NBA Rejects One Slot Allocation To National Conference

 

The Nigerian Bar Association has rejected the offer by the Federal Government for the association to nominate only one delegate to the conference.

In a statement by its president, Okey Wali, the association maintained that the single slot given to it would not have any impact, and therefore urged the Federal Government to reconsider its decision.

Wali said a national conference of this nature had been one of the imperatives that define the priorities of the Nigerian Bar. He said so many legal issues would be addressed at the conference, and that it was important for the umbrella association of all lawyers in Nigeria to be adequately represented.

He stressed that the NBA is a membership-based professional and legal organisation of all lawyers in Nigeria, with 104 branches across the 36 states of the federation and the FCT, organised into various practice sections, fora, institutes and committees.

The statement reads in part: “To demonstrate our seriousness and commitment to a successful national conference, we had on the 7th of January, 2014 set up the Nigerian Bar Association National Conference Committee under the chairmanship of a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, with a Senior Advocate of Nigeria as the Secretary (the only committee, forum or section of the Nigerian Bar Association with a Senior Advocate of Nigeria as secretary).

“This is an area we are supposed to possess enormous expertise and will definitely add a lot of value to the process. We do not want to think that our expertise is neither appreciated nor welcomed.

“This is not glory-seeking; this is about adding value to the process, because the good of this country is the good of the Bar, and so we are determined to give whatever is needed to make our country great.”

Wali said, “We do not believe that the single slot given to the NBA will be impactful enough, and so, we request that you, please, reconsider the one slot offer to the Nigerian Bar Association, as we regrettably will be unable to accept that offer.

“We hold it in your favour, that this may very well be an oversight, and that the Federal Government will have no difficulty in revisiting the issue.”