Majority Of Nigerian Lawyers Vote In Favour Of Wig And Gown In Survey

*As Lawyers At NBA SLP Conference 2023 Vote Against Wig And Gown

In order to determine whether to preserve or do away with the usage of the wig and gown as part of the court uniform, a sample poll of solicitors was conducted in 9 branches of the Nigerian Bar Association during the months of April and June 2023.

The report of the Survey prepared by Prof Ernest Ojukwu SAN (Chairman NBA Ethics and Disciplinary Committee) was published today and showed that 53.48% of lawyers who participated in the survey voted for the retention of wig and gown as the official court dress in the country.

The surveys took place at the branch meetings of the following branches: Abuja, Bwari, Lagos, Ikeja, Ibadan, Kaduna, Banawa, Owerri and Port Harcourt. The responders were required to thick either YES to discard the use of wig and gown or NO to keep using the wig and gown in our courts. The survey was conducted face-to-face using hard copy forms.

The weakness of the survey was that only 1419 of lawyers in only 9 branches were polled. Another weakness of the survey was that an alternative dressing was proposed as part of the decision to vote YES to discard the use of wig and gown as a court dress. The proposed alternative dressing was stated as follows:

“ASSUMING that we recommend No wig, No Gown and no wing collars and bands but only dark business suits and ties for men and dark suits or blazer and knee-length(minimum) skirts for women for all court appearances but only retain the wig/gown/bands for ceremonial occasions such as call-to-bar, Special Court sessions like new legal year, judges retirements, judges and lawyers passing, Will You VOTE YES or NO TO SUCH A PROPOSAL?”

The survey also provided some information about what the practice is in some English Courts now. The information was stated as follows:

“KNOW that-

The wig and Gown are not used by Judges and Lawyers in many English (Wales) Courts such as:

The Supreme Court – No wig and gown, no wing collars, and bands

Court of Appeal (Civil) – No wig and Gown, no wing collars, and bands

High Court (Commercial Div)- No wig and gown, no wing collars, and bands

High Court Family Div- No wigs on Judges (and wigs not required of lawyers)

High Court Criminal Division – Wigs and Gowns still won.”

The result of the survey is shown on the table below:

However, In a recent survey conducted by the Nigerian Bar Association Section on Legal Practice, NBA-SLP has shown that most participants do not want the wig and gown.

The poll which had 104 responses was titled “Dress Code: Does the hood make the monk. Do you agree? 54% of the participants disagreed with the notion while 46% agreed.