James Sowole in Abeokuta
A legal luminary and former Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), has said that the legal profession needs urgent restructuring to save the profession from calamities soon.
Olanipekun said those who have reached a higher level in the profession need to do something to reinvigorate the noble profession.
Specifically, the former NBA president said the onus lies on him and others to climb down from their Olympian heights to uplift the law stratum and its occupants, including students in the various faculties of law across the country, otherwise, the practitioners will wake up one day and discover that they have no profession anymore.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria, spoke yesterday during the inauguration of the Wole Olanipekun Law Auditorium (WOLA) at the Babcock University Ilisan, Iperu Campus, Ogun State.
He lamented that the profession, practitioners, and law students are grappling with failing and falling infrastructures.
The WOLA, which was donated by him to the private university, was unveiled by the Akarigbo and Paramount ruler of Remoland, Oba Babatunde Adewale Ajayi, himself a lawyer and chartered accountant.
Olanipekun lamented that Nigeria was gradually losing her humanity, in the sense that there are more arm-chaired critics and people obsessed with the ‘pull-down’ syndrome, than those who want to invest in humanity.
He noted that one did not have to be any of the American billionaires such as Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Melinda Gates or Chuck Feeney to uplift others and institutions, explaining that Babcock and other private as well as public varsities in Nigeria need the benevolence of Nigerians, particularly, those who have received God’s benevolence.
He commended Babcock for its efficient management system, saying in terms of disbursement of scarce resources, through shrewdness, prudence, fidelity and fear of God, it ranks amongst the best in Nigeria, if not globally.
He said: “We need to humble ourselves, otherwise, we might wake up in the nearest future to embrace the naked reality that we have no profession any more. To appreciate what exactly the lower stratum of the profession looks like or experiences. It is a stratum that urgently needs assistance, restructuring, reinvigorating, resuscitating, re-energising and much encouragement. We must uplift that stratum as well as its occupants, including students in the various faculties of Law across the country, as well as the failing and falling infrastructures they contend with.
“Agreed, that Babcock is a private University owned by the Seventh Day Adventist Church; we must not forget the fact that this great institution, as well as other private and public universities in Nigeria, need the benevolence of Nigerians, particularly, those who have received God’s benevolence.
“Let us be honest with ourselves, one does not need to be a Warren Buffett, a Bill Gates or Melinda Gates, a Chuck Feeney, a Zell Kravinsky, Dolly Parton, John D. Rockefeller,6 Aliko Dangote, or Mike Adenuga before he can impact meaningfully on humanity or intervene in the meteoric rise of others, without competing with the ‘money bags’
“It is rather unfortunate that Nigeria is gradually losing her humanity, in the sense that we produce more arm-chaired critics, some of who are obsessed with the ‘pull-down’ syndrome, than people who subscribe to or invest in humanity. Coming specifically to our constituency, the legal profession, I state with all humility, but with every sense of responsibility that those of us who are atop the profession presently must, of necessity and urgency, descend from our Olympian heights, and disembark from our high horses.
Earlier in his welcome address, the President/ Vice Chancellor of Babcock University, Professor Ademola Tayo, said Olanipekun has not only built a stellar legacy in the profession, he has also exemplified what it means to invest in the future through education.
