Etteh institutes endowment fund, donates to universties at 50th birthday celebration

IT was a day of frills and thrills last Saturday in Lagos when a notable labour law reporter and employment lawyer, Enobong Etteh, rolled out the carpet to celebrate his golden jubilee birthday. The event, described as a day of law, legacy and leisure, attracted the crème le crème in Nigeria’s legal circle, family members, friends and well-wishers.

   Among those who attended the ceremony held at Quad-T Event Centre, Gbagada, include justices, Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN), Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) leaders, lawyers, clerics, politicians, and labour and employment activists.

   The celebrant said he had always believed like the famous Zig Ziglar, that a man was designed for accomplishment, engineered for success and supremely endowed with seeds of greatness, and following in the footsteps of the renowned author, has decided to institute an endowment fund as well as donate the Nigeria Labour Law Report to 50 institutions of higher learning in the country.

   Apart from the pomp and pageantry that greeted the ceremony, the event provided an opportunity at looking into the Nigerian labour law and employment related issues with the first colloquium on employment law and practice in Nigeria entitled: “Advancing the frontiers of employment and practice of labour law.

   The celebrant, who is the publisher of Nigeria Labour Law Report, said the institution of the Enobong Etteh Employment Law Endowment Fund and Employment Law Prize is to strengthen the hands of students and practitioners in repositioning that branch of law to the next level.

   He said: “We intend to push for reforms in our employment legislations, we also intend to create greater awareness about labour laws and labour rights. Nigerians and decision makers ought to know about the decisions of the only specialized court on labour in Nigeria, hence the donations.

   Speaking at the colloquium, Justice Benedict Kanyip of the National Industrial Court, who scored labour dispute lawyers in the country low in the use of the Nigerian Labour Law Reports as reference while arguing their cases before the National Industrial Court, warned that any Labour Law practitioner, who ignored the Nigerian Labour Law Reports, did so at his own disadvantage.

   Also, Prof. Chioma Agomo of the University of Lagos, lamented the void in employment law, stating that labour law is presently in identity crisis in the country. She however expressed optimism that with Nigeria Labour Law Report, labour law is undergoing a quiet revolution.