Donald Duke, Olumide Akpata Speak at GEP Retreat

One of Nigeria’s foremost commercial law firms, George Etomi & Partners (GEP) had its annual retreat on Saturday, 27th January at the MooreHouse Hotel in Ikoyi, Lagos.

The retreat which was attended by all members of staff from across the firm’s offices in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Abuja, was facilitated by Areedi Consulting. The retreat featured a number of enlightening sessions on personal development and organisational growth as well as the role of lawyers in unlocking the growth potentials of the various sectors of the economy.

In the course of the retreat, members of the GEP staff participated in a number of team-building exercises packaged by the training consultants, taking advantage of the ice-breaking sessions to better appreciate their respective individual strengths.

Aside the sessions moderated by the training consultants, a number of top-level speakers similarly made presentations at the retreat. Former Cross-River State Governor Donald Duke spoke about the need for lawyers to make conscious effort to influence the policy direction of government as well as engage the political process when necessary.

Duke, sharing from his personal experiences while in government, stressed the importance of promoting transparency in governance and upholding the rule of law.

For his part, the current Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association – Section on Business Law (NBA-SBL), Olumide Akpata emphasised the need for continuous learning in the legal profession as the world continues to embrace globalisation of trade and services.

The NBA-SBL Chairman listed some of the initiatives his administration had embarked upon to encourage specialisation among Nigerian lawyers while also promoting participation in evolving areas of the profession. In a special charge to young lawyers, Akpata also stressed the importance of diligence and discipline as key ingredients of success in the legal profession.

The retreat similarly featured special sessions on personal finance facilitated by Femi Awoniyi of DailyKobo, investment in mortgages by Olusegun Ogunbiyi of Safetrust Homes, and implications of the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS) by Niyi Dada, a tax consultant.

At the end of the one-day retreat, lawyers and other members of the GEP staff expressed their delight at the opportunity to refresh and learn new things while also applauding the ingenuity put into packaging the retreat by Areedi Consulting.