Boko Haram: Assert yourself now, NBA chief charges military

When it comes to legal practice, the voice of Mrs. Miannaya Aja Essien (SAN), is a voice that commands respect. She became a Senior Advocate of Nigeria in 2007, making her the seventh lady in Ni­geria to attain that prestigious rank. She is also a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (UK).

In this interview with LUKMAN OLABI­YI, the senior lawyer analysed various issues affecting judiciary and legal profession in the country, especially, the current crisis rocking the judiciary in Rivers State and its effect on the masses.
She pleaded with Governor Rotimi Amae­chi and the National Judicial Council (NJC) to let go of their personal interest and consider the interest of the masses. Essien spoke on this and other issues affecting the development of the country. Excerpts:
The Judiciary in Rivers State seems to be in limbo, no thanks to the deepening face-off between Gov­ernor Amaechi and the NJC. What is the way forward?
The courts should be opened so that the litigants will have access to justice. The man­ner in which it is achieved is immaterial. What is important is the interest of the society. I can tell you that the consequences so far have been devastating. Litigants, lawyers and the society at large have been badly affected. You can im­agine what those detained for bailable offences or awaiting trial have been going through.
What challenge would this pose to the judiciary especially as the 2015 elections itch closer?
This is quite a conundrum. Without the courts, issues arising from pre and post-pri­maries will suffer. There will be nowhere to resolve disputes and let us not forget that these cases are quite time sensitive. This will also ap­ply to main elections although the Federal High Court can handle some aspects of election mat­ters.
Many have said that there is a de­cline in the Judiciary compared to the days of Oputa, Kayode Eso, Idig­be etc, do you share this view?
No. Times have changed and the law has been developing tremendously as well as the personnel that man the judiciary. We have many judges and justices of this generation who have equally proved their mettle. Yes, Justice Oputa, Justice Kayode Eso and Justice Idigbe made their marks and their judgments were always brilliant. However, presently we have many who are just as good. Also, remem­ber that the drive towards an expeditious and efficient judiciary has been put in place by our various rules of court and practice directions to enhance justice delivery. These rules and practice directions are dynamic and have met challenges faced by litigants and lawyers in the conduct of their matters especially those that are time sensitive.
Also, many have canvassed spe­cial constitutional courts for corrup­tion cases; do you think there is need for this especially when every court can deal with constitutional aspects of cases before it?
I do not think so. The solution does not lie in establishing special constitutional courts but rather to empower existing judges by making their conditions of service more comfortable and by appointing more judges so that they can deal with the volume of work. I must add that when appointing judges, emphasis should be on a transparent appointment process that places emphasis on merit rather than quota.
What are your expectations of the new CJN?
We expect His Lordship to build on the im­mense achievements of his predecessor, espe­cially on the issue of corruption, and we know we can expect a more active and robust judici­ary which will further enhance justice delivery.
2015 is at hand, what roles do you expect of the NBA in a pre-election year and the forthcoming general elections?
NBA has always monitored elections and spoken its mind on crucial issues relating to pre-and post-elections. With what has hap­pened in some states where elections have been held? I expect the NBA to be more vocal.
Mass failure recorded in this year’s Bar examination is a confirmation that the standard of legal education is on the decline, how can this be im­proved?
The mass failure cannot be attributed to the law school programme that runs for about one year. The problem is more fundamental and has to do with the quality of law gradu­ates being churned out from the numerous law faculties. If the foundation is poor, there is no magic the Law School can perform. You have undergraduates who probably should not have got to study law in the first place but somehow managed to get in maybe with the post-JAMB assessment stage or otherwise. You also have some law faculties that are not accredited or lost their accreditation due to the quality of their faculties. I have interviewed lawyers who cannot speak proper English or cannot com­prehend basic instructions. How do you expect them to pass?
The Director-General of the NLS, Mr. Olanrewaju Onadeko, who was our lecturer in 1984/85, has raised the standard and the inherent deficiencies in the quality of the uni­versity education came to the fore. I also read in the dailies that the failure rate was more pronounced among those who were re-sitting the exams. From the news reports, the secre­tary is said to have stated that over half of the students who were taking the exam for the first time (57.01 per cent) passed while the failure rate was high among the re-sit candidates with about 1168 out of 1335 students who registered failing the examinations while 88 students recorded ordinary pass. Also, 26 of the re-sit students recorded conditional pass. Those are details most people don’t have.
I think the Law School is on the way to rais­ing those standards the average lawyer com­plains have fallen. Thus all the clamour for probes etc cannot be justified once an analysis for the failure as stated by the Law school is considered. The quality of the law faculties and the programmes they run should be looked into.
Insecurity of lives is one of the greatest challenges facing the coun­try especially with the latest attack on Adamawa State by the dreaded Boko Haram, how do you think this can be tackled within the interna­tionally accepted best practice?
The defence budget has always been quite significant and is always one of the largest. The Nigerian Army has the personnel. The major role of the military and other law enforcement agencies is to secure the lives and property of the citizens. As far as I am concerned, Boko Haram has declared war against Nigeria and this is how it ought to have been considered from the outset. With the latest attack on Mubi, the Army needs to assert itself and tackle the in­surgency. They should convince us that the ac­colades they win when they are on international assignments are well deserved.
The last appointment of Senior Advocates of Nigeria had no female lawyer on the list. What does this say about the status of women in the profession?
To start with, all applicants, whether male or female, are subject to the same assessment cri­teria by the Legal Practitioners Privileges Com­mittee. This year, only one lady applied out of the initial 169 applicants. I further understand that she did not scale through one of the filtra­tion stages.
So, the problem is not with the status of women in the profession, rather more ladies need to apply to increase the odds. I must con­fess though that it takes a lot of hard work and determination. There are no short cuts.
You were on record to have emerged as Chairman, NBA Section on Legal Practice at the NBA Annual General Conference in Owerri re­cently. But the NBA President imme­diately annulled the Council of the Section, alleging that the electoral process was undemocratic. What re­ally happened?
The NBA SLP is made up of lawyers who hold tenaciously to all due and democratic pro­cesses. All I can say is that all processes and procedure relating to the elections were strictly followed and adhered to. As a senior member of the Bar, it will be inappropriate for me to say more as I am aware that the issues have been placed before the Federal High Court and the High Court in Owerri to determine.
Some members of the Council have rushed to court to sue the presi­dent. This is rather unusual in a pro­fessional body like the NBA which should have its internal mechanisms for resolving such minor disputes. Should this be encouraged?
First of all, I don’t agree that some members of the Council rushed to court. I know that there were efforts to resolve the issues with the presi­dent. Let us not forget that disputes are a fact of life without which lawyers would not have work! It may be considered unusual that they went to court but that depends on your per­spective. As lawyers, if issues arise and efforts by senior members of the Bar to resolve them don’t succeed, any aggrieved person has a right guaranteed by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to seek redress in a court of law instead of justifying one’s actions with different (and changing) reasons in the pages of the newspapers. To the best of my knowledge, there is no laid-out internal mechanism the NBA has for resolving such disputes. Maybe with this, the Bar may wish to consider setting up such a mechanism.