The Nigerian Bar Association’s date with history

The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) led by its 32nd President Afam Osigwe, SAN, owes a duty to Nigerians to mitigate the current difficult times they are going through, more so that governments tend to carry on their policies without seemingly caring about the repercussions on the ordinary citizen. There is no doubt that Nigerians are going through a lot in terms of economic adversity as well as human rights that are being consequently eroded. There is no better organisation than the NBA to stand up for the common man.

At his inauguration, Osigwe pledged to steer the government in the right direction and promised to ensure that government policies and programmes meet citizens’ aspirations in terms of the provision of good governance, transparency in financial expenditures, and reduce the cost of governance.  According to him, the “NBA will constructively engage with the various tiers of government and other stakeholders by presenting proposals and blueprints for dealing with issues as they arise.”

He further assured Nigerians that under his watch, the NBA “will hold government at all levels accountable” and “ensure that government responds appropriately to the challenges of security of lives and properties, respect for the fundamental rights and freedoms, the provision of gainful employment and all the basic amenities of life, especially food, shelter, clothing, qualitative and affordable education, healthcare, and other infrastructure as well as access to justice.”

Indeed, the NBA president’s verbal commitment to upholding the government’s responsibility and accountability to the people is expected of the body of lawyers. However, he needs to walk his talk because similar utterances have become mere declarations of purpose without more. Nigerians are very familiar with such flowery speeches that are rarely given effect due to a lack of political will.

Bar Associations across jurisdictions play a valuable role in nation-building. They are the foremost watchdog of society and the promoter of the rule of law, and they contribute to moulding society, regulating societal behaviour, and checking the excesses of the political class through the instrument of the law. Different from other professionals, the lawyer’s duty transcends the normal role of representing clients. His three-pronged duty is to his client, society, and God – that is why he is regarded as a minister in the temple of justice.

The legal profession is exclusively befitting for men of the highest nobility, integrity, honesty and dignity. Therefore, “the lawyer must be a learned man in the sense that he has mastered the intellectual content of the law, and he must be a professional man in the sense that he is labouring for the common good and not for honours or riches. To serve man, by diligent study and true counsel of the law; to aid in solving the questions and guiding the business of society according to the law; to fulfil his allotted part in protecting society and its members against wrong, in enforcing all rights and redressing all wrongs; and to answer before God and man, according to the scope of his office and duty for the true and just administration of the law.”

The NBA is “engaged in the promotion and protection of human rights, the rule of law and good governance” and holds itself as “Nigeria’s foremost and oldest professional membership organisation and Africa’s most influential network of legal practitioners, with over 140,000 lawyers on its roll in 128 active branches across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria.” Nonetheless, the fundamental question is whether the NBA, as presently constituted, is living up to its professional calling.

Regrettably, the NBA has grown weak over the years and is losing its reputation as an audacious and tenacious professional pressure group. Lawyers are constantly harassed, assaulted, and intimidated by law enforcement agencies without the NBA lifting a finger. A few years ago, a Registrar-General of the Corporate Affairs Commission (who occupied that position only because he was a lawyer) withdrew the accreditation of some Abuja-based lawyers for protesting against the Commission’s poor service delivery and mistreatment of lawyers. Surprisingly, the Abuja branch of the NBA timidly appealed to the Registrar-General to reverse his decision. If the NBA cannot defend and protect the rights of its members, what is the fate of the common man?

The Association’s national leadership is often polarised along individual interests and gets entangled in the murky waters of mainstream politics instead of maintaining a common position on salient issues of national interest. They play to the gallery to curry the favour of the ruling class. The NBA offered to prosecute electoral offences on behalf of the Independent National Electoral Commission (that received N313.4 billion to conduct the 2023 general elections) pro bono when several indigent Nigerians could not access justice.

There are arguments that lawyers are partly responsible for the current rot in the judicial sector.  Some have ‘transactionalised’ justice dispensation by influencing tainted judicial officers. In 2022, a partner in a prestigious law firm claimed that the “presence of [her] lead principal” as the “head of the entire legal profession in Nigeria will significantly switch things” in the direction of a party in a lawsuit. The mere fact that a lawyer would resort to such unethical antics is an exposé of the decay in the legal industry.

These days, some members of the Bar engage in conducts unbecoming of legal practitioners. They openly disparage judges and make commentaries on the merits of matters that are sub judice thereby exposing the judiciary to public scorn. Additionally, litigious lawyers inundate the courts with cases bereft of reasonable cause of action for purely pecuniary reasons. Those kinds are also experts in delaying trials with frivolous and vexatious applications. These malpractices waste the court’s time (at the expense of taxpayers) and deny litigants with genuine claims timely adjudication. This abuse of the court process is significantly responsible for the conflicting judgments being churned out by courts of coordinate jurisdictions.

In a dysfunctional representative democratic setting like Nigeria where the interests of the leaders and the led are parallel, the NBA should not sit on the fence. But how can the NBA remove the speck out of the eyes of the government while there is a log in its eyes? Accordingly, the NBA should rise to its professional duty and ensure that the members bringing disrepute to the legal profession are disciplined appropriately.

The Afam Osigwe-led NBA must demonstrate the sincerity of purpose and the willpower to tackle the government at all levels, as promised. Beyond the proposed constructive engagements, it should be prepared to aggressively confront the government in deserving cases as some civil society organisations (CSOs) are doing. Indeed, it is an aberration for Nigerians to seek legal support from social media self-acclaimed human rights activists instead of lawyers as is now the norm.

Overall, the NBA is underperforming its Corporate Social Responsibility to the people. The government is misruling the country unchecked, and many Nigerians are being shut out of the justice system due to paucity of funds. The NBA needs to address these challenges. It is recommended that the NBA should partner with the Legal Aid Council, Office of the Public Defender, and sundry agencies to make legal services accessible and available to the poor at no cost.

The order of society rests upon the effective administration of the law. Also, the judiciary is a fundamental pillar in any democratic society. Without any gainsaying, the success of Nigeria’s democratic experimentation substantially resides with the judiciary. However, without a strong and fearless Bar, the judiciary is handicapped. Therefore, the NBA, must urgently rise to its national duty.