President Bola Tinubu has vowed to keep promoting the rule of law, adhere to the principles of separation of powers, and tolerate dissenting views within the ambit of the laws of Nigeria.
This, he said, explains why since he assumed office, his administration had been making steady progress in rebuilding the nation through legal and judicial reforms.
The President made the vow on Sunday when he declared open the Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Lagos.
President Tinubu, who was represented at the event by Vice President Kashim Shettima, in a statement by his media wide, Stanley Nkwocha, acknowledged the association’s sterling history of championing democratic ideals, as well as promoting the rule of law.
“Let me reassure you all that this administration will continue to promote the rule of law, adherence to the principles of separation of powers and tolerance of dissent within the bounds of the law,” he declared.
The President implored Nigerian lawyers and other citizens to join hands with his administration in resolutely working towards a Nigeria of everybody’s dreams, saying the nation cannot continue to toe the path threaded in the past, if it must achieve sustainable development.
He assured that though making difficult decisions to change the way things were being done in the past would produce hard results, his administration’s policies and actions will bring relief to Nigerians very soon.
President Tinubu noted: “Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, while I acknowledge the temporal existence of some daunting challenges besetting us as a nation, I would like to urge you all not to adopt a defeatist approach; rather, we should remain resolute in working for a country of our dreams.
“It is obvious that Nigeria as a nation cannot continue to sojourn on the trajectory of the past if we must be assured of sustainable development; hence, the need to sanitize the Augean stable and chart a proper course of rebuilding the nation.
“I acknowledge that altering the status quo requires difficult decisions and changes, which also inevitably come with hard outcomes. However, I am confident that this is a passing phase and our policies and actions, as an administration, are bound to usher in relief in no distant time.”
The President thanked the Supreme Court for consistently sustaining good governance and the tenets of democracy in Nigeria, citing the recent verdict of the highest court in the land which granted financial autonomy to the local government councils.
The judgment, he noted, “will spur the much-desired developments at the grassroots level,” even as he expressed confidence “that more of such strategic and reform-oriented legal interventions will be achieved” by the third arm of government.
On the part of the executive arm, President Tinubu restated his administration’s commitment to continue making the welfare of the judiciary a top priority of his administration.
He stated: “I want to assure the Learned members of the Bench and the Bar that this government will continue to accord top priority to the welfare of the judiciary to ease avoidable burden on their Lordships and speed up the adjudicatory process which is a sine qua non for social order and economic development.
“It is, therefore, my fervent expectation that the NBA would provide the appropriate legal compass for all persons, government, and businesses towards rebuilding our dear nation”.
He outlined efforts being made by his administration in reforming the judiciary including signing the Judicial Office Holders (Salaries and Allowances) Act 2024, leading to a 300% increase in the remuneration of our judicial officers, and putting in place the full complement of Justices of the Supreme Court.
The President also disclosed that his administration “is also working on the construction of a permanent and befitting edifice for the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal.
“Furthermore, provisions are being made to provide conducive accommodation for federal judicial officers within the Federal Capital Territory. All these are part of measures to boost the independence, welfare, and capacity of the judiciary,” he added.
President Tinubu applauded the theme, “Pressing Forward: A National Posture for Rebuilding Nigeria,” chosen by the NBA for this year’s annual national conference, just as he commended the Association for always being part of “the vanguard for initiating and driving reforms to stimulate economic growth and development”.
On her part, Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said efforts must be made towards accelerating growth and development, as Nigeria has all it takes to succeed.
In her keynote address titled, “A Social Contract for Nigeria’s Future,” the former Nigerian Finance Minister as well as the first woman and first African to lead the WTO regretted that Nigeria is not progressing as much as it should in its over 60 years of existence.
“Strong macro economic reforms is something we need in Nigeria. Oil has dominated Nigerian exports but we must diversify to agricultural and solid minerals exports,” she added.
Lamenting the lack of policy consistency which, according to her, has also affected the growth of the nation, the WTO DG said that to minimize the volatility of inconsistent policies, Nigeria needs a social contract, stressing that achieving a social contract involves the security of lives and national assets.
She said an organization like the NBA has a role in achieving a social contract.
“We need a new social contract to achieve growth in our country. My conviction on the need for a social contract is based on the need to tolerate different political parties and past administrations that preceded any administration in power,” Dr. Okonjo-Iweala noted.
For his part, the host Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, maintained that the security of lives and property was one of the cardinal things that the social contract was all about.
Urging the judiciary to strengthen the nation’s electoral process, he assured that Lagos, as a state, is ready to take on the social contract, even as he said for five years, he has not taken a kobo from the local government treasury.
“And we have demonstrated that even in the legal profession that all of you are part of we have more women in our judiciary consistently than any other part of the country and we kept faith in that,” Sanwo-Olu added.
Earlier in his welcome address, President of the NBA, Mr. Yakubu Maikyau (SAN), assured that the bar will continue to work for the course of justice in Nigeria, adding that the respect the bar has is a symbol of freedom in the county.
“The bar is represented primarily by the need to serve justice to the people. Our existence as a people is intricately connected to our responsibility as the defenders of the people,” he said.
Mr. Maikyau urged lawyers to ensure that they discharged their duties to the people of Nigeria with determination like the resilience of an eagle and eschew corruption at all levels.
The occasion also featured the launch of a book titled, “History of the Nigerian Bar Association,” written by a Nigerian lawyer, Olanrewaju Akinsola.
Other dignitaries present at the event included Plateau State Governor, Caleb Mutfwang; former President of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama; Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN); President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem, the Ooni of Ife, His Imperial Majesty, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi (the Ọjájá II), and representatives of the Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives, among others.
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