NBA’s 54th conference begins despite Ebola threat

The choice of Owerri was reached after the successful 2013 conference which held in Calabar, Cross River State. The edition was attended by public officials and policy makers in various spheres. Prominent among them included President Goodluck Jonathan, Speaker of House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.This year’s conference is unique […]

The choice of Owerri was reached after the successful 2013 conference which held in Calabar, Cross River State. The edition was attended by public officials and policy makers in various spheres. Prominent among them included President Goodluck Jonathan, Speaker of House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
This year’s conference is unique in many respects. It is coming in the nation’s centenary year when the challenges of insurgency, youth unemployment, infrastructural decay, industrial disputes among other ills are contending with its modest achievements. These issues are being articulated in the various discourses at the event.
The programme will crystalise on Saturday, August 29, with the formal hand-over by the current NBA President, Okey Wali (SAN), to the newly elected President, Austin Alegeh (SAN), the former having completed his two-year tenure.
The event, with the theme: ‘Nigeria: A 100 Years After’, was opened on Sunday at the International Conference Centre, Owerri. Former Head of State, Yakubu Gowon is chairman of the programme, while Dr George Amali Kwanashie, foremost historian and formerly with the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria will deliver the keynote address.
However, with efforts almost concluded for the August gathering of over 10, 000 lawyers, concerns over the possible spread of the Ebola virus, nearly disrupted the event.
A World Health Organisation (WHO) report places fatality rate of the disease at 90 per cent and which can be transmitted via direct contact with the blood, body fluids and tissues of infected persons or animals.  It listed persons at higher risk of infection to include health workers, family members and those in close contact with sick people and deceased patients and large gatherings.
Due to the perceived rate of spread of the disease, the Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHC), Prof Chimdi Odinkalu, on August 17 called on the NBA to cancel the AGC. He said he would  not attend though he was billed to speak because he had been under observation for possible Ebola infection having been treated by one of the doctors who had contact with the Liberian Ebola victim, Patrick Sawyer.
He said the safeguards listed by the association were not adequate because if he had chosen to attend, it had no means of knowing he was under observation, had he not revealed the information.
The NHRC boss advised the NBA to take a cue from the WHO which has advised against large public gatherings, including the ECOWAS which cancelled its activities on account of Ebola.
Another lawyer, Emeka Nwadioke on August 18 also warned the NBA on the need to take adequate measures for the conference due to the spread of the Ebola virus.  He said the association should assess the threat potential of the disease and put adequate preventive measures in place to forestall the spread of the virus, or in the alternative postpone the conference to a later date.
But an Abuja-based lawyer and human rights activist, Peter Odia, disagreed with calls for the cancellation or postponement of the NBA conference.  He said the “NBA Constitution does not make provision for such postponement,” adding that the conference must go on. He said the NBA should put measures in place to forestall spread of the disease.
To disabuse the minds of participants of the conference and members of the public, Wali, speaking at a pre-conference briefing, listed the measures put in place to prevent the spread of the Ebola at the conference.
These include Purchase of hand bacterial and viral sanitisers for each participant, latex gloves and masks for service providers such as registration and traffic officials, non-contact hand sanitisers with refills in select places, and Dettol anti-bacterial hand wash for mobile toilets.
Wali said the NBA has received assurances from Governor Rochas Okorocha, the state Commissioner for Health, the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), the Federal Aviation Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and Ministry of Aviation on additional measures put in place to ensure the disease does not get to Imo.
“We urge our members to maintain higher standard of personal hygiene, and to avoid shaking hands and physical body contacts,” he said.
Wali said the over 10,000 lawyers, would not congregate at the same spot at any point in time as there would be 40 breakout sessions,  he explained that none of the sessions has more than 2,000 persons at the same time. The sessions will x-ray political history and developments of Nigeria, constitutional reforms, economic and educational development, infrastructural issues and judicial reform.
While describing the event as the “largest gathering of lawyers in the world,” Wali also said it will witness the highest utilisation of IT as the Law Pavilion will provide internet access for lawyers doing law research at the conference.
The national exhibitions session will witness presentation by technocrats in different fields. Also, political leaders including Governors Babatunde Fashola, Lagos; Emmanuel Uduaghan, Delta; and Rochas Okorocha, Imo are expected to share their experiences on governance in their respective states at the conference.
The conference will culminate in the inauguration of Austin Alegeh (SAN) as the new president of the NBA. Notwithstanding the various challenges such as the Boko Haram insurgency, abduction of Chibok schoolgirls, industrial disputes, and the deadly Ebola virus, Wali’s tenure has been remarkable in many respects.
As the curtain falls on the conference on August 29, so will the tenure of Wali. Despite the challenges, it is ending on a high note of the recent commissioning of the six-storey NBA building in Lagos and a successful AGC.