NBA conference and the erosion of professionalism

I watched the recently concluded Nigerian Bar Association’s conference in Enugu and I couldn’t help but feel a nagging sense of disappointment that a once-respected gathering of jurists that provides the platform for legal, constitutional and intellectual discourse seems to have descended into a political circus where also spectacle overshadowed substance- What transpired in Enugu was a travesty – young lawyers carrying on like revelers at a music festival; legal neophytes who should still be cutting their teeth at the bar elevated to front row; spectacle of chaos drowning out meaningful debate.

Take the reception for Kanayo ‘o’ Kanayo, the Nollywood actor. He arrived fashionably late, minutes into the event, and the hall erupted in cheers – loud enough to rival a football derby. Rather than sneak quietly to a seat at the back as a late-comer would do, he walked gingerly to the front seat, received hugs from the NBA president while the audience cheered on, just as they did many others.

I was scandalised. No sense of professionalism, no decorum, just showmanship. The air seemed less about a serious gathering of jurists and more about celebrity razzmatazz, with the rancorous audience repeatedly cheering every interruption and every entrance; chants interrupted every speech, turning what should have been a professional and solemn occasion into a chaotic and rowdy scene.

Meanwhile, Oby Ezekwesili – who never shies away from speaking her mind, no matter whose ox is gored glared visibly in disapproval. In her conversation with Seun Okinbaloye, the ChannelsTV anchor who also served as a compere at the event, the former education minister admonished her fellow professionals: “Lawyers are the best minds any society could have… A profession that rewards prebendalism is not a profession,” she fumed. She warned the NBA not to allow its noble calling to be reduced to political bargaining chips. Her anger was not just visible; it was deserved and fit for the occasion. Now this begs the question: when did a conference of learned jurists drift so far from its glorious years? It wasn’t always this way. The rot started recently.

Let’s revisit 2023.

That year’s NBA conference in Abuja laid the foundation for the 2025 conference in Enugu. Nigerians remember how the Abuja conference degenerated into outright chaos: lawyers vandalised the accreditation centre, looted conference materials, and assaulted staff. That year, delegates’ behaviour exposed a loud hubris: we are lawyers, we can smash anything we want – and walk away untouched. The NBA president at the time, Olumide Akpata, promised to probe the incident and punish those involved. Were the culprits punished for bringing the profession into disrepute?

Contrast that with earlier editions of the NBA conference, when it hosted prominent legal minds and discussed serious dialogues on law reform, constitutional issues, separation of powers, rule of law and matters of national importance. In those years, legal luminaries debated with sobering and defiant civility, challenging each other and the leaders to uphold the rule of law. In those years, too, when the NBA spoke, the government of the day listened- even shivered. The 2023 conference was dominated more by the chaos at the accreditation centre and the shameful fixation on the outfit of the then vice-presidential candidate, Kashim Shettima, rather than the theme of the conference.

The Enugu conference has faced criticism about how NBA organisers placated political elites and celebrities over substance. The event featured political figures and a statesman like former President Obasanjo and South African black rights activist and politician Julius Malema, who spoke of pan-African unity and social justice. While these are lofty themes, one wonders if the presence of such global figures gave any leverage to the conference or distracted from important conversations that should have taken place at this critical time in our nation’s history.

In the past decades, the NBA’s conference presented an opportunity for legal scholars and practitioners to debate government policies and constitutional reform. The organisers and the NBA’s leadership must ask themselves: Who is this conference for? Is it the lawyers? If legal, academia and practice are to truly matter in nation-building, the Bar must reclaim its glorious years.

The lawyers’ conduct – cheering with reckless abandon, behaving like a stadium crowd- is a blight on the professionalism and the seriousness expected of such a gathering. Stakeholders have also rightly questioned whether these expensive gatherings contribute to conversation about judicial reform, given the state of our judiciary today, or to just an opportunity to massage the ego of the NBA leadership.

Enugu may have done well to showcase hospitality or cleanliness, an observer noted on social media, but did it translate into meaningful outcomes for the practice of law or for the public good? The inclusion of media personalities at the NBA conference is not, in itself, a crime. But their prominence revealed a bitter truth: when serious discourse collapses, satire and showmanship rush in to take its place. Should we really be surprised that entertainment now fills the vacuum left by serious conversation? The problem is – it is the absence of intellectual seriousness.

The NBA, an institution meant to represent the highest ideals of legal professionalism, seems to have surrendered its purpose. Status seems to have replaced substance. What we witnessed in Enugu was not a celebration of law but a mirror of a society that rewards spectacle over professionalism and noise over knowledge. The challenge now is this: If the NBA cannot enforce decorum, then it has failed in its duty as the conscience of the nation into self-promotion.

What is the way forward? The Bar must go back to the ideals of the association that made it one of the foremost and respected associations in the country. It must lead by the example set by past leaders of the association, such as eminent jurists like Sapara Williams, Adeyemo Alakija, FRA Williams, Alao-Aka Basorun, Richard Akinjide, Clement Akpamgbo, Prince Bola Ajibola, Olisa Agbakoba, Dame Priscilla Kuye and others and others too numerous to mention.

The organisers must reflect and re-focus their conferences around professional ethics – not the glitz and glamour of the klieglights. Speakers must be chosen for their knowledge and experience in the practice of law, not their clout, not for who can bring the most celebrity. Ethics on behaviour during events must be emphasised and violators punished.

Again, to borrow Oby Ezekwesili’s framing: a profession that rewards pre-bended behaviour is not one that cares about tomorrow. The Bar should be the conscience of the nation.