Scenes of frustration and improvisation played out at the 66th Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association in Port Harcourt after rainfall left an exit route from the venue flooded, making movement difficult for lawyers and other participants.
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A video from the venue showed a large section of the exit area covered by muddy floodwater as delegates struggled to make their way out.
Wading Out, Or Paying To Be Carried
Some lawyers were seen wading through the water with their trousers rolled up, while others attempted to navigate the flooded route without getting their clothes and belongings soaked.
The situation created an unusual business opportunity for some young men at the venue, who were seen carrying delegates on their backs across sections of the flooded area. According to accounts accompanying the footage, the service was offered for a fee.
In one scene, a delegate was carried on the back of a young man through the water, while other attendees stood nearby waiting or searched for a way to cross. Vehicles were also seen driving slowly through the water as congestion around the exit continued.
Several delegates wearing conference identification tags could be seen walking through the water, with some removing or lifting their footwear and clothing to avoid getting drenched.
“I Was Lifted Like A Small Boy”
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Dr Monday Onyekachi Ubani, had earlier described his own experience of the flooded area in an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily.
“Yesterday, you see the pool of water. I was lifted like a small boy into my car. I had to be lifted by this young man and I had to pay for it,” he said.
He said others had fared worse. “Others were exploited by the people trying to lift them, because there was this pool of water, flood, that made it very difficult for people to have access to the venue.”
@thenigerialawyerFlooded Exit Disrupts NBA Conference In Port Harcourt — Lawyers Wade Through Water, Others Pay To Be Carried♬ original sound – TheNigeriaLawyer
Ubani, who published an interim assessment of the conference this week, said the flooding was one of several logistical failures. He described being held up on another occasion “for almost two hours in a particular place because of the large number of persons,” and said the halls used on the opening days were hot, with air conditioning that was not functioning properly.
He also set out the scale of the mismatch he considers responsible. “I think this is the highest ever in the history of the NBA. Over 24,000 lawyers registered for this conference,” he said. “Imagine you are bringing 24,000 lawyers to a conference and the biggest platform you created for them is 2,000 only. So you begin now to do all other smaller platforms, and that’s why you saw many more lawyers being outside than inside.”
He said his purpose in speaking was preventive rather than punitive. “We are saying this not to run down any person, but for future planning, for those who are taking over, that we don’t allow such things to happen.”
Part Of A Wider Complaint
The flooding adds to complaints about logistics and accessibility at this year’s conference, where more than 24,000 lawyers were reported to have registered.
Earlier in the week, footage of a crowded food service point circulated online, in which a delegate was heard appealing to those serving: “Madam, even if it is meat, please give us, let’s eat. Why are they refusing to give us food in a conference we paid for?”
Ubani had referred to the same scene in his interview, saying conditions “wasn’t really conducive when it came to feeding, carrying plates, begging for meat.”
He argued in the same interview that the Association should stop rotating the conference to states without the facilities to host it. “If it has become known to us that the number of lawyers for our annual conferences is increasing, and we do not have the facility in any particular state, then we should avoid that state. It is not compulsory that we must go to every state,” he said, adding that governments should be put on notice to build convention centres capable of accommodating 25,000 to 30,000 people.
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