2016 NBA-SBL business law conference focuses on reform

The Nigerian Bar Association Section on Business Law (NBA-SBL) has said that its 2016 annual Business Law Conference will focus on law reforms that would engender economic development.

To get this done, the chairman of the conference planning committee, Dr. Babatunde Ajibade (SAN) said the outcome of the conference would be forwarded to the government in other to tackle the country’s current economic quagmire.

The theme of the conference billed to hold between 22 and 24 of June at the Transcorp Hilton Abuja is: “Law Reform and Economic Development”.

The organisers said it was carefully chosen to explore and highlight the role law reform can play in facilitating economic development, especially as Nigeria faces challenging times.

“We are looking at the state of the nation and we are looking at critical factors required to drive the economy forward. There’s an urgent need to pay attention to a lot of our laws; many of them have been in our statute book for 50 years or over without any tinkering or touching.

And we need to start thinking about different ways of approaching the reform of our economy and the best place to start is the foundation, which is the law. That is why we have chosen this theme, and I think it is very important and apt for this time.

“We are looking forward to a great conference. We are expecting that the report from this conference will be instrumental to our law making process and ultimately economic growth,” Dr. Ajibade said.

Also speaking about the conference, the Chairperson of the SBL Research and Publicity Committee, Ms. Theodora Kio-Lawson stated that the SBL conference has become very important in the legal calendar in Nigeria, adding that the conference planning committee were making all efforts to ensure a successful conference.

“This being the 10th of our annual conferences, we are particularly proud to be hosting it and we are leaving no stone unturned to make sure that it will be a spectacular conference”, she said.

On why the 2016 conference is moving to Abuja, she said besides the fact that it is the 10th edition, the organisers thought it wise to drive home the theme of the conference by taking it right to the seat of power where it matters most.

“We think that if we are going to be dealing with law reform, we really need to be hosting the conference where the law is being reformed, and Abuja is the place,” she said.