"Olumide Akpata’s candidacy Presents a Fantastic Opportunity for Nigerian Lawyers to Actualise their Dreams"- RMD Endorses Olumide Akpata as Next NBA President
My name is Richard Mofe-Damijo. I am an actor, a past Commissioner for Culture and Tourism in Delta State and a legal practitioner. I am a member of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and the NBA Section on Business Law (NBA-SBL), where I serve as the 1st Vice Chairman of the Committee on Sports and Entertainment Law.
Given my media and entertainment career, I have always been very passionate about entertainment law and best practices in intellectual property and copyrights protection. I have also been interested in the activities of the NBA, but I have often been left frustrated by the seeming inability of the NBA to catch up with global trends. I have also been unsatisfied with the lack of inclusiveness and the unwritten policy of discrimination and unequal treatment meted out to lawyers who are not in private legal practice.
Hearing about the interest of Olumide Akpata in contesting for the position of President of the NBA, I know that the time has come for positive change. I have known Olu for a very long time and have worked together with him especially during his time as the Chairman of the NBA-SBL. His leadership of the Section provided a platform for lawyers tap into, and develop themselves in, several emerging areas of law practice. His leadership was characterised by an inclusiveness that expanded the space and for the first time enabled all lawyers, no matter their interests and practice areas, to express themselves and thrive in their chosen niches.
In this era of the new normal, Olumide Akpata’s candidacy presents a fantastic opportunity for Nigerian lawyers to actualise their dreams of a Bar that not only looks after the interests of its people, but is also characterised by globally evolving practices and is further equipped with innovative trends to absorb the impact of disruptive technology on the practice of law and open new frontiers for Nigerian lawyers. It is for these reasons and many more that I wholeheartedly endorse Olumide Akpata for the office of President of the NBA. This is a golden opportunity for the legal profession in Nigeria. Please, let us not lose it.
