Federation Attorney General Abubakar Malami, SAN, has called on the Nigerian Bar Association to make the General Lawyers Council a platform to push its development agenda forward.

The General Council of Lawyers, also known as the “Council of Lawyers”, is entrusted with the overall management of the affairs of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA). It is headed by the AGF.

Malami said this in Abuja during the inauguration of the new members of the Bar Association on Monday.

He said that the inauguration occurs 16 years after the last Lawyers Council headed by the then AGF Bayo Ojo.

The AGF noted that the inauguration was important in strengthening the NBA’s ability to deliver on its mission and core values.

He added that it is also relevant in expanding the frontiers of the legal profession.

“The inauguration of the Bar Association today represents a remarkable milestone in our legal profession.

“It presents an opportunity for constitutional heads of the legal profession and members of the Bar Association to meet and deliberate on pertinent issues affecting the legal profession, especially given current challenges and public perception of the profession,” Malami said.

He tasked the NBA with viewing the Bar Association as a vehicle or platform for driving the NBA’s development agenda, implementing NBA resolutions, and influencing government policy given its composition of Attorneys General who are strategically positioned to influence the president and state governors. .

Malami also noted that the NBA should consider the Bar Council as an alternative Board of Trustees or advisory body, a link or liaison to the Federal Executive Council, State Executive Councils, National and State Assemblies, the Nigerian Forum of Governors, the Conference of State Presidents. Assemblies, etc.

The origin of the Nigerian Bar Association can be traced back to the reference of the committee on the future of the legal profession and education which was established in 1959.

The Bar Association is made up of the AGF, the state Attorneys General and 20 members of the NBA with the stipulation that no less than seven of them must be legal professionals with 10 years post-convocation.

Section 12(4) of the NBA constitution requires the Bar Association to establish rules from time to time regarding professional conduct in the legal profession and cause such rules to be published in a Gazette and distributed to all branches of law. the Asociation.

NBA President Yakubu Maikyau, SAN, in his remarks congratulated NBA Attorney General Abubakar Malami, SAN on the epoch-making event.

He said that with the inauguration of the GCB, his administration has set in motion the process of reinventing the ethical standards of the legal profession. The GCB is the establishment of the Legal Professionals Law, CAP L11 LFN 2004. Article 1 provides:

“There shall be a body to be known as the General Council of the Nigerian Bar Association (in this Act referred to as the “The Bar Council” which shall be entrusted with the general management of the affairs of the Nigerian Bar Association (subject to any limitations for in the time provided by the constitution of the Association) and with the functions that this Law or said constitution confers on the Council.

The Bar Association will be integrated by the Attorney General of the Federation, who will be the president of the Council, the Attorneys General of the States; and twenty members of the Association.”

He also said: “As you know, this role was performed for the last time in 2007, when the then Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Bayo Ojo, SAN, as President of the Bar Association, issued the Regulation of Professional Conduct that is currently in operation. Attempts to establish the Council since then have been unsuccessful.

“The failure to charter the GCB over the years has created a huge gap in the regulatory structure of the legal profession. This gap can be seen in the fact that the Rules of Professional Conduct do not seem to be adequate to address the contemporary challenges facing the profession and society in general.