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| Mr. Seni Adio |
Participants at a joint seminar organized by the Nigerian Bar Association Section on Business Law (NBA-SBL) and the United Kingdom (UK) “Legal Services are Great Trade Mission” in Lagos have unanimously stressed the need for effective collaboration in building sustainable UK and Nigeria legal sector.
With the theme: “Building UK & Nigeria Legal Sector Collaboration”, the stakeholders also said the collaboration can be in terms of ease of doing business, legal and regulatory frameworks, capacity development, infrastructural development, among others.Elizabeth Fehnrich, International Trade Adviser, UK Department for International Trade said: “Nigeria and the UK have a strong relationship that stretches back many years, with trade between the two nations worth 4.2billion pounds in 2017, nearly a 25 percent increase on 2016.
“This figure is set to double by 2030. The sophisticated legal sectors in both countries share more than a common law tradition. They have developed close working relationships that are crucial to facilitating trade and investment between the UK and Nigeria.“This mission builds on the visit to Nigeria by the UK Prime Minister, Theresa May, where she launched the Legal Services are Great campaign as part of her visit to Africa in 2018. The campaign aims to bring the UK delegation together with Nigerian lawyers and business professionals.”Speaking on the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, Mr. George Etomi said Nigeria stands to gain a lot if it is signed.
Etomi said: “Our fear is that we think smaller African countries could be used to come and dump goods here but on a balance, we have more to benefit because the market is a 1.2billion man market and Nigeria is just 200 million in population. With the free trade agreement, we should be able to break barriers to trade in goods and services which also mean Nigerians can travel across African countries without visa.
“As lawyers from UK came to see how they can collaborate with Nigeria’s legal sector, we must be able to do the same for the rest of Africa because we are ahead of many African countries. For instance, Nigeria has produced top judicial officers in many African countries like The Gambia Chief Justice.
“But all these were done informally but with the African Free Trade we can have formal legal service. If you are called to bar in any EU country for instance, you can practice anywhere else and this is what we are hoping we can do in Africa, but ours will be step by step, a situation where you can be called to Bar in Nigeria and you can go and practice in Ghana without being called to Ghanaian Bar,” he explained.
Chairman of the NBA-SBL, Seni Adio (SAN), said the implication of the agreement is that lawyers would be able to work without restriction. He added that the agreement would also remove barriers or bottlenecks in the continent.Basil Udotai, Partner, Technology Advisors noted that the technology culture has been mainstreamed in Nigeria.
“I doubt if there is any sector that has not felt the impact of technology in the country. Since lawyers function to manage risk in a service environment, it is critical that we move with this culture because our clients’ expectation from us is that the protocol for doing business now is more sophisticated. “That is why training for lawyers in this area needs to be more aggressive. Artificial Intelligence will also affect law practice over time because it will give lawyers a run for their money on the short term. On the long run, it will help lawyers in service delivery to clients.
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With the theme: “Building UK & Nigeria Legal Sector Collaboration”, the stakeholders also said the collaboration can be in terms of ease of doing business, legal and regulatory frameworks, capacity development, infrastructural development, among others.Elizabeth Fehnrich, International Trade Adviser, UK Department for International Trade said: “Nigeria and the UK have a strong relationship that stretches back many years, with trade between the two nations worth 4.2billion pounds in 2017, nearly a 25 percent increase on 2016.
“This figure is set to double by 2030. The sophisticated legal sectors in both countries share more than a common law tradition. They have developed close working relationships that are crucial to facilitating trade and investment between the UK and Nigeria.“This mission builds on the visit to Nigeria by the UK Prime Minister, Theresa May, where she launched the Legal Services are Great campaign as part of her visit to Africa in 2018. The campaign aims to bring the UK delegation together with Nigerian lawyers and business professionals.”Speaking on the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, Mr. George Etomi said Nigeria stands to gain a lot if it is signed.
Etomi said: “Our fear is that we think smaller African countries could be used to come and dump goods here but on a balance, we have more to benefit because the market is a 1.2billion man market and Nigeria is just 200 million in population. With the free trade agreement, we should be able to break barriers to trade in goods and services which also mean Nigerians can travel across African countries without visa.
“As lawyers from UK came to see how they can collaborate with Nigeria’s legal sector, we must be able to do the same for the rest of Africa because we are ahead of many African countries. For instance, Nigeria has produced top judicial officers in many African countries like The Gambia Chief Justice.
“But all these were done informally but with the African Free Trade we can have formal legal service. If you are called to bar in any EU country for instance, you can practice anywhere else and this is what we are hoping we can do in Africa, but ours will be step by step, a situation where you can be called to Bar in Nigeria and you can go and practice in Ghana without being called to Ghanaian Bar,” he explained.
Chairman of the NBA-SBL, Seni Adio (SAN), said the implication of the agreement is that lawyers would be able to work without restriction. He added that the agreement would also remove barriers or bottlenecks in the continent.Basil Udotai, Partner, Technology Advisors noted that the technology culture has been mainstreamed in Nigeria.
“I doubt if there is any sector that has not felt the impact of technology in the country. Since lawyers function to manage risk in a service environment, it is critical that we move with this culture because our clients’ expectation from us is that the protocol for doing business now is more sophisticated. “That is why training for lawyers in this area needs to be more aggressive. Artificial Intelligence will also affect law practice over time because it will give lawyers a run for their money on the short term. On the long run, it will help lawyers in service delivery to clients.
In this article: