IJEBU-ODE – The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ijebu-Ode Branch, Ogun, on Tuesday urged its members to uphold the ethics of the law profession in order to remain relevant to the society.
The Secretary-General of the association, Taiwo Odumosu, made the call in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ijebu-Ode on Tuesday.
He stressed that by adhering strictly to the ethics of the profession, corruption would be eliminated in the dispensation of justice, adding: “unbiased interpretation of law is the common man’s last hope“.
He decried corruption in the law profession resulting in unprofessional hike in service fees or engaging in money laundering for clients.
“We need to always emphasise the ethics of our profession so that we can have a bar that is more responsive to the society’’, Odumosu said.
He said the judiciary must remain uncompromised to maintain public confidence.
Odumosu advised his colleagues to encourage other professionals to study law, saying: “the knowledge of law will ensure we have a better society.
“I will encourage all the faculties of law of universities to ensure that they inculcate ethics into their curriculum.
“Law students do not have to wait until they get to the law school to benefit from such curriculum as is the case now’’, he said.
On the ongoing strike by the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN), Odumosu said, “if we need progress in this country, government must always respect the decisions of the courts at all levels.“[eap_ad_2]
Prof Bankole Sodipo, the Dean, Private and Commercial Law, Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo, said lawyers needed to shun sharp practices in the profession.
Sodipo told NAN that not adhering to the founding principles of law would only bring the profession into disrepute and thus lead to its stagnation
“The environment has changed and we also have to change. This means we need to have a roundtable to brainstorm on how to deal with the threats to the law profession.
“We need to improve our service delivery to clients. People complain that the judicial system is slow.
“We need to work on winning the confidence of the people back and that begins by reforming the sector.
“We need to do a study to ascertain the challenges of the profession which require immediate attention and tackle them headlong.’’ (NAN)[eap_ad_3]
