By Valentine Faseemo
It’s incredible that something as significant as NBA election that produced first non-SAN lawyer (I stand to be corrected) as the President took place yesterday and several hours after, it looks like nothing happened. That says a lot about the fact that revolution has taken place.
For years, the NBA presidency was dominated by a group of lawyers called Senior of Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), yet NBA has nothing to show for it. The welfare of lawyers, especially young lawyers remains one of the worst in Nigeria. The privileged senior lawyers only simply use the NBA as a steppingstone to further their various personal political and social agendas. Several millions of Naira are paid yearly as so-called annual due and there’s nothing to show for it, other than the annual ritualistic jamboree called NBA conference where lawyers gather to eat Nkwobi and Nsiewu, give the same boring mumbo jumbo speeches and people retire into their various hotel rooms in the evening to get entangled with their various conference materials…
The same thing is repeated year after year until a new set of executives come on board. In fact, the quality of leadership got worse with every election. NBA, a supposedly umbrella body of lawyers hardly commanded any respect due to the self-imposed conflict of interest and irresponsible leadership. It was in the light of all these that some of us did not bother to associate with NBA…because there are better ways to spend one’s time than participating in some NBA activities that add no value.
Back to the main gist, so the NBA produced the first non-SAN president yesterday (I stand to be corrected) in a revolutionary and game changing election where for the first time, people were able to vote online from the comfort of their offices and homes. That eliminated the chances of vote buying and voters’ inducement and intimidation (yes all these used to be part and parcel of NBA election, a body of supposedly learned men and women).
Going forward, having achieved the revolution of demystifying the monopolization of the NBA presidency by the SANs, urgent reforms are needed by the new executives to justify the massive confidence reposed in them with their election. Some of those reforms include the immediate abolition of zoning of NBA offices, the institution and implementation of minimum wage for lawyers, abolition of deadline for payment of annual dues, permanent online voting for subsequent elections, online and accessible registers of all branches of NBA for easy registration, etc.
Furthermore, some of the lessons in the quiet revolution of NBA election include the fact that power resides with the people in every democratic process. The only problem is that the people always hardly understand the power they possess. Also, the power of online or internet is limitless if it is properly harnessed and channelled. And the successful conduct of the NBA election via online platform is a direct message to the larger populace that the same thing can be done and achieved in our national election. I know there are many genuine challenges, fears, and concerns regarding that, but these are not enough reasons not to try. We cannot continue to be backward because of fears. Human beings are meant to solve problems and I do not believe there are problems without a solution.
Finally, let me end this by congratulating the new NBA executives. They must know that the stakes are much higher for them because of the circumstances of their emergence. So, they cannot afford to fail or continue to do the same of the same. They must understand the enormity of the tasks ahead and hit the ground running immediately.
Thank you.