The jury made the call at the weekend in Lagos during the public presentation of the book: “Foundation of Carriage of Goods by Sea – The Nigerian Perspective” authored by a quintessential commercial lawyer, Mr. Chidi Ilogu (SAN). “The country should try and revive the Nigerian Shipping Line because it is a very lucrative business”, he said, lamenting that foreign vessels have rather taken over Nigeria’s cabotage system. The chairman of the ocassion, Chief Gorege Uwechue (SAN), who said the author was his first full time junior colleague in 1976 praised him for putting the book together. He stated that Mr. Ilogu got the inspiration to concentrate on maritime practice in his law firm, having done several maritime cases then. “In the course of these maritime and several other cases, in which we successfull represented our clients, Ilogu was ‘the research officer’whose relentless efforts are paying visibly huge dividends today – one of which is the book being publicly presented”, he declared. Reviewer of the book, Dr. Adewale Olawoyin (SAN) described the effort as the first comprehensive legal text on carriage of goods by sea from a Nigerian perspective. “I must immediately add that upon reading the book, it is in fact safe to say that this book is the first authoritative book on Nigerian Maritime or Admiralty Law. The content of the book covers more than the classical subject of carriage of goods by sea which primarily deals with contracts of affreightment”, he stated, adding that it would certainly be an invaluable addition to the shipping law library of any academic institution or law firm. The author, speaking on why he wrote the book said: “We have what we may call a dearth of materials in this area of law and it is a very technical area. It is an area that many of our judges need more enlightenment so that they can perform more better in their decisions, especially when many of us did not have the privilege of studying maritime law in our undergraduate levels. “So you found out that many go into the bench without having an insight into what admiralty practice is all about. So this is a newer dimension and it is a comprehensive effort to give insight to this area of law and jurisprudence.” Mr. Lious Mbanefo (SAN) wrote the foreword of the book. The highlight of the event was the formal elevation of two lawyers, Mr. Adedoyin Adeloye and Donald Ibebuike as the managing partner and a partner of Foundation Chambers respectively. Source: guardian.ng]]>