The Chief Judge of Lagos State, Hon Justice Opeyemi Oke has assured the Council of the Nigerian Bar Association Section on Business Law (NBA-SBL), and members of the 2019 Conference Planning Committee that Lagos State Judiciary would render all its support towards the success of the 13th Annual Business Law Conference, which would take place in Lagos.
She said this during a courtesy visit by the Chairman of the NBA-SBL, Seni Adio, SAN and members of the Conference Planning Committee to her Chambers at the Ikeja High Court.
The visit was to brief the Chief Judge of Lagos State, Hon. Justice Opeyemi Oke about the Section’s forthcoming conference scheduled to hold between June 26th – 28th, 2019 at the Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos.
Introducing members of his delegation to the Chief Judge, the NBA-SBL Chairman who was accompanied by Council members, Yode Delano, SAN and Sam Aiboni; the Chairman of the 2019 Conference Planning Committee (CPC) Dr Adeoye Adefulu and other members of the CPC, thanked the Hon. Chief Judge for her warm reception and support for the section over the years.
Briefing the CJ on the level of preparedness of the CPC, Dr. Adefulu disclosed the theme of the Conference “Growth, Investment and Employment: Beyond Rhetoric” to Justice Oke and her theme.
He said, “As the theme suggests, the conference would focus on the factors, steps and actions required to ensure economic growth, increased rate of investment and employment in Nigeria. The role of legal practitioners and the opportunities for business growth and professional capacity development would also form a major thrust of discussions.”
Dr Adefulu further stated that the Conference would be a unique opportunity for the government, multilateral institutions and investors, the private sector to discuss frankly, on strategies to attract the right kind of growth and investment into the Nigerian economy.
He gave a brief outline of the conference Program as well as the first plenary session which is Triage -assessing the state of the Nigerian economy – Identifying Priorities, Proferring Pragmatic Solutions and the debate session on whether sexual harassment in the work place is prevalent in Nigeria including any cultural stigma that may prevent victims from speaking up.
Adding to Dr. Adefulu’s outline, the NBa-SBL Chairman also noted that the Chief Judge of Lagos State had been very instrumental to the law reform, which according to him has led to investor-confidence in Lagos State.
He further observed that the valedictory ceremony and thanksgiving service for the current Chief judge incidentally falls within the week of the Conference and used the opportunity to appreciate the CJ’s contribution to Justice sector and the legal profession in general.
In her response to the NBA-SBL delegation, the CJ thanked the leadership of the NBA-SBL and the Conference Planning Committee for its visit.
She stated that the theme of the conference, “Growth, Investment and Employment: Beyond Rhetoric” was timely, adding that private sector involvement was very critical to the growth and development of any economy.
Oke cited the contributions of the Lagos State Government, the NBA-SBL, and other private sector-led organisations to the work of PEBEC on the ease of doing business in Nigeria, and thus assured the NBA-SBL of her strong support for the conference, which she said would start with plans ahead to ensure Lagos State Judges were in attendance at the conference in spite of her valedictory.
THEO KIO-LAWSON
