Nigeria Bar Association And This Idle Debate, Fatuous Brouhaha About “Freedom Of Association” Among Lawyers In Nigeria

Although the higher courts in Nigeria have settled the issue of NBA membership vis-a-vis the freedom of association provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, some lawyers argue that we should have more than one umbrella association of lawyers’ in Nigeria, “as we have in the UK”. Proponents of this redundant view care less about the fact that, unlike in Nigeria, there’re two different professions within the legal profession in the United Kingdom; (a) the Barristers’ profession and the Solicitors’ profession.

Nigerians are japaing (escaping from Nigeria) to the UK in droves, as a result of hunger, starvation, frustration, joblessness, bad governance and insecurity in Nigeria. No UK citizen is interested in coming to Nigeria since Nigeria is a no-go area and UK is a stable economy, safe and conducive for business and living.

 There is low insecurity in the UK. There is high, worsening insecurity in Nigeria. Nigeria is currently rated the 3rd most terrorised country in the world; life has lost its value; citizens are being killed daily, with the killers operating with impunity.

 There’s good governance in the UK, unlike Nigeria where bad governance is the order.

 UK’s electoral system is effective, ensuring the people’s choices are returned during elections, unlike in Nigeria where the election system is so, corrupted, hollow and manipulable that democracy has become a government of a few by the few for the few, to the exclusion of the people. Under Nigeria’s democracy, leaders are selected, not elected. Power belongs in reality, to the leaders, not to the people.

 In the UK, an Indian is the prime minister, while some of the Ministers are not of UK origin but accepted for leadership in the UK. In Nigeria, on the other hand, citizens from certain segments are barred or forbidden, by some unwritten rules, from national leadership; some fellow Nigerians foolishly tagged “Dot in a Circle,” are, by some unwritten rules, excluded from national leadership, from becoming president, and from occupying certain public offices.

 In Nigeria, ethnicity jingoism, tribalism, religious bigotry, party/sectional affiliation, and clannishness, guide public appointments and formulation and implementation of government policies, leading to disastrous consequences. In the UK, capacity and merit largely determines who gets what in the public and private space.