“OLUMIDE AKPATA REPRESENTS A FANTASTIC OPPORTUNITY FOR OUR ASSOCIATION TO REGAIN ITS BATTERED IMAGE”- ORJI UKA SPEAKS ABOUT LEGAL PRACTICE, NBA ELECTIONS AND THE MOST FITTING CANDIDATE

1. One of the most impactful dicta to have proceeded from a judicial mind was uttered by Lord Denning in the case of Parker v. Parker (1953) 2 All E.R. 121 when the Master of the Rolls said these immortal words:

 “What is the argument on the other side? Only this, that no case has been found in which it has been done before. That argument does not appeal to me in the least. If we never do anything which has not been done before, we shall never get anywhere. The law will stand still while the rest of the world goes on and that will be bad for both.”

2. In exactly one month from today, we Nigerian lawyers will be going to the polls to elect national officers who will pilot the affairs of our Association, the NBA for the next 24 months. It is a testament to the changing times that I am even able to do this thread in respect of an NBA election.

3. Believe it or not, when I was called to the Nigerian Bar eight years ago and for some years afterwards, I did not have the right to vote in NBA elections due to the then applicable delegate system. This changed in 2016 when the Association introduced universal suffrage. Those days of delegate voting are now long gone. May they never come back.

4. One of the peculiar features of the 2020 NBA elections season has been the sea of endorsements from very eminent members of the Bar for the different candidates. This has certainly added to the intrigues of this year’s contest. I certainly do not consider myself worthy to make such endorsements. What I can however do, is to say it as I see it. As is my wont.

5. The choices facing Nigerian lawyers in this election especially as regards the candidates for the office of the NBA President have never been starker. We have three candidates with three different messages or policy thrusts. This is good for the democratic process.

6. Candidate A is a senior member of the Bar whose candidacy, if we are being honest, is representative of the past, and whose strongest claim to the office is the roles he played in the NBA 16 years ago. In light of the rapid developments that are taking place all over the world in real time, I believe that Nigerian lawyers know better than to take such a regressive step.

7. Candidate B is a fine & charismatic gentleman and undoubtedly a distinguished practitioner. But his messaging centres on needed reforms of the justice system in isolation from the other challenges facing the Association including the wellbeing of the Association’s members. In fact, it easy to mistake Candidate B’s message as coming from someone aspiring to be the Attorney-General of the Federation as opposed to the President of the NBA. In the overall interest of all, it is my opinion that Candidate B’s qualities will be better off deployed in another capacity.

8. Candidate C represents a fantastic opportunity for our Association to redeem its battered image and regain its rightful place as the defender of the rule of law and a platform for the advancement of the welfare and wellbeing of ALL Nigerian lawyers, irrespective of area of practice, year of call to the Bar, place of practice, and so forth.

9. For too long the policy thrusts of successive NBA leaderships have been somewhat removed from what should be the raison d’etre of any association, the welfare and wellbeing of its members.

10. The poor remuneration of lawyers has made the profession a laughingstock. I was privileged to have travelled round Nigeria earlier in the year before COVID-19 struck. The condition of the majority of Nigerian lawyers especially the young lawyers, is frightening.

11. Many lawyers do not have contracts of employment and are at the mercy of their ‘Principals’. Many have only one source of livelihood, court appearance fees. You can imagine what has been their fate since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

12. Some senior lawyers, even in Lagos, pay their lawyers LESS than they pay their own drivers and they still owe them salary. This includes those who obviously earn enough to pay well but are just wicked. It is also in Nigeria that some lawyers send their ‘juniors’ to buy Amala. 

13. And do you blame the young lawyers who accept to work under these inhumane conditions? The answer is no! unemployment is real! And so is poverty. If they reject it, there is a long line of other young lawyers waiting to take their place.

14. The respect that lawyers once commanded in Nigeria, that attracted some of us to the profession, has all but eroded. There is at least one Nigerian lawyer who is in the custody of the security agencies at every point in time.

15. I can go on and on. It is depressing. The result is that many lawyers have since given up on the NBA as an Association that is only interested in collecting their Bar Practicing Fees and Branch Fees every year and do nothing for them. And do you blame them?

16. To appreciate how the legal profession in Nigeria has held itself back permit me to take you down memory lane.

17. When I gained admission into the Faculty of Law Abia State University in the summer of 2005, my sole aspiration was to graduate, proceed to the Nigerian Law School, pass the bar exam, get called to the Nigerian Bar and return to practice law (read litigation) in Aba, Umuahia or Okigwe.

18. While there is absolutely nothing wrong with practicing law in Aba, Umuahia or Okigwe… and indeed nothing wrong with litigation/dispute resolution practice (which I have been practising for 7 years), the truth is that I did not know that there was more to the profession other than to appear in court on behalf of clients.

19. This remained my prevailing mindset until after my Bar final exam in August 2012 when I heard for the first time that there is something known as commercial law firms in Lagos, which pay decent salaries to their lawyers.

20. Almost 10 years after graduating from the University, I conducted a webinar for students of my Alma Mater, and I was stunned to realise that although information and more opportunities now abound, there is not much difference between my mindset then and theirs now. And therein lies the problem.

21. There is a huge disconnect between the law that is taught in Nigerian schools including the Law School and the practice of law, if not in Lagos then at least in the developed countries in the world. In 2020, that is simply unacceptable.

22. The legal education in Nigeria is predominantly litigation focused. Consequently, majority of lawyers know nothing other than litigation, thereby saturating the market and giving the impression that we have too many lawyers in Nigeria.

23. The predominant practical experience that Nigerian law students have is moot and mock trial – Litigation. The two major courses taught in Law School? Civil and Criminal Litigation. Then Corporate and Property Law. Even these two are taught with disputes in mind.

24. Even the disputes we learn is narrow minded. It is sacrilegious that only a few Faculties of Law teach Commercial Arbitration as a course/module in the University. Indeed, at the Law School, Arbitration is taught for a few hours as part of a topic in Civil Litigation, imagine the irony.

25. Meanwhile the world long gravitated towards arbitration as a preferred medium of dispute resolution especially in cross border transactions. To realise how lucrative arbitration practice is and realise what we are missing out on, simply search the internet for the legal fees in the famous Yukos v Russian Federation arbitration.

26. Unwittingly, the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria has over the years perpetuated this imbalance. In actual sense, we are called to the Nigerian Bar as Barristers & Solicitors of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. There is a rank of Senior Advocates of Nigeria, which is specifically for Barristers.

27. If the rank of SAN is available for the lawyers in dispute resolution practice and a few slots available each year those in the Academia, what rank is available for those who are in commercial practice (i.e. the Solicitors components)… perhaps Senior Solicitor of Nigeria?
28. Perhaps this explains why in the past 30 years, all Presidents of the Nigerian Bar Association have all been Senior Advocates of Nigeria. Isn’t it incongruous that out of a profession of over 150,000 members the office of the President will the exclusive reserve of less than 500 members?

29. There is a whole world of commercial Law practitioners who have no intention of becoming Senior Advocates of Nigeria (excluding me), but this by no means makes them inferior in stature or wealth to their distinguished counterparts in the dispute resolution practice.

30. It is utterly impossible to drive home my point without reference to specific names. No one, no matter how highly placed in the profession, can challenge the preeminent position occupied by the likes of George Etomi, Gbenga Oyebode, Asue Ighodalo or Oghogho Akpata simply because they are not Senior Advocates of Nigeria.

31. It is against the backdrop of these that Olumide Akpata’s candidacy comes as a breath of fresh air and a golden opportunity for Nigerian lawyers who are fed up with status quo to contribute to actualise the needed changes in the running of the Association’s affairs.

32. We can no longer afford the status quo. We all know about the popular saying about the person who continues to do the same thing over and over again, and yet expects a different result.

33. It was from Olumide Akpata that I heard the profound illustrations that blew my mind. All over Nigeria, there are huge projects going on, Dangote Refinery, NLNG Train 7, Ibom Deep Sea Port, 2nd Niger Bridge, Rail projects, SuperHighway etc. While all these projects require legal services and are capable of generating billions of Naira in legal fees, most Nigerian lawyers only believe their services are needed when the parties to these transactions fight. And do you blame them? What is worse is that foreign law firms have filled this space because nature abhors vacuum.

34. For too long we Nigerian lawyers have perished for lack of knowledge. Obviously Olumide Akpata is not going to start sharing money to young lawyers or flog senior lawyers into paying them fees that are commensurate with their services. But one thing he brings is to open our minds. A paradigm shift that will empower us.

35. Mr Akpata has a time-honoured track record of participation in, and support of, NBA activities that date back at least to my admission to the Nigerian Bar 8 years ago. I started seeing Olumide Akpata about a year after my call to the Bar when I attended my first SBL Conference. There was just something captivating about him.

36. I have listened to Olumide Akpata many times and it is impossible to miss the passion with which he speaks about the NBA and what he can do to improve the lot of the Association and the members. His track record demonstrably show that he has what it takes.
37. I believe strongly in the saying that he who is faithful in little shall be faithful in plenty. Olu performed so creditably as Chair of NBA-SBL, so much that all other candidates have been scrambling to identify with the Section. We now hear that Candidate A formed it while Candidate B claims to have resurrected it.

38. Indeed, success has many fathers. What is often forgotten is that if the various Chairpersons of the NBA-SBL including Olumide Akpata had not performed creditably and elevated the status of the Section, there would have nothing for someone to claim ownership of or ‘resurrector’ of.

39. Olumide Akpata is not a sudden preacher of welfare of Nigerian lawyers especially young lawyers. His firm had been at the forefront of championing the welfare of employees and is part of the highest paying in the country. We cannot say the same about others. You cannot give what you don’t have.

40. As Chair of NBA-SBL, young lawyers were sponsored from different parts of Nigeria to attend SBL Business Law Conference in Abuja (some for the first time since their call to Bar). It did not stop there, he organised in collaboration with the IBA, a special training for them on modern law practice. Olumide Akpata did not start today, he is ekwu eme or as we say in pidgin, he is “talk and do”.

41. Unlike the other candidates, he knows about the contemporary problems in the Association and has practical answers. As the Candidate himself said, of the three, he is the one with the recent relevant experience and the only one that can immediately hit the ground running.

42. The tenure of NBA President is just 24 months and the NBA can afford neither a candidate with no experience nor one whose experience is dated!

43. What is the argument against his candidacy? That he is not a Senior Advocate of Nigeria or a Litigator. In view of what I have said above, I believe you now agree that this is a non-starter.

44. The other point is that he is not from the South West part of Nigeria. As my intervention here demonstrates, that argument also does not hold water. https://businessday.ng/legal-business/article/we-must-not-permit-the-manipulation-of-history/ 

45. So, what then is the argument of the other side? That Olumide Akpata cannot keep the promises he has made. My response? We need these naysayers to make way for those who know what they are doing and who believe that the legal profession in Nigeria can be salvaged. As Bernard Shaw once advised, “people who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.”

ORJI A. UKA

NBA LAGOS BRANCH