manifesto my€¦ · my manifesto set goals, programmes and ideas towards achieving my desire for...
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My ManifestoSet goals, programmes and ideas towards achieving my desire for the branch.
Outline STAFF TRAINING
WELFARE
LIBRARY
AMENITIES
THE YOUNG LAWYERS
PRACTICE ASSISTANCE
DATABASE AND TECHNOLOGY
I AMADEYEMI ABIJO
I am Adeyemi Abijo and I am running to be
the Secretary of the most vibrant branch
of the Nigerian Bar Association, the Ikeja
Branch.
The Secretariat of any serious organisation is the
theatre of play and the engine room of that
organisation and ours is definitely not an
exception. My desire is to run the branch
Secretariat in the most effective way and in
accordance with available best practices to
maximise its main objective, which is effective
service delivery for its members, our dear
colleagues. The following are my set goals,
programmes and ideas towards achieving my
desire for the branch.
1
Staff TrainingThe staff members are the immediate
contact points in the Secretariat,
It would only remain a dream if we intend to
revitalise the Secretariat without carrying out a
staff audit in order to ensure that the staff
measure up to the task of servicing our teeming
members professionally and, most importantly,
respectfully. This will come at no cost at all to the
branch.
1
Members Welfare At The Secretariat
Space and comfort for all members,
COMMON ROOM: Our Secretariat should be one large common office a matter of fact, it is our common office. What this then means is that members should be as comfortable at the Bar Centre as much as they would be in their respective offices. It is for this reason that an imme
ROBING/CLOAKROOMS: There is a provision for
robing rooms in the Secretariat but for some
unclear reasons it is not equipped for its purpose.
For me, a Bar Centre is not complete without its
robing rooms. I promise that this will be the first
assignment if I am eventually considered fit to
serve this prestigious branch as its Secretary.
1
Members Welfare At The Secretariat
TOILET FACILITY AND HYGIENE
The two toilets currently servicing the Secretariat
is definitely insufficient and unfortunately
ill-serviced. It is many times left in unhygienic
condition. As someone who is deeply involved in
property development, I have undertaken an
assessment of the building structure and I have
discovered that at least two more toilets can be
added somewhere at the back of the building. As
your Secretary, it would be my priority to
vigorously push for the approval of this proposal
for the convenience of members.
1
Harnessing technology; Going digital
WEB VISIBILITY
The Branch in this age and time should run and
maintain a website of itself. It is the place where
any person from anywhere in the world can access
to see the activities of the Branch and also look up
vital information about members of the branch.
This is no rocket science at all. For a professional
group like ours to exist without a functional
website is not in the best interest of our dear
Branch. I pledge to ensure that as soon as I am
elected to serve as SECRETARY put in place with
the approval of the Branch Chairman, a functional
website for the Branch.
1
Harnessing technology; Accessing the globe.
FREE WIFI
I have a little privileged insider view of one of the
Telcos and I can tell you that with the brand capital
of NBA Ikeja and its goodwill, getting a free wi-fi-
service for members at the Secretariat at little or
no cost is about the easiest thing to do.
It will be about mutual benefits between the
branch and the partnering Telco.
Law Practice has gone digital, the most vibrant
NBA branch should go digital too.
1
AMENITIES
LIBRARY
I will work to secure deals with publishers to
always get complimentary copies of their books
and law reports at the library, using the same Telco
formula above. All we may have to give in return is
opportunities for them to advertise their
publications at our monthly meetings.
The Library as it is currently is not conducive for
any serious studying. I will ensure that this
changes.
1
AMENITIES
DSTV SUBSCRIPTION
It being the sole responsibility of the Secretary to
maintain the Secretariat, I will ensure that there
will be no time the Secretariat is left without an
active DSTV subscription. The importance of such
little things are often down played, if I must add,
unduly.
Yearly subscription of the basic or regular bouquet
of DSTV cable service is less than N100,000. This
means just one distinguished member will gladly
pay for the DSTV cable service subscription for
two years without batting an eyelid. All that is
required is the will of the Secretary and the
importance attached to the welfare of members. It
should not be a big deal.
1
PRACTICE ASSISTANCE RESPONSE
THE SITUATION
This should ordinarily be the core mandate of any
branch for of what importance is a Lawyer’s
membership of the branch when it can have no
direct impact on his practice? I was privileged to
serve actively at the Access to Justice Committee and this assignment revealed to me that when
confronted with an organised resistance from the
Bar, the various ills confronting our members and
bedevilling their practice, particularly at the
Courts and other areas of practice like the Police
and the CAC can be defeated.
1
PRACTICE ASSISTANCE RESPONSE
THE MANDATE
I will set up a Practice Assistance Response Team
(PART) with dedicated contact lines to attend to
complaints from members on institutional
blockades they encounter in their various practice.
Corruption in the judiciary will be taken up upon
complaints.
Having been a victim of police brutality myself in
the course of my service as a Lawyer, you can be
sure that it would be zero-tolerance for any
disrespect from the Police or other Law
enforcement agents. While I will not make a
messianic promise of resolving all the issues
through PART, I promise to attend to all
complaints received with dispatch.
“As part of this initiative, a dedicated email address and phone number will be provided where all mails received will be attended to within a maximum time of 6 hours for mails and 2 hours for SMS”
1
YOUNG LAWYERS AND THEIR WELFARE
THE 70-20 RULE COVENANT
I think it is unfair for some seniors to see young
Lawyers as good only for electoral purposes. The
Ikeja Branch has been able to maintain its fearless
tradition and its status as the most vibrant branch
because there have at all times been young
lawyers around to carry on with the tradition, but
the question is how well do we nurture these
young Lawyers?
1
YOUNG LAWYERS AND THEIR WELFARE
THE 70-20 RULE COVENANT - REVIEW
I will work directly with the Leadership of the YLF
to see to the improvement of the young Lawyers. I
will lobby the Executive as the Secretary to ensure
that for every programme of the branch, the YLF
young Lawyers enjoy not less than 70% subsidy for
at least 20 of its members.
I will also partner with their leadership to realise
their Forum’s long time desire to run its finances
independently of the main branch, with the branch
Executive only over-sighting its affairs for probity
and accountability. I have been on that side as its
Secretary and Vice-Chairman and I know how
difficult it is to beat the bureaucratic bottlenecks
to get funds approved for critical programmes.
1
BRANCH MEMBERSHIP IDENTITY CARD.
IDENTIFICATION AND PROCESS
I make bold to say that we have not been fair to
ourselves in respect of application for and
production of membership identity Card.
The major challenge of a member is the difficulty
in retrieving identity cards applied for in good
time. There is no database of members with
synchronized Supreme Court No.(SCN) and
Membership No.(MN) for ease of reference
anytime the need arises.
I pledge to bring all these and more to bear so we
can have an automated and digitized Secretariat
that is truly compliant with Technology.
1
NBA STAMP AND SEAL
EASING THE PROCESS
The NBA stamp and seal is about the most
pressing issues for our dear colleagues and, as
your Secretary, this would fall directly under my
responsibility. I intend to take this issue in two
ways thus:
DATA TRACKING - A Lawyer’s time is an asset. It
makes no sense to me that a Lawyer would leave
the piles of work in his office, come to the Bar
Centre only to check whether his stamp is ready,
he gets there to find out it is not and he goes back
to his office only to repeat the same fruitless cycle
a few more times.
1
NBA STAMP AND SEAL
EASING THE PROCESS
Under my Secretary-ship, the secretariat will open
a database tracking system. Once applications are
submitted, an account is opened with the
applicant’s email address/phone number. Every
batch of stamp and seal received from the
National Secretariat will be matched with the data
base and an automated notification message will
be sent to the corresponding email addresses
promptly. It is too clumsy and costly for our
colleagues to queue up at the Secretariat only to
check if their stamps are ready. Creative thinking
actually solves a lot of problems.
1
NBA STAMP AND SEAL
ADVOCACY AGAINST EXPIRATION OF NBA STAMP
It has always been my position that our stamp and
seal should not come with expiry dates. We should
only apply when we have exhausted our copies.
The argument for expiration is that members
would not pay their Annual Practicing Dues
without the seal carrying expiration dates and I
say it is not true. The Association only need to
adopt the relating back policy where, if it takes a
colleague 3 years to exhaust a pack of seal, upon
application for a new pack at the third year, the
application will not be approved unless any
backlog of Practicing Fees are cleared.
1
NBA STAMP AND SEAL
ADVOCACY AGAINST EXPIRATION OF NBA STAMP - CONTD.
This is effectively applied by the CAC for its
Annual Returns. Even though I have attended NEC
meetings of the NBA in the past, but I have always
attended as an observer. But as your Secretary, I
will be able to attend as a statutory member with a
voice. I promise not only to advocate but to also
collaborate and lobby other NEC members to push
this position on the stamp and seal until we
succeed.
MY PLEDGEThe above is my covenant and my pact with you esteemed
members of the Tiger Branch. Having been privileged to serve as
the Assistant Secretary previously, I have seen it all so I am
coming to serve you with precision and not to experiment with
your mandate. Our practice can actually not wait for
experimentation. When you talk about the ART of
Service.......ABIJO IS ARTS.
A-lways R-eady T-o S-erve)
