Job Dangana Congratulates Olumide Akpata On His Emergence, Says May New Leadership Make 360 Degree Turn From Past, Proffers 12 Recommendations

Mr. Job Dangana, Esq., has congratulated Mr. Olumide Akpata on his emergence in the concluded elections together with the other National Officers.

This is contained in a statement issued by him which was made available to TheNigeriaLawyer.

Furthermore, he proffered 12 recommendations on what the new leadership should do with a view to having a successful administration.

Meanwhile, these recommendations include instituting a central collection of professional fees for legal documentation of land transactions; drafting some legislation for onward National Assembly action; liaising with FJSC; establishment NBA Microfinance Bank amongst others.

The full statement reads:

MY MESSAGE OF ADVICE TO MR OLUMIDE AKPATA AND HIS 2020-2022 EXCO TEAM

I congratulate Mr Olumide Akpata and all those that were elected to serve in the next executive. May they perform well and make a 360 degree turn from the past.

Here’re my advice and recommendations to them. They are my contributions to him and his team to succeed.

1. Institute a central collection of professional fees for legal documentation of land transactions. This is a field of legal practice that is very lucrative for lawyers but which has been lost for many decades now. Lawyers are paid pittance, and not in accordance with the scale of fees. This must stop. Lawyers need to get rich once more legitimately. Reforms should be introduced to make each NBA branch have a central collection of fees for lawyers. Every legal instrument on land documentation should be first registered at the NBA branch clearing office and the client pays directly to the branch office, which will in turn deduct 5-10% of the legal fee paid by the client before remitting the 90 or 95% to the beneficiary lawyer. After that, the document will be certified and stamped by the NBA branch designated dept and released back to the solicitor for stamping and registration in the Land Registry.

By this, lawyers will have their appropriate fees and be legitimately rich.

2. NBA should draft a bill and submit to the national assembly for passage, for every public)private limited liability company that had an annual turnover of N50m or a net profit of N15m should have a legal department with at least one qualified lawyer in full employment of the company. This will create jobs for lawyers and also ensure that companies are guided appropriately to do legally permitted things.

3. NBA should draft a bill and submit to the national assembly, to make the writing of any agreement on any subject matter that has a monetary value of N100,000.00 the exclusive preserve of lawyers. At present, anyone can write an agreement. This should stop. This measure will generate jobs for lawyers, and as well help Nigerians enter into agreements properly and save them from expensive and time consuming bitter litigations.

4. NBA should draft a bill and submit to the national assembly to make a law that will make it mandatory for every divisional police station to have an in-house legal officer, who could be a policeman or a non police lawyer. This will create jobs for lawyers and as well help in guiding the police for protecting human rights of Nigerians.

5. NBA should liaise with the Federal Judicial Service Commission and it’s state counterparts to ensure that each court of law has a registrar that is a qualified lawyer. This will create jobs and also help the administration of justice in Nigeria.

6. NBA should draft a bill and submit to the national assembly, to make every church and mosque with a congregation of 500 members to have an employed lawyer in its administration. This will guide places of worship on legal matters.

7. NBA should draft a bill and submit to the national assembly, to make a law that will make NGOs of high calibre to have a legal department with at least a lawyer in its employment to guide it on legal matters. This will create jobs and guide the NGOs on legal matters.

8. The NBA should establish a microfinance bank that will assist lawyers obtain soft loans to set up offices or improve their offices and meet urgent personal financial needs from time to time. But the customers can be non lawyers.

9. NBA should influence the amendment of Civil Procedure Rules of the federal high court and State high courts whereby, high costs are awarded by Judges against parties that bring frivolous cases to court, to waste the time of court and their opponents. This will drastically reduce the current number of litigations in Nigeria and makes the administration of civil justice neater and efficient to the admiration of Nigerians.

10. NBA should draft a bill and submit to the national assembly to make a law to compel banks to have legal department in each branch with at least a lawyer in full employment.

11. NBA should draft a bill and submit to the national assembly, to make a lawyer whereby every ministry and govt department should have at least one lawyer in full time employment to oversee legal matters.

12. The NBA should partner with broadcast television stations to create program that will make lawyers interact with NIgerians and make the legal profession friendly to Nigerians, instead of now that people reluctantly relate with lawyers.

The above is my first set or batch of advice to Mr Olumide Akpata and his incoming Exco team for 2020-2022.

I am yours sincerely,

Job Dangana,
1993 Law School Class
August 1, 2020.