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Nigerian Bar Association: A Body in Dire Need of Corporate Governance

By Peter Akinnusi At this year’s National Executive Council, NEC meeting of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA in Ilorin, Kwara State, the President of the NBA, Abubakar Balarabe Mahmoud (SAN), seemed hard-pressed to stress the need to introduce corporate governance and efficient structural management at the Bar.This much has been apparent for quite a while now. He had previously engaged leading consulting firm, KPMG, to carry out an audit, and the report which was presented at the very same NEC meeting did not make for palatable reading. It highlighted the apparent lack of corporate governance culture in the NBA, and how much the NBA was riddled with structural defects ranging from blurred hierarchical lines to less-than-ideal financial and revenue management, as well as anaemic standards for staff job descriptions, evaluation, and training.In other words, the need to inject corporate governance into the NBA has been long overdue. However, this is not the time to dwell
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Nigerian Law School Externship Programme: Nuggets For Success

By  Tobi Michael Babalola.BTM Hello there! This is to those currently undergoing their one year vocational training at the Nigerian Law School (NLS). I'm sharing with you my experience during the NLS two months externship and how you can make excellent use of the opportunity to gain practical knowledge for your Bar Examinations and in the long run your legal career. The Externship programme is a part of the Nigerian Law School curriculum to add practical experience to what is taught within the four walls of your NLS classroom. The programme is divided into two invaluable learning experiences to wit; the court room externship, which comes first followed immediately  by the chamber/law firm externship. At the end of this programme, NLS students are made to undergo a portfolio assessment to examine them on what they have learnt during the programme. This is also a prerequisite for being called to the Nigerian Bar. WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: I believe the under listed step
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A Philosophical Perspective on the Rule on Mandatory Continuing Professional Development

By Ayuk Kure One of the profound provisions of the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners (RPC), 2007 is Rule 11 of the Rules. Rule 11 provides that “a lawyer who wishes to carry on practice as a legal practitioner shall participate in and satisfy the requirements of the Mandatory Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Programme operated by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA)”. The province of this work does not extend to the question whether lawyers have been abiding by this provision nor whether the NBA has been living up to its responsibility in terms of enforcement and provision of a clear-cut regulation for the smooth operation of the programme but this work seeks to probe the connotations of the Rule on Continuing professional development. A careful perusal of Rule 11 will lead one to two inevitable conclusions. The first is that the legal training received by lawyers at the University and the law school levels is grossly inadequate to make them to
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The Constitutionality of National Assembly’s Review of the 2019 General Elections' Calendar

By J. M. Jonathan Esq. Introduction The responsibility of conducting elections into the office of the President and Vice-President of Nigeria, Governor and Deputy Governor of a state, National Assembly of Nigeria and any other office to which a person may be elected under the constitution is vested in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). This is as stipulated in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended and the extant Electoral Act. The power of the Commission to conduct these elections extends to fixing dates for the elections as well as determining the order in which the elections are to be conducted. On the other hand, the National Assembly in section 4 of the constitution is vested with the power to legislate for the peace, order and good governance of the Federation or any part thereof and for the purpose of specificity, the Constitution clearly spells out in the Exclusive Legislative list of Part I of the Second Schedule to the 1
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The Trial of Kaburu (Episode 2)

By Ayuk Kure The soldiers who had been stationed on the roads were dog-tired and from what it seemed, ‘Operation Bulala’ had failed. They had been on the road one whole month and still there was no sign of the assassin. They had deployed Operation Bulala thinking that the tactic would fish out the culprits easily. Alas, it yielded no results.  The modus of Operation Bulala was simply to stop every moving object on the highway for a scrupulous search. In this view, the soldiers not only stopped pedestrians and vehicles plying the roads, they asked for IDs and sought to know where the people or the vehicles were from. If they were foreigners, they were immediately bundled into the military vans and taken to the barracks for staid questioning. Both the search and the questioning had no regard for gender. Male officers spearheaded the process and utilized the opportunity maximally. For their female victims, the search always ended on the chest. Each time they got to that juncture
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The Implications of the Acceptance of the Naira as an International Trade Currency

By Ehiwe O. Sam ESQ. Just recently, the UK Export Finance added the Naira to its list of pre-approved currencies. This development brings Nigeria into the league of other African countries like Egypt, Kenya, Mauritius, South Africa and Uganda who also enjoy this privilege. This development is coming up roughly two (2) years after the UK exited the European Union. It is important to understand what this recent development represents as well as its overall implications to the Nigerian Economy. First, it should be noted that the acceptance of the Naira by the British government does not mean that the Naira now qualifies as a legal tender in the UK. This arrangement between the two countries strictly relates to trade finance. Put differently, this arrangement is for importers and does not qualify for retail and debit card transactions. To be eligible under this program, the minimum transaction value for exports to Nigeria is £5 million in Naira equivalent, and it allows the Ni
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A Commentary on the Lagos State Land Use Charge Law, 2018

By Ehiwe O. Sam Esq. The Lagos State House of Assembly on January 28, 2018 passed the Lagos State Land Use Charge Bill into law. This law which was recently assented to by the state Governor repeals and replaces the Land Use Charge Law, 2001. The new law introduces a number of changes to swathe the loopholes that were in the former law. The major and most pronounced change in the law is that the Land Use Charge Formula (LUC) now ensures that assessments are based on the market and commercial value of the property and not the rental value. Also, unlike what obtained under the old law where cemeteries, whether public or private were exempted, under the new law; only public cemeteries are exempted. The implication is that owners of private cemeteries would be required to pay the charge. Public and private libraries are exempted under the new law, however for the private libraries, the owners must show that the libraries are not for profit-making, and this must be certif
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