Bayo Akinlade, former chairman of the Ikorodu branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), has called for a revamp of the body to maintain its relevance.
Akinlade, who is convener of the Fight Against Corruption in the Judiciary (FIACIJ), said this during an interview with NAN in Lagos.
“The NBA can no longer be effective with its current structure,” he said.
“Growing up as a young lawyer, I met an NBA that was focused and I cannot recall the NBA having grand parties or events like ‘unbarred’ like we saw in the just concluded annual conference.
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“How can anyone concentrate on the practice and development areas that our conference seeks to provide when delegates go to bed at 3 am or 4 am each morning and get to the conference venue late with a nasty hangover?
“Again, what we saw at the end of the annual general meeting this year was another controversy, which though not new to NBA, was this time openly confrontational and combative.
“The NBA can no longer be effective with eight to nine executive committee members at the helm of its affairs.”
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Akinlade added that the legal, social and political terrains have changed a great deal.
He said that lawyers who lead the bar today are at every level, far younger and less experienced than lawyers who led the NBA more than 15 years ago.
“Mentorship within the bar has also declined over the years; the bar today is very different and naturally so,” he said.
“We may not bring the old ways back but we must try not to destroy the pillars of this profession.
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“We can pull down the old structures but I still think the foundations are solid. So, let us rebuild the bar.
“The NBA has come full circle and while some believe that the NBA can be ‘fixed’, it is my opinion that fixing NBA is not from within its existing structures but rather, it must be completely re-invented and re-evolved.”
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