Lawyers have role of educating voters on elections – Yamah

What is your take on the ongoing industrial action by the Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN)?Well, we have tried to intervene at different fora, even when the chairmen of all the branches met with the president of NBA here in Abuja sometime in October. It was resolved that the branch chairmen should take up […]

What is your take on the ongoing industrial action by the Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN)?
Well, we have tried to intervene at different fora, even when the chairmen of all the branches met with the president of NBA here in Abuja sometime in October. It was resolved that the branch chairmen should take up the case with their governors because the agitation is quite genuine and legitimate: that the allocation to the judiciary should go to the various heads of the courts and not to be held by the state governors, that the judiciary never partakes of the allocation meant for them.
When a state governor holds onto the purse of the judiciary, it puts them in a position to compromise the judiciary whereby they release stipends to the judiciary. We believe very strongly that the judiciary should be given their full allocation. And we also believe that strike is not the only way out of this; that in the interest of the Nigerian citizenry, the JUSUN should take a second look at the ongoing strike and see the possibility of calling it off.  But we strongly support their position that allocation to the judiciary should go to the courts and not to the governor who dictates what the court gets especially, a situation where the Chief Judge now has to go to the governor to buy even biros and papers.
How has the strike experience been for a private practitioner like you?
It has been a very terrible experience for us lawyers especially coming at the beginning of the year when people are trying to lay a foundation for the year. It has caused a very serious dislocation to us economic-wise.
And we want to call all parties concerned to take steps to resolve this matter as soon as possible. We call on the governors to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and not to hold on to the funds of the judiciary.  It is not in the interest of the judiciary. And it is a breach of the doctrine of separation of powers because the governors will eventually dictate how the judiciary delivers justice.
We have people who are currently awaiting trial; there are people who are detained indefinitely while this strike is going on, who ought to have gone home on bail; there are people who have served their terms and who ought to go home but cannot because of the ongoing strike. It is a very painful strike which has caused so many dislocations to many Nigerians. We urge the parties involved to call off the strike.
Your tenure as chairman of the Abuja branch of the NBA has expired. How has the experience been?
We came into office in 2012 and we pledged to institute an assets management regime for the NBA. We were there for two years and it was a worthwhile experience. Within these two years, due to paucity of funds, we did what we were able to do. And we are so consoled and encouraged by the comments we received from members. Within these two years, we were able to put in place a mass housing scheme for our lawyers to give back to members. We were able to introduce different kinds of trainings for over 1000 lawyers in different fields of the law to enable them acquire skills, to enable them specialise in these fields of study.
We were able to put in place a befitting secretariat for the branch. We were able to acquire almost a hectare of land for the Bar Centre, which has eluded us for the past 30 years. We instituted an annual lecture in honour of the office of the Chief Justice of Nigeria in appreciation of the role of the occupant of that office. This has been described as a world class lecture. We have introduced a directory that captures all the lawyers and their addresses so that you can easily trace any lawyer you want to trace from that directory.  
We did several things while we were in office. And we say that it is the Grace of God that made all these things possible. We thank God that we have left a legacy today that everybody can see. Chief Karina Tunya (SAN) said ‘you have achieved concrete things.’ Several people say that we have surpassed all expectations. In spite of the strangulating environment in which we operated, we want to encourage all that the Bar has to move forward.
Today, the evaluation of our land for Bar Centre, which we intend to turn into a commercial venture, from architectures valuers, shows if fully developed is capable of generating over N200 million per annum. And we left a very robust account. For the first time, we have an account of about N16 million. We believe that these are the things that will encourage the incoming administration to do more.
As the 2015 election approaches, what is your expectation and what should be the role of lawyers in ensuring a very good election?
Lawyers have always played a role in general elections. We have the NBA Election Monitoring Group. Even at the state levels, we monitor elections and give reports. Now the NBA is taking it to a higher level by ensuring that our role is not restricted to only monitoring of elections but as well as educating voters and mobilising members of the NBA to appreciate the roles and responsibility in the electoral process.