The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), arguably one of the most influential professional associations in Nigeria, will sometime this year go to the polls to decide its future. Failure to prepare the process that ushers in a new NBA President and other members of the NBA Executive Council; and poor choices of candidates who will be elected to occupy the various Executive offices are potential threats to the future of the NBA, the Nigerian legal system, and law as a profession.

New advocates join the communal order yearly with remarkable enthusiasm but as times progress, the communal consciousness and pride of belonging to a class in the society that everyone unanimously refers to as ‘learned’ begins to wane. This could be as a result of a lot of factors but one is pivotal- the failure of the NBA to sustain and preserve the profession either by persistent or aggressive advocacy or the exploration of contemporary areas for the growth of its members and that of the profession.

The prevailing times unfold the challenges of being a lawyer in many parts of Nigeria. Poor diversification in the legal profession in many parts creates more than just a setback for many. With many people being called to the Nigerian Bar yearly, what is the future of the legal profession?

All NBA Presidents in the past have done their best even though many may not necessarily agree but the future of the NBA depends, significantly, on who becomes the next President of the Association. The NBA is made up of majorly two classes of people, the conservative class and the millennials. The conservative class is made up of the conformists in the profession. Some members of this class spent a lot of time in law practice before the frontloading of documents became operational. Many members of this group are not easily open to reforms, and remain rooted to tradition. This class is filled with those who became conservative by experience or by embracing it. They are akin to the common law if I am permitted to use that analogy. It must however be said that in this class are a few liberals who are good at transitioning and open to contemporary ideas.

The other class constitutes the millennials, made up of open-minded and contemporary young lawyers in the profession. They represent the future of the profession. They are enthusiastic, inventive, adventurous and smart. They care less about tradition except where it aids efficiency and effectiveness. They have the courage to embrace a new idea and welcome a trend out of the conventional. They mildly dislike class stratification in the Bar, where inordinate attention or excessive obsession about tradition sweep away merit and competence. They are progressive. This class is predominantly made up of young lawyers and the liberal older lawyers.

In the past, all NBA Presidents have rolled out policies based on what they believed should be the priority of the Bar, more or less a subjective opinion of what the NBA should be most concerned about. However, times have changed and anyone who desires to lead the NBA in this era must do more than just having a good manifesto and theoretical speeches on how this or that will be done. He must, prior to this election year, have good testimonials from his colleagues. His practice area(s) must be practically and efficiently dynamic to express his versatile knowledge about diversification in the legal profession. He must be a bridge-builder between the conservative class and the millennials. He must have carried out practical and proactive capacity building programmes or seminars for the growth of the legal profession across the country an illustrative example of which is the recent sponsorship of 30 lawyers to the Practice Preparation Course (PPC), which was a decent effort of the friends of the former Chairman of the NBA Section on Business Law (NBA-SBL) towards improving the professional competence and specialized know-how of Nigerian lawyers. He must have ears on the ground to listen to the heart beat of the younger generation. He must understand their fears, expectations and hopes. He must where necessary be willing to lead civil disobedience to the door step of any arm of government that violates the Nigerian Constitution or threatens the collective freedom of Nigerian citizens.

The future of the NBA requires a dynamic leader, who is open to reforms, a President with fresh ideas to inject into the system. He must be a leader who would systematically and efficiently steer the wheel of law-diversification in the profession and provide new horizons for future lawyers in the profession.

Many have argued that good people who have genuine intentions for reforms are hardly given the opportunity to serve. Either they are distracted by pre-electoral policies or they are one way or the other disqualified prior to the election. It could even be a propaganda that such persons are not members of a section of the legal profession that enjoys certain privileges. These fears are understandable with the Nigerian system. Nevertheless, it is suggested that the questions which ought to agitate the minds oflawyerss in the build up to the forthcoming NBA general elections should at all times be merit, records and competence of viable aspirants. Their practical contributions to the development of young lawyers and visible steps towards law diversification should also be a yard stick considered by the electorates. Sharing “tips about modern legal practice” at the just concluded ‘An Evening with Olumide Akpata’ held in Calabar fits the description of my yard stick.

However, the electoral process primarily falls on the table of the incumbent President whose end-tenure duty is to give NBA a free and fair election without any individual being a victim of unwarranted vendetta or raising allegations of the electronic voting system manipulation. The administration of Paul Usoro SAN, must leave a good electoral legacy and a remarkable transition, failure of which history will unfavorably judge his Presidency.

It is my hope that soon the desire for reform will reawaken participation of young lawyers who once had remarkable enthusiasm, communal consciousness and pride of belonging to the class in the society that everyone unanimously refers to as learned but now have strong apathy towards NBA activities. It is our collective responsibility to protect and preserve this profession.

CHIJIOKE IFEDIORA ESQ. , Ifediora.chijioke@yahoo.com, Instagram: Chijioke_Ifediora; Twitter: @Cjifediora