A Professor of Law, Charles Adekoya, has said many Nigerian lawyers cannot practice in the United Kingdom due to their penchant for sharp practices and unethical conduct.
Adekoya said many Nigerian lawyers would have lost their licenses or been fined on the grounds of unprofessional practices.
He said unprofessional conduct is viewed very strictly in the UK, “a Barrister could be sanctioned for unnecessarily appealing against a concluded matter or for bringing an appeal that is baseless, including the award of cost and report to the regulatory body which might lead to the Barrister being debarred.”
The don disclosed that interlocutory applications, which are the stock in trade among Nigerian lawyers, are hardly initiated because of the likely negative consequences on the lawyer.
“Many of our colleagues could not practise in the UK as they would have had costs awarded against them or even lose their licences on grounds of unethical or professional misconduct,” he stated unequivocally.
Adekoya, who is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Administration at the Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, demanded stiffer penalties, including withdrawal of practice licence, for lawyers found wanting.
Adekoya expressed worry that the public had lost confidence in the nation’s justice system, blaming this on various professional misconducts by lawyers and judicial officials.
Speaking while delivering the 103rd OOU Inaugural Lecture, the Professor said, ”corruption and unethical practices have suffocated the administration of civil justice in Nigeria.”
In the lecture titled, ‘Betrayal of the Poor in Accessing Justice in Nigeria: The Judas in our Midst,’ the lecturer lamented what he called the humongous challenges facing the poor in accessing justice in Nigeria, warning that lack of access to justice could force the less-privileged members of the society to resort to violent a mass protest, the type similar to the EndSARS protest of 2020.
At the inaugural lecture chaired by the Vice-Chancellor of the University, Prof. Ayodeji Agboola, the Professor of Law regretted that many justice seekers in Nigeria “often quickly abandon their matters due to the harrowing and frustrating way Nigeria’s justice system work.”
In his recommendations, he saw the need for legal education to focus on the development of empathy in Law students for that to appreciate the emotional needs not only of their clients but of parties before them when they become judicial officers, calling for a review of the law curriculum.
