NBA president tasks lawyers on respect for seniority

President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Abubakar Mahmud, has advised lawyers in the country to respect the order of seniority at the Bar. Speaking yesterday at the inauguration of nine committees, he admonished them not to express their grievances against the leadership of the judiciary on social media platforms, but go through the appropriate channel.

He noted that the establishment of the committees was fundamental to ensuring a more active Bar, as it was not possible for the national officers or the secretariat to deal with all the activities and functions of the Bar.

He added that engaging members in the respective committees would enable lawyers who have interest and expertise in particular areas to focus on specific issues. “In view of the foregoing, this administration has constituted some committees with a view to achieving our set objectives,” he stated.

Some of the committees are the Anti-Corruption, Criminal Justice and Law Reform, Editorial Board and Election Monitoring Group committees. Others are Human Rights Institute, Legislative Advocacy and Law Reforms, NBA Young Lawyers Forum, Prosecution, as well as the Welfare Committee, which is saddled with the responsibility of designing a nationwide insurance policy to cover the risks lawyers were exposed to while performing their duties.

The Human Rights Committee is expected to advocate for the implementation of national action plan on human rights and coordinate human rights policies and programmes at the national and branch levels.

Meanwhile, the Anti-Corruption Committee has the mandate to work with the 125 branches of the NBA to set up an Anti-Corruption Committee in each of the branches and maintain a high standard of conduct aimed at avoiding corrupt practices at the Bar and the Bench.

Mahmud restated the importance of committee work towards the activities of the present NBA administration.He added that the reports lawyers turn in would not be left gathering dust in the archives, as they would be implemented at all levels.