The Nigerian Law School, Lagos Campus, marked its 50th anniversary last month. Annabelle Macford Okwara, a student of the school who had the honour of leading the ‘choir’ to sing the National Anthem on the epic occasion captures the highpoints of the event in her diary.
Dateline Lagos, November 11, 2013: The auditorium of the Nigerian Law School, Lagos Campus, was a beehive. Students, decked in their traditional black and white, and a handful of guests including senior lawyers and eminent Nigerians thronged the hall. The event was the 50th anniversary of the law school. It was one event very dear to the heart of the Deputy Director-General (DDG) of the School, Mrs. Toun Adebiyi. It was much to her painstaking preparation and commitment to the law school project that the event turned out both colourful and successful.
The DDG who has endeared herself to the hearts of students on campus on account of her motherly care and down-to-earth, no airs disposition had been up and about to ensure that the show met the expectations of a premier law school in Africa. And it did.
The 50th anniversary lecture titled “Legal Education and Legal Profession: A Reality Check” was delivered by Dr. Fabian Ajogwu (SAN) and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. He harped on the need for young lawyers to abide by the code of ethics of the profession. He said as lawyers, “there are basic minimum decorum and esteem expected of us from the society. It is our collective and individual responsibility not to fail society by endeavouring not to fall short of those expectations”.
He admonished young lawyers to imbibe the culture of hard work, high moral standard and fairness, stressing that when these ingredients form the character of a lawyer, success is at the door. In plain language, he charged young lawyers to show dignity in labour. In a society seared by undue radicalism, corruption and slothfulness, Ajogwu insists it is the responsibility of lawyers to distinguish themselves from the crowd of vile men and women.
The Chairman of the occasion, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) who himself was a former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), who was Special Guest, corroborated the sermon of Ajogwu. To them, law practice confers a high degree of responsibility on the lawyer not to join the crowd of ignominy. Fashola charged young lawyers to live above board both in character and in content.
Former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who was also a Special Guest, gave kudos to the legal profession for standing up to defend democracy in its times of trial. He said the legal profession has been a pillar of support for democracy in Nigeria. He charged lawyers not to relent in their role in the nation’s fledgling democracy.
For Mrs. Adebiyi, the idea to scrap the Nigerian Law School would amount to unmitigated disaster. She argued that the poor quality of graduates churned out from some universities these days has necessitated the need to retain law school and rather than scrap it, government should properly fund it.
Another Special Guest, Senator (Mrs) Daisy Danjuma undertook to refurnish the dining hall of the Nigerian Law School. The 50th anniversary of the school was not all jaw-jaw. It was also an occasion to raise funds to support the development of the school. Did the school authority get all that it wanted? The grin on the face of the DDG tells it all…money rolled in and the niggling challenges in the school namely completion of hostel facilities, electricity supply, etcetera are just about being addressed. The Nigerian Law School, Lagos Campus, is clearly on the roll. Compere of the occasion was Richard Mofe Damijo, himself an alumnus of the school.
