2023: Lawyers Must Play Leading Role in Making Best Choice for Nigeria – NBA
By Kabir Akintayo
The President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Yakubu Chonoko Maikyau (SAN), has said that lawyers are ‘watchdogs of the society’ who should help to decide for Nigerians the right people to lead the country.
He said that the NBA has the legitimate right to demand good governance from those in authority.
Maikyau, who made this known during his welcome address, at the two-day NBA ‘State of the Nation Dialogue’ in Abuja on Monday, charged lawyers to assume the role of an activists by representing the people and deemphasisng pecuniary benefits.
“We must quit using our legal skills and knowledge only for remuneration. While remuneration for the services we render is good, we must not make it the primary motivation for the work we do – we must be primarily motivated by the cause of the people. That is the path for national development.
“We shall document the position of the NBA from this Dialogue and make the same available to all the Presidential candidates. We believe that doing this will also help in re-establishing our leadership position in the society, based on our service to the people, while ensuring that we protect the legal space and mentor the younger generation in this path of nobility,” he said.
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The keynote speaker and Deputy Secretary General, United Nations (UN), Ms. Amina J. Muhammed, harped on number 16 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) focusing on peace, justice and strong institutions.
She said Nigeria government should provide protection and enabling environment for voters to exercise their franchise.
Calling for inclusiveness, equal participation, gender equality among others, Amina said the numbers of women vying for political offices has declined.
“Nigerian women constitute only 3.6% of the parliament,” she lamented.
She appealed for increment of women in government, adding that, “70% of Nigerians are under the age of 30 yet, they are not included and represented in active participant, in decision making”.
In his closing remarks, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, (SGF) Boss Mustapha, who represented President Muhammadu Buhari commended the President of the NBA, for the initiative of the national dialogue.
He maintained that, just one regime cannot resolve all the problems of the country.
“We will pick one or two things from the dialogue, whatever recommendation you make, will become part of what we will prepare, as we transit, and handover to the incoming government”, he said.
Meanwhile, the Dialogue focused on three thematic areas of security, economy and administration of justice. It featured three different panelists, who are professionals in their respective fields.
All four leading presidential candidates – Bola Ahmed Tinubu of All Progressives Congress (APC) Atiku Abubakar of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Peter Obi of Labour Party (LP) and Rabiu Kwankwaso of New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) – were invited for the event but they were conspicuously absent.
 Yakubu Chonoko Maikyau (SAN), has said that lawyers are ‘watchdogs){kind=link}