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*Says Their Counterparts In Developed And Even Other Developing Economies Are Receiving Legal Education That Reflect Current Economic Realities. *Says He Has Engaged Council Of Legal Education On Transformation Of The System

The President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Olumide Akpata, has criticized the ancient-style training of Nigerian law students as not being reflective of the economic realities of today.

The NBA President in his welcome address to participants at the Nigerian Bar Association Section on Business Law 15th Annual Business Law Conference which commenced on the 14th of July 202, noted that it remains inexplainable that Nigerian Law students in 2021 are receiving the same University education that was available five decades ago while their counterparts in developed and even other developing economies are receiving legal education that reflect current economic realities. Mr. Akpata added that the NBA has already set up and empowered a Committee to engage the Council of Legal Education in order to effect a transformational change to the legal training of prospective lawyers in Nigeria receive.

The full address of the NBA President reads as follows:

It is my pleasure to welcome you to the 2021 Annual conference of the Nigerian Bar Association – Section on Business Law (‘NBA-SBC”). There is no gainsaying the fact that by virtue of my office, I belong to all sections of the Association and accordingly, I am precluded from expressing any preferences for any of the Sections of the NBA. Nevertheless, it is impossible to suppress the emotion that this is a home coming event for me. For a Section that I served as Secretary, Vice Chairman and ultimately as Chairman, I am extremely delighted to address the Section today in my capacity as President of the Nigerian Bar Association.

I am gratified to note that unlike what obtained in the past, the NBA-SBL is not the only Section that is pulling its weight. As I informed the National Executive Committee (NBA-NEC) of our dear Association, at its meeting of 24 June 2021, the Section on Public Interest and Development Law (NBA-SPIDEL) and the NBA Section of Legal Practice (NBA-SLP) recently held their annual conferences in Ibadan, Oyo State and Oyo, Akwa Ibom State respectively, and both events were very well organised and well attended. This is the sort of healthy competition that the visionaries envisaged when establishing the various specialist Sections of the NBA. All I can say to you today is that I am confident that this NBA-SBL Conference will be a case of keeping the best for last.

Ladies and gentlemen, if there were any lingering doubts about the continuing relevance of the NBA- SBL to the overall attainment of the aims and objectives of the NBA as outlined in the Constitution of the Nigerian Bar Association 2015 (as amended), such doubts were completely erased by the selection of this years Conference theme, “Re-tooling Businesses for Change: Leveraging the Tech Explosion”, a theme that is as topical as it is critical, especially in the context of the extraordinary times which the legal profession and indeed the Nigerian society have faced in the past 18 months.

The world we live in is a complex, dynamic and an ever changing one and any person, group, profession or field of life that desires to survive this world must always adapt and re-adapt to the changes in the society otherwise such person, group or profession will be left behind to atrophy and die while the rest of the world will move on. Indeed, as the Chairman of the Conference Planning Committee Chairman rightly observed, with the growth of technology comes an unending struggle of law to keep pace with technological developments and disruptions, particularly in the business space as the fourth industrial revolution continues to emerge and the world tries to grapple with the economic realities of the Covid-19 pandemic.

A well-known American Jurist, Louis Brandeis once perceptively observed that, “legal work was limited by time and space because lawyers were dependent on local transport, postal services and contemporary communications technology”. Over a century later, Brandeis’ observation still holds true especially in the third world countries like Nigeria. Like many aging industries, the legal profession in Nigeria has been slow to perceive external threats, and and slower still to respond to new patterns of service delivery and is still characterized by absence of necessary infrastructure and gadgets in the courts as a result of which the judges are still forced to record proceedings in long hand, analog filing and documentation management system, large volumes of laws of cases in courts and have direct adverse impact on commercial transactions, in-bound investments and overall economic development. For a system that is designed to serve the largest economy in Africa, this is simply not acceptable. At the NBA, we will continue to engage the Judiciary and provide the necessary prodding to ensure that issues like these are addressed.

The above notwithstanding, it has not been all gloom and doom. Technology has already begun to revolutionise the practice of law in Nigeria in significant ways and affected the speed of delivery of quality service, efficiency, billing/accountability, practice management et al. Of course, we all know that without the use of technology, most law firms would not have survived the extraordinary year we faced in 2020. It is only a bit disappointing that most of us had to wait for the COVID-19 pandemic before realising the place of technology as an essential tool for law practice and the benefits of leveraging technology to facilitate access to justice in Nigeria. It is also a testament to the utilitarian value of technology that we are able to organise this hybrid conference in a move that signals a gradual return to normalcy – whether it be the old normal or in all likelihood. the new normal.

One thing I promised in the build to the 2020 NBA election was that we will engage the Council of Legal Education to effect a transformational change to the legal training that prospective lawyers in Nigeria receive. Amongst other things. technology and its overall interaction with law will be at the forefront of this agenda. It remains inexplainable that Nigerian Law students in 2021 are receiving the same University education that was available five decades ago while their counterparts in developed and even other developing economies are receiving legal education that reflect current economic realities. It is in this regard that we have empowered the Committees created by the NBA Constitution and equipped them to execute their mandates. I have the assurance of the NBA Legal Education Committee that in the coming weeks, we will see traction in this area.

It is also consistent with the above that I must commend the leadership of the NBA-SBL led by Ayuli Jemide and the Conference Planning Committee led by Adeleke Alex-Adedipe for putting together this Conference at this auspicious time. Participating at this Conference, by its very essence, significantly contributes to the fulfilment of the mandatory professional development requirement of our Rules of professional Conduct with the added bonus that there is indeed a lot to be gained from actively participating in the Conference. I had the benefit of a sneak preview of the programme especially sessions like The Future of Digital Financial Services & Financial Inclusion; Nigerian Innovators & Nigerian Solutions; Global Tech Trends in Law Practice Management; etc. as well as the stellar line of speakers lined up for this conference and I encourage everyone of us to make the most of this Conference. I am sure that the lessons learnt from this Conference will be extremely useful, not only to us as individuals, but also to our businesses/ law practices.

Once again, I welcome you all to the 2021 Annual General Conference of the NBA SBL.