Senate President calls on the bar to partner with legislature

Nigeria’s Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki has called on legal practitioners under the auspices of the Nigerian Bar Association Section on Business Law (NBA-SBL) to initiate broader stakeholder engagements and stronger partnerships with the legislature, with a view to actively participate in the lawmaking process.

The Senate President who made this call at the opening of 11th Annual Business Law Conference organised by the Nigerian Bar Association Section on Business Law in Lagos, addressing the theme, “Law and the Changing Face of Legal Practice”, stated that the NBA was not just a stakeholder but one of the most critical voice of reason within our body polity.

“This is why we at the Senate have continued to seek out and engage you for advice and consultations on national issues. The role the NBA plays in shaping public perception and the opportunity it offers as a vehicle for promoting good governance have continued to grow,” Saraki said.

“We have continued to expand and push the bar of engagement even farther. Today, the NBA-SBL and other private sector groups are participating in the law-making process as we work through our economic priority bills by providing and engaging with relevant committees on technical advisory and support. This is another area where we have found very robust engagement and involvement with our private citizens.”

The Senate President further stated that the National Assembly has opened up consultations and engagement with the private sector and the wider civil society on its legislative agenda, which according to him has been anchored on the economy. “The NBA was one of our first port of call.

Disclosing the level of participation the National Assembly has had with the NBA-SBL and other private sector organisations, he stated,

“When we came on board we were confronted with the daunting task of creating jobs in an economy with over 13% unemployment. This administration was immediately faced with closing the infrastructure deficit gap of over $350b in an era of sharply dwindling revenue and high rate of divestment. We were confronted also with the need to stop restiveness, secure our peoples welfare, provide more opportunity for our youths on the street and raise their standard of living. This we had to do within the context of the shrinking economy struggling to meet with its recurrent obligations that we inherited. The only option was for government to keep borrowing which is unsustainable with very high negative repercussions on upcoming generations. As a forward-thinking legislature, we knew that we had to do something to ameliorate the challenge.

“It was on this background that the Senate then decided to frame for herself a legislative agenda with the overarching objective to use legal reform as an enabler for modernizing the Nigerian economy for greater competitiveness and attractiveness for investment. Today, working together with the NESG, NBA-SBL and the ENABLE DFID Program and other partners under NASSBER.

“I am happy to report that the National Assembly is making steady progress towards a methodically legal reformation of the obsolete market laws we have. This is already signaling to the world that Nigeria is ready for business and global competition. Our policy drive is simple; to create jobs and enable SMEs for growth. The focus has significantly been on infrastructure mobilisation, access to capital and credit and the reduction in the cost of doing business to encourage investment,” Saraki said.

Recalling his last attendance of the NBA conference he said, “I remember calling on the NBA to come join hands with us the legislature into a new partnership to make the Nigerian economy great again. I am glad you heed to the call. Again, this is important because in our view, a surviving democracy must be built around citizen’ participation, broad stakeholder engagement, deliberation and transparency.”

In closing, the Senate President said, “to ensure a sound economy, our legal regime must be equally sound and provide an assuring platform for investors, entrepreneurs and businesses….It is upon you who work with these legal instruments and on whom the business community and the courts will rely on providing the right advisory that will see to the realisation of the full potential of these laws when signed into law.

“This is why our next steps in this ongoing reform will focus on investment securities and the enhancement of rights. Here, we will be working to modernise our intellectual property regime including copyrights, patents and designs and other systems that will help us ensure the safety of investors innovation, unique works and ensure that sharing and distribution of Nollywood movies and our people’s music products are done within the law and in such manner that enables them derive the benefits of their ingenuity.

“It is our hope that since we have adopted these level of direct engagement with you, which has borne so much fruit so far, I hope then that our close and constructive relationship will continue to blossom and we will continue to gain from your insight and your observance of the spirit of these laws in the course of your legal work for the overall benefit of growing the Nigerian economy into a well-rounded and modern economy able to meet with the expectations and aspirations of the Nigeria of the 21st Century,” Saraki said with a note of finality.

Earlier in his welcome remarks, the Chairman of the NBA Section on Business Law, Olumide Akpata had recognised the charge placed on the Bar and expressed the resolve of the NBA Section on Business Law to continue its engagement with the legislature as well as agencies of government.

He said, “The Council of the NBA-SBL has resolved that it will be fully engaged in facilitating the ease of doing business in Nigeria. This position is informed by Nigeria’s persistently dismal ranking in the World Bank’s Index on Ease of Doing Business and it is also borne out of enlightened self-interest as we realise only too well that, where business is impeded, there will be little or no work for the business lawyer. In the course of today’s Ceremony, we will be showcasing our strategic collaboration with both the Presidential Ease of Doing Business Council (PEBEC) and the National Assembly Business Environment Roundtable (NASSBER), of which we are extremely proud. The objective of both engagements being essentially to facilitate the ease of doing business through the instrumentality of law reform.”

The 11th Annual Business Law Conference, which held at the Eko Hotel and Suites in Victoria Island, Lagos was attended by several government functionaries, as well as stakeholders in business, policy and justice reform.

Theodora Kio-Lawson