Justice Nyako Canvasses Greater Mentorship Of Young Lawyers

Senior legal professionals in Nigeria have been urged to increase their efforts in empowering and mentoring younger lawyers for a strong foundation in ethical leadership within the profession.
Justice Murtala Nyako made the call at the 2025 Muslim Lawyers’ Association of Nigeria (MULAN) FCT ‘Law Week’ yesterday in Abuja.

The event, themed “One Ummah, One Bar”, was described by Justice Nyako as “very pertinent.” She emphasised that a unified bar is crucial for ensuring continuity, fostering unity, promoting ethical excellence and driving professional growth among Muslim legal practitioners nationwide.

“As senior members of the profession, we owe a responsibility to the younger ones to guide them. As the Muslim Ummah, we need to demonstrate what Islam teaches us; you must teach by example, and there is nothing the Quran didn’t teach us. Teach and live by example, continue to learn because you can never know it all,” she said.

Justice Nyako, a former Chief Judge of Bauchi State and a Justice of the Federal High Court, also advised younger lawyers to show respect for their more experienced colleagues and cultivate a willingness to learn.

“The younger generation of lawyers should show a willingness to learn, because if you’re not willing to learn, whatever is imparted to you is wasted,” she stated.

Earlier, M.A. Abubakar (SAN), a former governor of Bauchi State and chairman of the MULAN Week planning committee, described the gathering as a “timely call to reflection, renewal, and collective responsibility.”

He noted the increasing pressures of modern legal practice and a growing disconnect between generations within the profession.

Professor Yusuf Ali (SAN), represented by Professor Mubarak Adekilekun (SAN), delivered the keynote address, warning that integrity, once a hallmark of the legal profession, is “under siege.”

He observed that many young lawyers struggle to find mentors embodying both competence and conscience amidst Nigeria’s challenges of inequality, insecurity, corruption, and moral drift.

“Within this environment, the call to ‘One Ummah, One Bar’ is a moral compass. It reminds us that unity among Muslim lawyers is not about forming an enclave; it is about building a bastion of ethical leadership. It is about standing together to reaffirm that the law must remain a tool for justice, not a weapon for privilege.”

The three-day MULAN week, concluding tomorrow, brings together Muslim legal experts, scholars, and thought leaders for knowledge sharing and professional development.