By Innocent Anaba

Mr Emeka Obegolu is the out-going Publicity Secretary of Nigerian Bar Association, NBA. He is also a candidate for the post of Secretary General  in this month’s election of the association, slated for Abuja.

In this interview, he speaks  on some  national issues and what he to offer if he emerges the Secretary General of  NBA.

Excerpts:

What is your reaction to President Goodluck Jonathan’s  refusal to make his assets declaration public, despite the request by many Nigerians for him to do so?

The president is not bound to publicly disclose the content of his assets declaration form. The requirement of the law is that he should declare his assets with the Code of Conduct Bureau before taking his oath of office. So, having done that, the president would be within his rights to consider the clamour for public declaration superfluous.

Having said that, let me also say that Nigerians have come to expect that the battle against corruption should be led by persons, who not only meet the minimum requirement of the law, but persons, who should be seen to be manifestly above board.

Nigerians are clamouring for public declaration by the president, not because Dr. Goodluck Jonathan is president today, but because we think that the leadership should lead by example and once he does that, the clamour will flow from the members of the Federal Executive Council to the governors, commissioners, council chairmen and councillors.

These are the little gestures by the leadership that will add up to give the needed boost to communal fight against corruption.

The issue of insecurity in the country has almost become a burden on government as well as on Nigerians. What do you think government should do to address the situation?

Security is the responsibility of every Nigerian, from the law enforcement agencies to neighborhood associations, community associations, faith-based organisations, and everyone indeed. The government needs to engender the trust and confidence of Nigerians that there is sincerity of commitment on the part of  government to provide security for Nigerians irrespective of tribe, ethnic group, religion, state of origin, among others.

Government has to address the declining morale in the police and other security agencies arising from poor training, inadequate facilities, poor remuneration, among others.  Security agencies must also adopt a more friendly and mutually respectful, information sharing and cordial relationship with communities, where they operate.

The time has come for government to also give more serious consideration to the vexed issue of state police as practised in other federal states, with some modifications to address the legitimate concerns raised by those opposed to the adoption of state police in Nigeria. All over the world, effective policing is communally inspired as the motivation remains the protection of the welfare and safety of the members of the community.

The request for appointment of practising lawyers into the Bench of the Supreme Court has been on for a while. What is your view on this?

Appointment of justices to the highest court in Nigeria should be based on merit and nothing more pretentious. Everyone who meets the requirement for appointment ought to be considered on merit irrespective of whether the person is a practising lawyer or a judge. Because the court is the number one court in Nigeria and appeals lie from there to God, it becomes imperative that only the best legal brains in the country should be found there.

The NBA had bowed to pressure and shifted the venue of its national conference to Abuja, following concerns over insecurity. Do you think the call for the shift in venue was justified initially?

The NBA President, being fully aware of his responsibility to Nigerian lawyers, in consultation with elders and stakeholders, and upon review of the security situation in the country, particularly the venue chosen by NBA NEC for the holding of the delegates conference, decided to change the venue from Kaduna to Abuja.

Ours is a responsive administration and the security and welfare of NBA members will always guide the decision making process. When the security situation in Kaduna became obviously dangerous for lawyers to congregate, the President consulted widely and changed the venue.

You are an aspirant to the position of NBA Secretary General in the forthcoming election. What would you say are the challenges facing the association and how do you intend to tackle them?

The major point of my aspiration is to bridge the gap between NBA and its members. Having served as Publicity Secretary for close to two years, I have come to realise that members do not have a personal relationship with the NBA and I  traced the problem to non-availability of direct membership benefits for members.

Part of the things I would want to do differently upon assumption of office as General Secretary is to generate membership benefits for members such that will justify their membership of a professional association and make it beneficial for members to pay their Bar Practising fees.

With the completion of the lawyers database verification exercise, each lawyer will have a space within our website where he/she can print his practice licence each year, access the NBA electronic library, which I will introduce as a membership benefit, register for conferences and print out receipt therefrom, and generally operate as an individual member of NBA.

I will support branches through the creation of a Branch Support and Advisory Directorate within the secretariat to conduct compliance audit and engender peer review mechanism for branches.

The NBA secretariat must brace up to re-connect with members and deliver cutting-edge membership services comparable to what the International Bar Association offers to those of us who are members. I am offering myself to be the agent of the change  most members want to see.

The Senate has called for memorandum from the public ahead of another constitution review. What aspects of the constitution would you want reviewed?

The NBA constitutional review retreat documented the consensus amongst members in a single document forwarded to the National Assembly joint committee on constitutional review. That document captures the position of the NBA on the various proposals contained therein and, as the National Publicity Secretary, I adopt the recommendations contained in that document as mine.