NBA annual conference to address critical national issues

The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) is set to hold the 61st edition of its Annual General Conference which will address a myriad of critical national issues holding the country and the legal sector back.

Announced at a press conference on Thursday in Ikoyi, the hybrid conference will address issues around the rule of law, independence of the judiciary, access to justice and protection of fundamental rights, the economy and how to pilot the present for a better future.

Themed ‘Taking the Lead,’ the conference will hold from 22 to 29 October, 2022, at the Yakubu Gowon Stadium, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

About 10,000 to 12,000 registered delegates will gather both online and physically to have sessions that will interrogate the current legal regulatory environment, lawyers’ response to technology as well as their preparedness to harness these tools for efficient legal services delivery and a technology-driven judiciary.

“It is a very deliberate theme. We are mindful of the state of play in our country today and it is necessary for some of us to take the lead in determining how we want to go as a nation, how we want to go as a profession and how we want to go as a people.

“We’re speaking to lawyers, and to Nigerians through this theme,” said Olumide Akpata, president, NBA.

Akpata, said he was very excited that the association is able to hold the conference again as it will host a very distinguished faculty of speakers.

Also speaking at the press conference, the co-chair of the Technical Committee on Conference Planning (TCCP), Akin Ajibola said that the conference is open to all members of the NBA and members of the public.

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According to him, the event will feature over 25 technical sessions, and showcase sessions where subject-matter experts, business leaders and political leaders in various fields will lead conversations aimed at envisioning the future of the legal profession.

Legal practitioners who play pivotal roles in the growth of any country, have enormous responsibilities upon them in ensuring that the nation takes its rightful place in the comity of nations.

It was gathered that this year, the conference will place the NBA sections and their respective specialist committee sessions at the heart of the event’s programme for capacity building.

According to Ajibola, lawyers will have a real opportunity to focus on their areas of interest and benefit from exposure to emerging practice areas to be better equipped and reinforced to “take the lead.”

“Legal practitioners must take the lead in taking hold of the future of work, shape the world of the future, heal all that tends to divide us, bring light into the darkness that pervades us, and reclaim the rule of law that we seem to evade,” Ajibola said.

NBA’s annual general conference is a yearly event that provides an opportunity for knowledge-exchange by legal practitioners, world leaders, political icons, judges, thought leaders, policy makers and many other professionals.

The event also provides a platform to not only discuss but also produce an implementation plan to foster the adoption of policies, standards and practices to socio-political stability, economic growth and sustainable and infrastructural development for accelerated regional and economic integration.

There will be about 28 sessions and social events such as networking and mentoring opportunities between bar leaders and young lawyers are the conference.

“The president of the NBA, Olumide Akpata, other national officers of the NBA, the TCCP and Local Organising Committee (LOC) of the NBA are enthusiastically ready to welcome delegates and guests to the Garden City, Port Harcourt,” Ajibola said.