| It’s not part
of lawyers’ training to tell lies
By AHMED OYERINDE, Sokoto
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Dr. Suleiman Ikpechukwu Oji is a senior lecturer, Faculty
of Law, Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto.
The don, who has been lecturing in the university since 1994,
says he cannot find any law chamber in the real sense of it
in Nigeria.
Dr. Suleiman, who holds Phd in Public Law, blamed the nation’s
senior lawyers for this development, saying they did nothing
to encourage young lawyers. He said that owners of law chambers
are in the habit of paying poor salaries to young lawyers
working for them.
Standard of legal education
I don’t believe the standard of legal education has
fallen. You see, unlike in the past, when you had few people
pursuing legal education, many people today want to study
Law. There is a kind of pressure on the facilities we have
in place. When you have that kind of large number of people
without commensurate development in facilities, there must
be one problem or the other. On the whole, I don’t think
the standard has fallen to a despicable level.
Having said this, I think it will not be a bad idea to have
first degree as a prerequisite qualification for studying
Law. One thing I have realized as a teacher is that most of
the students that started reading Law from 100 level seems
to have deficiency in English. It is better we have matured
students reading Law. They are likely to cope with the demands
of the course.
Unlike other disciplines where once you know the theory governing
a particular topic, you can explain and analyse it based on
your own language, in law, you are not tackling only theories.
You are tackling theories, and principles. You are trying
to interpret case law. People who just left secondary schools
are not well suited to study Law. Having first degree as the
basic qualification would go a long way in enhancing the standard
of legal education.
Managing a law firm
What we have in Nigeria are not law firms in the real sense
of it. I cannot find any law firm in this country. The only
places you can see something that has resemblance of law firm
in Nigeria is when you go to SANs’ offices. What you
find all over the places in the name of law firm, could best
be described as room and parlour offices. Managing a law firm
is not an easy task because it required a lot of capital.
You know the law firm should have a richly equipped library,
a large conference room and should have a qualified secretary
and an assistant secretary, as well as messengers and a good
number of lawyers.
However, because of the economic situation and the fact that
senior lawyers are not helping matters by paying the junior
ones peanuts, you find young lawyers trying to open their
own chambers. Since they lack capital to put up a standard
law firm, you find mushroom chambers all over the place. In
Law, we deal with books and that is why you find people saying
a lawyer without books is like a mechanic without tools. The
books we are talking about here is not just putting a few
law reports on the shelves. It goes beyond that. One should
have the up dated law reports, law journals, books on drafting
and precedence.
Lawyers as liars
To tell you the truth, as a legal practitioner, nobody wants
to loose a case and I think some, because of that, do certain
things that are unethical in order to win a case even if that
will mean changing the facts of the case and tutoring witnesses
to tell lies.
Having said this, let me quickly add that it is grossly unethical
for lawyers to lie under whatever circumstances and I don’t
think there is any teacher in any faculty of law who will
teach law students to tell lies. You know if a lawyer is found
to have commited such offence, that lawyer may be disrobed.
It is not part of lawyer’s training to tell lies.
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