BEING TEXT OF A SPEECH BY DISTINGUISHED SENATOR AMINU WAZIRI TAMBUWAL AS KEYNOTE SPEAKER ON THE OCCASION OF THE NIGERIAN BAR ASSOCIATION, ABUJA BRANCH ( UNITY BAR ) 2023 LAW WEEK HELD AT THE SAPPHIRE HALL, A CLASS EVENT CENTRE, ABUJA ON. 13TH JULY 2023.

Protocol:

I wish to commence with sincere appreciation to the Executives of the Nigerian Bar Association, Abuja Branch for this invitation as Keynote Speaker to share my though with you on the topic The Critical Role of Legal Professionals in Reforming Nigeria’s Socio – Political Economy. For a developing economy that has witnessed serious developmental inertia for decades, this subject matter is topical any day.

Definition Of Terms

The reference Legal Professionals in the topic is generous and indiscriminate as to whether the professional is at the Bar or Bench. In effect it seeks to capture the entire gamut of the impact of the functions of the Lawyer in society and in the instant case, Nigeria.

Reformation derives from the word Reform and according to Collins English Dictionary reform consists of changes and improvements to a law, social system, or institution. It means then that reform refers to positive change or development from a given unsatisfactory state to a better or superior quality or standard which better meets the yearnings of society. This is a concept critical to both developed and developing countries but more so to developing countries like Nigeria .

In its abstract form the phrase sociopolitical economy cuts across disciplines in social sciences to wit sociology, political science and economics and has been loosely defined by English.stackexchange.com as the resultant economy produced by the interplay of social, political and economic factors in a society. In the instant case when we talk of the socio political economy of Nigeria , the realistic approach is to consider economy and nigeria as the ecology while socio political are factors impacting on this ecology.

The Marxist perspective while also conceding that political economy refers to the interrelationships between individuals, governments and public policy in terms of how policies set by governments affect the economies of nations and by implication the citizens, it nonetheless holds that the entire enterprise is a form of licensed fraud, an entire science of enrichment by the privileged class. Of course this is in tandem with the general Marxist philosophy that government itself is merely a Committee for the management of the common affairs of the bourgeoisie. Notwithstanding, this philosophy can certainly not be ignored as one of the parameters for the evaluation of governance.

The Nigerian Socio Political Economy

The fact that Nigeria is richly blessed with human and material resources is no longer in the realm of debate and so is the reality that the country has refused , neglected or utterly failed to harness these enormous resources.

The factors responsible for this nauseating state of affairs are multifarious but are firmly camped into social, political. economic and, to a lesser extent, cultural framework. As noted earlier, our focus in the present discuss is on socio political factors.

Only recently (2016) Tomola Obamuyi and Oladapo Fapetu identified Nigeria’s prominent socio- political challenges to include corruption, poverty, unemployment, insecurity, politics and governance, among others. Several other analysts have expanded these to include inefficient and ineffective public institutions, income inequalities, lack of democratic culture and perhaps more.

Of course , as realist and indeed participant observers, one should no longer admit such mundane factors as political instability, regime change and colonialism.

The Critical Role of Legal Professionals

Now that we have identified the socio political challenges in Nigeria’s economy we can attempt to address or proffer opinion on the critical role that legal professionals have been playing and shall continue to play in reforming same.

By their peculiar training, skills and knowledge, legal professionals are versatile and suited for multitasking. Under Chapters 5, 6 and 7 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, the structure of government is delineated into the Legislature, the Executive and Judiciary and it is indisputable that legal professionals more than any other professionals possess the versatility to operate with distinction in all the three arms and nearly exclusively in the Judiciary.

Besides their critical role through direct participation in government and governance as functionaries, legal professionals in private practice at the Bar play enormous roles in the administration of justice, promote the rule of law as social activists, offer of services through the Legal Aid Council, through the offer of pro bono services to the less privileged members of the society, conflict resolution in the community , ombudsman among others.

The special role of lawyers in society has enjoyed global acknowledgment and testimony , Okechukwu Oko in agreeing with Gordon captures it succinctly thus:

Lawyers are highly visible within the society and are generally regarded as members of the clerisy. The legal profession is always the most dominant and most influential in Africa and is non pareil in influence over policy, defence of rights and the pursuit of justice. Because of their status, special skills and training, lawyers have the opportunity and indeed the obligation to help attain the nation’s political imperative … I can not agree more.

Critical Role in the Legislature

The functions of the Legislature include law making, representation and oversight. The laws that the Nigerian legislature makes are targeted at solving the socio political as well as economic challenges earlier identified in the discuss.

The Annual Appropriation Bills passed by the Legislature year in and out make financial provision to deal with issues of poverty, unemployment, insecurity, governance and public institutions. It also seek to address the question of even development through the equitable distribution of resources and projects.

Indeed it was in furtherance of this objective of equity that the National Assembly introduced the idea of Constituency projects to ensure that in every annual budget, whereas major project may be limited in terms of spread, every constituency should enjoy some form of federal presence. Though this concept of Constituency projects has been grossly misunderstood and misinterpreted because of glitches in implementation, the spirit is most honorable and can not be faulted.

In the bid to deal with corruption and related vices impacting negatively on the society, the National Assembly enacted the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Act( EFCC) Cap 346 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria to fight economic and financial Crimes in the society.

Similarly it was in order to stem the debilitating incidence of corruption in the public sector that the National Assembly enacted the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offenses Commission (ICPC)Act 2000.

Again it was noted earlier that the lack of democratic culture is one of the socio – political challenges facing the polity. Flawed elections and Electoral process was identified as a major challenge. It is in response to this challenge the the National Assembly undertook far reaching Reform through amendment to the Electoral Act 2020 giving birth to the Electoral Act 2022.

The other Legislation targeted at curbing identified social vices is the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Act, formerly Decree 48 of 1989 now an Act of the National Assembly Of Nigeria.

It is important to state here that Lawyers because of their special training, knowledge and skills play a pivotal role in law making in the Legislature. Indeed during the era of military regimes lawyers were the de facto Legislature.

The special recognition of lawyers in the Legislature can also be gleaned from the fact that the Honorable Speaker’s of the House of Representatives of the 7th, 8th and 9th Assembly were all lawyers.

Crucial Role In The Executive Arm

The Executive arm has responsibility for execution or implementation of the laws made by the Legislature. Here too legal professionals have over the years occupied sensitive positions as ministers as well as chief executives of parastatals and extra ministerial Departments contributing immensely to the reformation of the socio political economy of Nigeria.

The prime place of legal professionals is also evident in the fact that whereas Section 147 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria provides generally for appointment of ministers , it specifically provides in Section 150 (1) for the appointment of a legal practitioner as “Attorney General of the Federation who shall be the Chief Law Officer of the Federation and a Minister of the Government of the Federation” . Sub section 2 thereof specifies that such a person shall be a legal practitioner.

It is trite that in practical governance , the Attorney General and Minister of Justice and indeed the ministry of Justice superintendents the entire government in terms of their lawful operations as well as representing the government either personally or by proxy in situations of litigation. Over the years legal professionals in the Ministry of justice have held their own in the performance of this critical statutory function.

Crucial Role In The Judiciary

In the judicature legal professionals are clearly dominant : the entire court system is manned by magistrates, judges and justices who are legal professionals.

The primary function of the judiciary is to ensure justice for the people. The courts play a huge role in deciding the fate of parties in a dispute. It also punishes people for committing crimes. The parties in dispute, in the case of Nigeria , may be between the tiers of government, between citizens and government or between one citizen and another.

Social conflict will escalate and where there is no hope that justice will be served by recourse to the courts, anarchy may result. In Attorney General of Abia State & Ors vs Attorney General of the Federation (2003)LLJR- SC the Attorney’s -General of the 36 had challenged the power of the president in making an Execute Order altering the provision of Act of the National Assembly on revenue allocation formula. The Supreme Court held that the action of the President was lawful under his constitutional power to modify the law for purposes of implementation. This successfully resolved what would have injected feud between the two arms of Government.

In the protection of the rights of citizens against reckless use of governmental powers, the celebrated case of Shugaba Darman vs Federal Minister &Ors readily comes to mind. In the instant case, the Federal Minister of Internal Affairs had issued a deportation order against Shugaba then a legislator. The Maiduguri High Court ruled in favour of Shugaba , revoked the deportation order and awarded damages to the tune 350,000 Naira to Shugaba. The Federal government appealed the verdict the Court of Appeal and again lost. Here the judiciary had effectively protected the right of a citizen against the state in line with the dictates of the rule of law.

We had earlier indicated corruption as one of the socio political challenges facing the nation. We also discussed legislative interventions through the enactment of laws. It is only when the judiciary applies the laws and culprits are punished that the desired deterrence is realized. In other words, through this process the judiciary is able to curb crimes.

Even in the relationship between the executive and the Legislature conflicts arise and it is the place of the judiciary to resolve such disputes.

Critical Role Trough Legal Aid

The Legal Aid Council act Cap L9 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 has in line with international standards provided for the establishment of legal aid and access to justice fund into which financial assistance would be made available to the council on behalf of the indigent citizens to prosecute their claims. Through this process legal practitioners afford indigent citizens access to justice in both criminal and civil proceedings .

Critical Role Through Pro Bono Services

The phrase Pro bono is of Latin origin. Simply translated in English it means for the public good. This refers to professional services offered by legal practitioners at no or very low cost. This is voluntary service to society given that there are many indigent persons who can not have access to justice on account of the fact that they lack the financial resource to pay for the services of counsel.

It was noted earlier that where citizen’s are financially incapacitated from approaching the courts to air their grievances, resort to self help may arise and society will relapse into anarch. Insecurity has been identified as one of the socio political challenges facing the Nigerian state, the creation of a pool of disgruntled citizens will further aggravate this already precarious insecurity situation. By rendering pro bono services, legal practitioners are helping immensely in depriving crime entrepreneurs of a ready pool of recruits.

Critical Role Through Social Activism

Many legal professionals are involved in social activism at different intensity levels. The high flying legal professionals in social activism include but not limited to Chief Gani Fawehinmi of blessed memory and Femi Falana.

Social activism play a critical role in socio political stability of a society. First it serves a form of public education and sensitization, citizen’s get to know their rights and are also made aware that free legal services could be available to indigent persons with grievances to ventilate.

Furthermore social activism serves as a bulwark against intending offenders within communities, against corporate bodies and also against governments. The awareness that behind that ostensibly helpless indigent person is a person of knowledge, skills and means with the willingness to fight the case of indigent persons.

Crucial Role Through Drafting and implementing laws:

Legal professionals are responsible for drafting legislation that aims to reform Nigeria’s political and economic systems. They analyze existing laws, identify gaps and weaknesses, and propose new legislation to address these issues. This includes laws related to governance, anti-corruption, investment, trade, and business regulations.

Crucial Role In Ensuring Compliance and Enforcement: Legal professionals are instrumental in ensuring compliance with the laws and regulations related to political and economic reforms. They play a vital role in enforcing these laws, prosecuting offenders, and holding individuals and organizations accountable for their actions. This helps to promote transparency, accountability, and the rule of law.

Crucial Role In Advising Policy Makers:

Legal professionals provide expert advice to policymakers and government officials on legal matters related to political and economic reforms. They help in analyzing the potential impact of proposed reforms, identifying legal risks and challenges, and suggesting solutions to overcome them. Their expertise helps ensure that reforms are implemented effectively and in line with the country’s legal framework.

Crucial Role In Protecting citizens’ rights:

Legal professionals play a critical role in protecting citizens’ rights and interests during political and economic reforms. They provide legal representation and support to individuals and groups affected by these reforms, ensuring that their rights are upheld and their grievances are addressed. This includes advocating for the protection of human rights, access to justice, and fair treatment under the law.

Crucial Role In Promoting Transparency and Accountability:

Legal professionals contribute to the promotion of transparency and accountability in Nigeria’s political and economic systems. They work towards strengthening anti-corruption measures, promoting good governance practices, and ensuring that public officials are held accountable for their actions. This helps to create a conducive environment for economic growth, investmbent, and development.

Conclusion :

According to the American legal scholar Nathan Roscoe Pound ” Law is social engineering which means a balance between the competing interest in society” this implies that these competing interest are conflict prone and therefore except they are lubricated, sparks could cause a fireball of disaster.

If law is social engineering then legal professionals are social engineers most suited to resolve the socio political challenges in society.

Legal professionals in Nigeria have over the years played impactful roles through governmental and non governmental institutions in reforming Nigeria’s socio political economy. By their special training, knowledge, skills and professionalism, society expects no less of them.

Thank you for your attention .