ASUU:NBA Cautions Jonathan Against Sacking Lecturers ---Says Nine Lawyers De-Robed The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) on Monday condemned the Federal Governments recent directives to Vice-Chancellors to forcefully re-open the nations universities just as it cautioned President Goodluck Jonathan against carrying out the threat to sack university lecturers who failed to resume on December 4th. This is as the Association disclosed that it has withdrawn the practicing licence of nine lawyers across the country over cases of ethical misconduct. Speaking in Abuja at the opening of the Law Week of the Abuja Branch of the Association (Unity Bar) its Chairman U.M Yaman stated that this is not the first time we have heard threats from the government. During the military era government severally threatened to sack lecturers if they don’t call off strike. But we need to be realistic, lecturers have a right to go on strike and government has the right to employ those who they want. But in the university sector is a peculiar one so we need experienced lecturers. How do you replace the hundreds of professors of the universities? About five universities in this country have hundred professors. So how do you replace them? Yaman noted that It is a threat that does not hold water; it does not go to any issue. I think the best thing for government is to look for an agreeable settlement with ASUU. Also we want to appeal to ASUU that you cannot continue strike indefinitely; there must be an end to strike. If somebody has made an offer and which the public is beginning to see that government has shown genuine interest to end the strike, I think ASUU ought to meet and reconsider their position in the interest of students and the nation Also speaking the President of the NBA Okey Wali,announced that the association has de-robed nine lawyers noting that the NBA Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) will hear cases against 30 other lawyers this week. Wali, who was represented by the NBA General Secretary Emeka Obegolu, raised alarm over the increasing number of petitions bothering on discipline and ethics of the profession against legal practitioners in the country, and expressed commitment to weed out the bad eggs in the profession. In his remarks the Chief Justice of the FCT High Court, Justice Ibrahim Bukar praised lawyers for their commitment to good leadership and the entrenchment of rule of law in the country. He appealed to the Bar to support the Bench in attaining the independence and impartiality of the judiciary as a necessity for rule of law. In a keynote address with a theme Law, Leadership and Socio-Economic Transformation former Commander of the United Nations Multinational Peace Keeping Force in Angola General Chris Garuba noted that several people and groups occupying political leadership positions in the country are leading nothing as according to him they do not serve their people. According to him there are several reasons why a frantic discussion of this nature on socio-economic transformation is very important in Nigeria. First, the country has been experiencing growth without the necessary social and economic transformation in the lives of the people and conditions of the economy. Despite the huge oil wealth, the peoples lives remain miserable, the economy of the country is not being diversified, and Nigeria still remains a primary commodity or natural resource driven nation. The manufacturing sector remain embryonic, thereby greatly hindering the employment gains that would have occurred to the nation he added. Garuba stated that the result is that the country has over 30 million unemployed youths terrorizing the people through violent crimes as armed robbery, kidnapping, rape, car snatching, cross border banditry and urban terrorism. Social security is absent in Nigeria, the aged and disabled are virtually nu provided for in this country. The point is that leadership seeking to apply law as an instrument of socio- economic transformation needs to sit down and plan this very well for systematic action taking into account, these three categories of laws and taking effective action. I have not however seen this happen in Nigeria in the last five decades. This country has many existing laws that need to be amended or abrogated for example the law requiring police permit before citizens can hold peaceful demonstration or even some political meetings. This runs counter to the constitutional rights of citizens to freedom of association and of assembly he declared.
Posted on: Tue, 03 Dec 2013 05:31:01 +0000
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