Economic policy expert and senior adviser, African Economic Development Policy Initiative, Oby Ezekwesili, has called on the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to invest in data generation to help society have a better understanding of the number of women actively participating in the profession so as to speed up the needed actions.
Speaking virtually during the NBA Women Forum International Women’s Day (IWD) conference 2021, Ezekwesili stressed that when people are “blind”, they don’t see the numbers and this makes if difficult for the needed actions to be taken.
Ezekwesili, who is also a co-founder of the Bring Back Our Girls Movement, Nigeria, advised that the NBA women identify obstacles to the path of growth as this is necessary to challenge the status quo.
She said the NBA, which is an association that upholds justice and equality, should lead by example by having a system for developing a pipeline that helps women grow, adding that the association can achieve this by setting mentoring schemes.
“We should lead the pathway for society to be more represented. We must make sure issues around women are not relegated to the background. We need to challenge the status quo so that more women can be actively engaged in the legal profession,” she said.
Speaking earlier at the event, Chinyere Okorocha, vice chairperson, NBAWF, said the theme of the conference, ‘Pathway to Diversity: Challenging Blindspots and Powering up for Inclusion’, was apt as women in diverse fields and in law have come a long way in rewriting the stereotypical narratives the society has imposed upon them.
“Today, we can give a little girl born in Sokoto State or in Sapele, Delta State, the dream of not only becoming a lawyer, but of striving for and attaining the very pinnacle of the legal career – whether as a private practitioner, an in-house counsel, a public defender or on the Bench,” Okorocha said.
“Whilst challenges still abound, we must recognise that the price for the successes achieved so far did not come easy and the onus is therefore on us to ensure that their sacrifices were not in vain and we must now push further and harder until the work is done,” she said.
Okorocha explained that as a new era emerges with some of these issues lingering, the NBA has new challenging blindspots to address and the need for female lawyers to power up and press for female inclusion at all levels is now more critical than ever before.
“Today, in line with the International Women’s Day theme, we choose to challenge the narrative that female lawyers are ‘gentlemen in skirts’. We refuse to be stereotyped based on our gender and we aspire for equality at all levels of the bench and at the bar.
“There continue to be issues of leadership inclusion for female lawyers, whether in private or public capacities; sexual harassment is a continuing concern, career growth and achieving a work-life balance that enables us thrive and not just survive are all issues that must be addressed to ensure that the narrative changes,” she said.
Olumide Akpata, president, NBA, said for him the most interesting event to look forward to was the two-day training scheduled for young female lawyers on the women empowerment principles gender gap analysis tool.
Speaking virtually, Akpata said Nigeria does not have too many lawyers but just has too many of its lawyers concentrated in the same geographical area and crowded in the same practice area.
He disclosed that he has therefore made it a cardinal policy of his administration to emphasise on the opening up of new frontiers of practice for lawyers.
To achieve this, he noted that significant time and resources must be devoted to the training and retraining of lawyers, especially the female lawyers.
“The enlightenment of our female lawyers, especially the young ones, is the key to the instatement of the modern legal profession that we all dream of. I therefore encourage all young female lawyers to take advantage of this fantastic initiative by taking part in the training tomorrow,” Akpata said.
“Beyond this, there are the exciting initiatives currently being undertaken by our recently revitalised NBA Institute of Continuing Legal Education (NBA-ICLE) on equipping our members with skills relevant to advancement in legal knowledge, legal business development and individual career advancement. Please endeavour not to be left out,” he said.
He assured that his administration would work tirelessly to achieve inclusiveness within the bar.
“It is not a one-day journey but one which requires hard work and dedication; one which must be achieved. I also promised to support the NBA-WF in the quest to establish a sexual harassment policy for the legal profession in Nigeria,” Akpata said.
Sifiyat Balarabe, treasurer, NBA-WF, said the event was important because women continue to face stereotypes because of gender.
She said the theme of the conference was topical and critical as International Women’s Day is a global day that celebrates the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women.
She noted that there has been considerable progress made in accelerating women’s equality but sadly there remain those less-talked-about issues and unconscious biases which have continued to contribute to the suppression of the female-folk.
During one of the panel sessions, Folake Solanke, first female Senior Advocate of Nigeria and the first Nigerian female lawyer to wear the silk gown, spoke passionately on the need for more female education, especially at remote places in the country.
Solanke called for the persecution of bandits who abduct children and women, rather than enrich them by paying them ransoms.
Some of the speakers at the panel sessions include Nsidibe Aideyan, secretary, NBA Women Forum; Taiwo Olusesi, registrar/CEO ICSAN; Joyce Oduah, general secretary, NBA; Brenda Onose Ataga, STA, Gas BD & Investments; Nkechi Onyenso, facilitator, governance and Institution Policy Commission, NESG; Folashade Alli, head advocacy committee, NBA-WF & principal partner, Folashade Alli & Associate; Roli Harriman, High Court of Delta State; Asiyah Arisekola-Alao, general counsel, Notore; Funke Agbor (SAN), senior partner, ACAS-LAW, and Ayotola Jagun, chief compliance officer/company secretary, Oando Plc.
Others are Bidemi Ademola, general counsel, West Africa, Unilever; Seye Kosoko, company secretary, FBN Holdings; Senator Ihenyen, lead partner at Infusion Lawyers; Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, partner, Africa Law Practice (ALP), and Olayemi Anyanechi, managing partner, Sefton Fross.
