The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, recognized the enormous tasks ahead in the areas of anti-corruption, legal education, judiciary and administration of justice in the country.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Fagbemi spoke at the annual meeting and awards ceremony for members of the Class of 85 at the Nigerian Law School in Abuja on Monday.
Mr. Fagbemi was the pioneer member of the class who was conferred the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) in 1996, 11 years after his appointment as Advocate.
In their statements, the AGF, who was one of the winners, requested the support and advice of the members of the promotion in the performance of their duties.
He said: “In my new appointment, I want to ask for your support, prayers and advice to ensure that we are successful in the task ahead. The tasks are not easy.
“We have a lot of work to do in the war against corruption, in legal education reforms, in the judiciary and in the administration of justice in general.”
Fagbemi, who described himself as an ambassador for the group in President Bola Tinubu’s administration, said: “I will not let down the class or the nation.”
“When I get established, I will also pay attention to the needs of the Nigerian law school and how best to help them,” he added.
He also congratulated the other 34 members of the class who were honored.
“I can see that many of them are heads of different courts in Nigeria. I believe the honor is well deserved as a testimonial that the awardees are worthy ambassadors of this class.
“I am happy with all the winners and I urge them to continue the good work that earned them this honor,” added the minister.
On the group’s ongoing project, the creation of a medical center on the Lagos campus of the Nigerian Law School, Fagbemi said that despite the challenges in getting the project off the ground, it still needs to go ahead.
He urged all members to support the execution and delivery of the project.
“I will continue to do everything I can to help get this project completed as soon as possible,” Fagbemi said.
others speak
The association’s president for life, Emeka Ngige (SAN), said members had done reasonably well.
He said: “We have celebrated numerous appointments, promotions and other achievements of members of this great promotion.
“I am pleased to note that during the year under review, four of our class members were appointed as chief justices in Ondo, Oyo, Benue and Kaduna states.
“We also witnessed the appointment of one of us as Secretary to the Lagos State Government.
“The climax is now the appointment of our leader, Prince Fagbemi, as Nigeria’s 24th Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.”
Ngige said the project for the creation of the medical center on the Lagos campus would likely swallow up the sum of 400 million naira.
He added: “To make the execution of the project less exhausting, we have revised the execution period. The project, including furniture and equipment, will now be carried out within 24 months.
“The plan is to ensure that the medical center is ready for commissioning in 2025 when, by the special grace of God, we will celebrate our 40 years of Call to Bar.”
Local Organizing Committee Chairman Ita Enang said the gathering was a way to give back to the universities from which they graduated.
He said: “Every one of us came together to say, even though we belong to the class of 85 from the Nigerian Law School, what is happening to the Law School we graduated from?
“It’s our way of giving back to the university that raised us. What can we contribute to society that can make sense of it as we age and progress in society?
Enang urged the federal government to set up a judicial commission of inquiry into Nigerian loans in a bid to deal with the dwindling economy.
He said: “We need to know what the loans were applied for and how much we are paying, among other things.
“The President has enough courage. They should recommend to every person, wherever they are today, who was involved in taking any loan, in charge of servicing that loan and tell us what happened to that money.”
For his part, one of the class members, Patrick Ikwueto (SAN), who called for judicial reforms, said that the reforms in the judiciary were quite huge.
He said that reforms in the sector should start with how appointments are made in the first place.
Ikwueto said: “It will also start with making the judiciary truly independent. Independent in the sense of not just saying that it is independent.
“This is because until the judiciary becomes the administrator of its affairs and in control of its resources and funds, it cannot really be said to be independent.
“The courts must be decongested. The judges are overloaded with work and we must think about how to decongest the cases in the courts”.
(YAYA)
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