The Nigerian Bar Association has knocked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu over his comments on not tolerating illegal orders.
In his Democracy Day Speech on Monday, Tinubu said his administration will not tolerate “unnecessary illegal orders” from the judiciary used to “truncate or abridge democracy”.
In a reaction, the NBA through its president, Yakubu Maikyau, stress that only the courts can determine what “illegal orders” are.
The NBA said it looks forward to Tinubu’s demonstration of high regard for the rule of law and the orders of the courts of the land.
Maikyau also spoke on the welfare of Judges and Justices, saying it appears that successive administrations have deliberately ignored this responsibility.
He noted that the last time the salaries and allowances of judicial officers were reviewed was in 2008 despite inflation and the nation’s concrete economic realities.
The NBA president further stressed that the conditions under which Judges and Justices work is pitiable and shameful for a country that has exported legal knowledge and service to other parts of the continent and across the world.
He opined that a complete overhaul in the justice sector is necessary.
Speaking on Subsidy removal and the economy, the NBA said there is an urgent need to put in place policies that will help cushion the effect of this otherwise laudable decision before its positive impact will begin to be felt or noticed within our socio-economic space.
While promising to hold the President accountable for his assurance that “the government I lead will repay you through massive investment in transportation infrastructure, education, regular power supply, healthcare and other public utilities that will improve the quality of lives,” the NBA advised that the pains and suffering of the people must never be taken for granted; as it must count for something.
Away from the subsidy removal, the NBA expressed concern over the level of insecurity in Nigeria and urged Tinubu to “declare a state of emergency in this area if we are to make any meaningful progress.
“We must look very critically at the peculiarities of our security situations and design bespoke measures to deal with them while ensuring that continental, cross-border, and international collaborations are carefully exploited to deal with our security challenges.”
It also called on the government to consider diplomatic strategies to address these issues because of the global trends in security just as it encouraged the administration to employ the right professionals to implement the security plans and policies needed.
“What Nigerians require is a well-thought-out, informed, all-inclusive and purposeful intervention, with as much information made available to the public, to the extent permitted within the parlance, so as to reassure Nigerians of the sincere commitment of government in the area of security,” the NBA said.
“This is necessary to build back the confidence we individually and collectively need as a people. Government must be transparent; the people must, by deliberate and conscious investment in manpower development and equipment purchase/procurement, be taken out of the state of fear, that decades of bloodshed and flourishing criminal activities have plunged the country into; the psyche of Nigerians must be recovered from the place of despair and despondency.”
While noting that deliberate and appropriate investment in the improvement of the welfare of security officers and equally equipping them to function effectively and efficiently, is crucial, the NBA also promised to hold the government accountable in this regard.
