The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, has inaugurated the General Council of the Bar and called on the leadership of the Nigeria Bar Association, NBA, not to isolate members.
The Council inaugurated comprised all the Attorneys General of the states, 20 members of the NBA and the Attorney-General of the Federation who shall be the President of the Council as enunciated in Section 1 (2)(a-c) of the Legal Practitioners Act 2004.
The Minister said that the NBA serves as a vehicle for social conscience and therefore should not seek to isolate its members in government who are positioned to drive its success.
His words: “We must work collectively to build an enviable legal profession that will be beneficial to us all, rejig it to change the current negative perception of the profession.
“The council should strive to overcome its inherent limitation to reinvent and reassert itself in the legal architecture of the country.
“This inauguration is an opportunity for all the constitutional heads of the legal profession and members of the Bar to meet and deliberate on pertinent issues affecting the legal profession, especially in view of current challenges and public perception of the profession.”
Malami enjoined those inaugurated to continue to show commitment and dedication to the statutory duties of the Council, especially with regards to making and reviewing rules of professional conduct under Section 12(4) of the LPA.
“Together we must work to restore the confidence which the public hitherto reposed in members of the legal profession,” he said.
“This will only be possible if we as members demonstrate uncommon commitment and dedication to make a difference through our various inputs and services to the Council.”
President of NBA, Yakubu Maikyau, SAN, in his remarks said that there was the absolute need to provide regulations that will guide the conduct of legal practitioners towards the fight against corruption, money laundering, terrorism, economic crimes, and other criminal activities.
He said the profession maintained the privileges conferred on it by the statutes, self-regulate its conduct as to make it accountable in the fight against the menaces that have bedeviled the nation.
Maikyau, therefore, urged all members to familiarise themselves with the Legal Practitioner Acts, LPA and the Constitution of the Association which, he said remains the principal legal framework governing the operation of the Association.