The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, has highlighted the quest for instant riches among young lawyers as one of the reasons for perceived indiscipline in the bar, calling for a return of value and teachings on patienece.
The AGF made this call while speaking to journalists after laying the first block at the turning-of-the-sod ceremony of the new state-of-the-art Bar Building Project of the Nigerian Bar Association, Ibadan which held on Friday at the Aare Afe Babalola Bar Centre, Iyaganku Quarters, Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
The attorney general urged members of the Bar to always uphold and strengthen the disciplinary procedures of the law profession.
“As legal practitioners, we are meant to lay good example for others to follow. We should not throw caution to the wind because of the situation in the society. The behaviour of members of the Bar, by virtue of the position they find themselves in the society, will mirror their position,” he said.
Prince Fagbemi, who is the fourth national Attorney General to be produced by the Ibadan Bar, also lent his voice to the ongoing conversation on the need for constitutional roles for traditional rulers in the country, adding that this is necessary because traditional institutions remain the most accessible and closest to the citizens especially at the grassroots where rulers play a great and vital role in maintaining peaceful co-existence in their various communities.
“The traditional rulers play an important role in communicating government policies and programmes to members of the community, and also help in the provision of succour during crises. They are the closest to the grassroots, which makes it possible for them to conveniently prevent violence in their domain,” Fagbemi added.
Also speaking, a former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice in Nigeria, Akinlolu Olujinmi, who is the third AGF to be produced by the Ibadan Bar, urged lawyers to always behave in accordance with the ethics of the profession.
“The business of the reform of the country’s laws is an ongoing process. There should be continuous efforts at every level of government to ensure that there is law in place at all times to meet up with the increased criminalities in the society,” Olujinmi, also a SAN, said.
Speaking on the building project, the Chairman of NBA’s Ibadan Branch, Folashade Aladeniyi, who is also the first female chairman in the Ibadan Br’s over 60 years of existence, said it would be the second legacy project of the branch’s 2022-2024 executive committee, adding that she when she took over the leadership of the association, she pledged to build on the legacy she met on ground, as laid by her predecessors.
While fielding questions on the feasibility of concluding the project before the expiration of her tenure in office, she said, “this is our second legacy project, after the launching of the Bar book.
Certainly we are finishing this project; with the help of God before our tenure will expire in June 2024 and why I thought of a project of this magnitude is simply due to necessity.
“You can see that we have a big hall donated to us by Aare Afe Babalola (SAN) in 1993 and we have a lot of spaces there and it is supposed to be our secretariat but because we found that times are changing and many people including our members are looking for smaller halls to hold meetings, mediations, seminars arbitration and such other legal proceedings at affordable rates because our rates are very affordable and we felt we didn’t have enough space for such again, we let out these spaces to fund our association, so that we can make funds to run our association though we are not a profit making organisation.
“We don’t want to go cap in hand, begging our seniors, patrons and key members or the public every time we have occasion or event to finance. That’s why we thought of freeing this space so that we can move to the back and let out this building at affordable prices to members of the public in order to run our association. It’s a big project but it is achievable. It is a two-floor building; the ground floor will house our offices, the first floor will be a gym centre for lawyers because we have seen the importance of exercise and keeping fit without having to pay. And we will also be holding our aerobic sessions there. The last floor will be office spaces that will be let out in order to generate funds to maintain the building,” she added.
The event was graced by dignitaries including the Ondo State governor, Rotimi Odunayo Akeredolu, represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Princess Catherine Oladunni Odu, who is also a lawyer; the Chief Judge of Oyo State, Justice Iyabo Yerima, and the Acting President of the Oyo State Customary Court of Appeal, Justice Tajudeen Abdulganiyu amongst many others.
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