By Sylvester Udemezue
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During the Nigerian Bar Association’s (NBA) Annual General Meeting (NBA-AGM) in Enugu at the close of the 2025 Annual General Conference (NBA-AGC), the NBA President outlined what he considered to be the major achievements of his administration in the past year. [See: “Port Harcourt to Host 2026 NBA-AGC; NBA-AGM Adopts Constitutional Amendments, Strengthens Governance and Access to Justice” TheNigeriaLawyer, 30 August 2025].
After going through the NBA blog site, I have drafted a fair summary of the “achievements” of the current NBA leadership in the past one year, as posted by the NBA itself, thus:
“The NBA under its recent leadership recorded notable strides across multiple fronts. In the area of innovation and digitization, it launched the Digital Annual Practice License, digitized the Letter of Good Standing, and resolved delays in the production and distribution of the NBA stamp and seal, which are now promptly processed. On professional development and standards, the Institute of Continuing Legal Education (ICLE) was repositioned with a mandatory CPD regime, and the NBA NEC Portal was created for registration, record-keeping, and communication. In advocacy and defence of the rule of law, the Association opposed unconstitutional removals of elected officials in Rivers and Benue States, defended judicial independence, condemned abuses of citizens by security agencies, and relocated the NBA Annual General Conference to Enugu as a democratic stand. It also launched the Joseph Ottey Pro Bono Scheme, established the National Litigation Committee, and intervened in matters of justice delivery, access to courts, and citizens’ rights. On expanding partnerships, the NBA forged collaborations with global law societies, regional bar associations, human rights organizations, as well as local civil society groups, state branches, and governance institutions. To strengthen NBA governance, constitutional amendments were adopted to enhance accountability, transparency, and institutional growth. Among other notable achievements were the empowerment of young lawyers through tailored mentorship, funding, and NBA-YLF initiatives; the expansion of welfare schemes including health insurance and emergency relief; sustained public interest advocacy against arbitrary arrests, election malpractice, and anti-democratic laws; capacity-building workshops on digital law, cybercrime, arbitration, and human rights litigation; and impactful community service by branches through legal aid clinics, prison decongestion programmes, and pro bono outreach.” [See: “One Year of Bold Reforms and Shared Progress: NBA President Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, Reports Milestone Achievements at Annual General Meeting in Enugu” (NBA Blog, 31 August 2025)].
At first glance, the list of accomplishments may appear weighty. However, when weighed against the grave realities confronting Nigerian lawyers and the justice sector, the claims demand closer scrutiny. This is not to dismiss genuine efforts made by the leadership, but to ask the hard, necessary questions: do these achievements truly align with the NBA’s constitutional objectives and the pressing needs of the Nigerian lawyer?
CRITICAL QUESTIONS NBA LEADERSHIP MUST ANSWER
(1). Welfare and Economic Empowerment: Which of the listed achievements tangibly improves the economic advancement of Nigerian lawyers? In a profession where many young lawyers earn as little as ₦20,000 monthly, where is the evidence of structured welfare programmes, minimum wage enforcement, or robust empowerment schemes? Recall that the NBA once passed a resolution on “minimum wage for lawyers.” What has become of it? Other professions (medicine, engineering, accountancy) have mechanisms protecting minimum professional earnings. Why has the NBA allowed its members to be so exploited without implementing its own resolutions?
(2). Justice Delivery and Court Efficiency:
Which of the achievements contributes or will contribute to speedy dispensation of justice? Nigerian courts are crippled by avoidable delays, infrastructural decay, archaic systems and operations and congestion. Yet, we hear little of NBA-led initiatives engaging Chief Judges, Attorneys-General, and Legislatures on judicial reforms to tackle adjournment culture, vacancies on the Bench, allegations of corruption, or technology-driven case management. Without systemic reform, justice in Nigeria remains justice denied.
3. Expanding Practice Space and Employment: With tens of thousands of lawyers unemployed or underemployed, which of the “achievements” has the potential to lead to efforts towards expanding the law practice space to create job opportunities? Compare this to initiatives in other jurisdictions where bar associations lobby for new practice frontiers: compliance, technology law, ADR, cross-border legal work, and community-based legal services.
(4). Consider also the Nigeria Police Act 2020 (s. 66(3)), which mandates the employment and posting of lawyers to police stations to monitor human rights observance. Has the NBA meaningfully engaged the Inspector-General of Police, the Attorney General, the President or the National Assembly on implementation of this provision? If implemented, thousands of jobs would instantly open for lawyers.
(5). Grassroots Legal Presence: Nigeria remains the only country where local governments operate without legal departments, unlike their counterparts in health, education, works, and agriculture. Has the NBA proposed or lobbied for legislation mandating legal departments in all 774 LGAs? Such a move would not only enhance governance but create employment for lawyers nationwide.
(6). Discipline and Professional Standards: What of the charge-and-bail menace, a long-standing stain on the Bar’s image? Has the NBA devised strategies to identify root causes and address them? Instead, the menace festers, further eroding public confidence in the legal profession.
(7). Legal Education and Institutional Decay: Our law school campuses and law faculties operate under deplorable conditions (poor facilities and inadequate funding, among others). Our courtrooms remain dilapidated, lacking even basic infrastructure. Which of the NBA’s highlighted “achievements” addresses these foundational issues?
(8). Governance, Transparency, and NBA’s Credibility Crisis: Complaints of opaque finances, exclusionary decision-making, and factionalism have long haunted the NBA. The rank-and-file often perceive NBA activities as elite-driven, detached from the daily struggles of the average practitioner. Osigwe’s scorecard would have been the perfect opportunity to demonstrate a new culture of accountability and inclusivity. Instead, what we saw were broad claims of “institutional reforms” without specifics, reports of programs without clear impact metrics, and no transparent audit of the Association’s finances.
(9). Public Sector Lawyers and NYSC Anomaly: Lawyers in public service (LOAN members) are among the most poorly remunerated and the most shabbily treated in the country, yet no NBA policy thrust addresses this injustice. Likewise, the NYSC reportedly continues to post lawyers to teach secondary school subjects, wasting their professional training. Where is the NBA’s voice on this?
(10). Security, Human Rights, and National Engagement: Lawyers do not operate in isolation. Across Nigeria, insecurity continues to claim lives, sometimes even of members of the Bar. The civic space shrinks daily, with journalists, activists, and citizens facing harassment for exercising constitutional rights. In such an environment, the Bar ought to stand as a fearless vanguard of liberty. Instead, what we hear are ceremonial statements rather than sustained, bold advocacy against human rights violations, insecurity, and bad governance.
(11). Technology and Global Competitiveness: The world is moving rapidly toward artificial intelligence, digital law, and cross-border commercial practice. What has the NBA done to contribute to preparing Nigerian lawyers for global competitiveness? Without a deliberate agenda for tech-driven practice and international market access, Nigerian lawyers risk being left behind while foreign firms and tech platforms dominate new practice frontiers.
(12). Regulatory Capture and Institutional Weakness: The NBA’s relationship with regulatory institutions such as the Body of Benchers, the Council of Legal Education, and the LPDC often appears weak and reactive. Has the NBA articulated a coherent strategy to push reforms within these bodies to strengthen ethics, modernise professional discipline, and ensure alignment with lawyers’ welfare?
A DANGEROUS PATTERN OF TRIVIALISATION
When one juxtaposes the NBA President’s list of “achievements” with the systemic crises outlined above, among others, the dissonance becomes clear. It is the same troubling pattern we saw earlier in the NBA Abeokuta Branch’s one-month scorecard, where distribution of ID cards, outer-wall renovation, and discounted cinema tickets were hailed as “milestones.”
Achievements! Achievements!! Achievements!!! One may ask: Are we now content to elevate routine administrative tasks or cosmetic gestures as monumental successes, while ignoring existential threats to the legal profession? This trivialisation is not merely cosmetic; it signals a crisis of vision and misplaced priorities. Instead of being the watchdog of justice and defender of lawyers’ welfare, the NBA risks becoming a ceremonial association focused on self-congratulation and empty optics.
NBA’S FOUNDATIONAL OBJECTIVES AS THE YARDSTICK
The NBA Constitution (2015), in section 3, sets out the Association’s objectives: Maintaining and defending the integrity and independence of the Judiciary; Improving the administration of justice; Promoting legal education and continuing professional development; Providing legal aid and access to justice;
Advocating law reform; Promoting the welfare and economic advancement of NBA members, among others. Measured against these yardsticks, how much of the NBA’s one-year “scorecard” truly qualifies as achievement?
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The current NBA leadership came into office with great promise. Today, however, we witness a troubling drift into superficiality. Unless there is ayurgent reorientation, the Bar risks losing its soul on the altar of misplaced priorities, directionlessness, and lack of pragmatism. I write not out of malice but out of deep concern. The Bar is too important to Nigeria’s democracy and justice system to be trivialised. It is time for the NBA to rise from self-congratulation and refocus on matters of substance, relevance, and impact. For President Afam Osigwe SAN, the first year has been one of rhetoric and routine. The remaining years present a unique opportunity for course correction: to embrace boldness, prioritise substance over ceremony, and align every “achievement” with the real crises facing Nigerian lawyers and the justice system. Anything short of this will reduce his tenure to another missed opportunity in a long chain of Bar-leadership disappointments. The Bar, and indeed the nation, deserve more. For my part, I cannot sit on the sidelines while the profession drifts. We must speak up (firmly but respectfully) before the decline becomes irreversible.
Respectfully,
Sylvester Udemezue (Udems)
Proctor, The Reality Ministry of Truth, Law and Justice (TRM)
08021365545 | mails@therealityministry.ngo | udems@therealityministry.ngo | www.therealityministry.ngo
(30 August 2025)
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