2017 NBA Conference : Another Round Of Crisis As All "Breakout Sessions" Are Now Fully Booked By Kaine Ananwune

Firstly, commendation must be given to the NBA leadership for acknowledging that there was a crisis in the conference registration process and for the pragmatic steps they took to address the said crisis. Specifically i must mention Mr. A. Adegbite, the NBA Welfare Secretary who through his group whatsapp handle, was patiently available to assuage the despair of lawyers who lamented their inability to register/pay for the conference all through last week.

For my own part, after about 30 failed attempts last week, i was only able to pay for the conference just this afternoon (11/7/2017). Several of my colleagues and branch members who encountered difficulties in registration last week now have similar testimony of successful registration.

However, this is not yet the time to say that all is well. As i write this piece, there is a greater challenge on the ground. From the conference portal, there are about 25 different break out sessions that are scheduled to run throughout the duration of the conference. Out of these 25 break out sessions, 23 are tagged as “fully booked” and seats can now only be reserved for the remaining 2 breakout sessions.

Now that the conference is scheduled to hold between 18-24th of August 2017 and only 2 leftover “breakout sessions” are available and the rest 23 are fully booked, what exactly would we be doing for the duration of this conference? An idle mind, they say is the devils’ workshop. May it never happen that anyone should be idle at the NBA conference.

NBA conference is not all about taking pictures, sight seeing and making merry. There is need to create avenues to allow registered conferees participate in any breakout session of their choice, and this, without any hindrance. it would be greatly unjust on the part of the NBA to charge/collect exorbitant conference fee from conferees and at the end of the day shut them out of any of the conference breakout sessions. lawyers ought to get optimal value for the conference fees paid by them.

With respect, we call on the leadership of the brave new bar to intervene in this ensuing crises; for the NBA to take cogent steps to ensure that all registered conferees have unfettered access to attend any breakout session of their choice. I can vividly remember that one of the fulcrums of the brave new bar as espoused by A. B. Mahmud SAN is hinged on continuing professional development. Where then lies the strength of the brave new bar if lawyers are shut out of the conference breakout sessions.

Kaine Ananwune Esq.