Also, the NBA is steadily regaining its leading voice on
national issues. The pervasive insecurity in the land which had
recently caused the death of four lawyers in different
circumstances had been met with unequivocal condemnations of the
perpetrators and security agencies by the bar leadership.
Government had been severally advised to be steadfast in observing
its primary purpose of protecting and securing lives and
properties. The bar lend its voice to the dispute between the
labour and the government, the Executive Order 6 was also roundly
condemned as ’executive recklessness’.

The NBA on International Human Rights Day stood for Ochanya and
other abused girls, the Bar condemned the highhandedness of
security and other law enforcement agencies, particularly as it
relates to harassment of lawyers and soldiers have been told in no
mincing words to go back to their barracks.

With an eye on the biggest national event in 2019 – the general
elections, the Nigerian Bar Association under the Paul Usoro, SAN
leadership monitored the most recent election in Nigeria which is
the Osun gubernatorial election conducted in September, 2018. The
rerun election according to the report of the NBA’s monitoring
group “fell far short of a free and fair election…from the actions
and inactions of the Nigerian Police Force they appeared to have
been compromised given the fact that the Police did not question
the activities of the about fifty (50) fierce looking men who
invaded the area at Orolu”. The NBA did not stop at releasing this
‘say it as it is’ report which has earned her the commendation of
national and international watchers of Nigeria, the Bar went on to
organize a one day conference on Nigerian electoral challenges,
participants were drawn from all stakeholders in the electoral
process and at the end of that day, workable solutions were
proffered.

It is a fine dawn in the life of the Nigerian Bar Association
and to the credit of Paul Usoro, SAN – the confident and
hardworking NBA President who has refused to be distracted. 2019
promises to be a year where Nigerian lawyers can again be proud of
being members of the largest Bar association in Africa and
Nigerians will again have the privilege of being led by lawyers in
asking the right questions of governments at all levels.