“Lawyers are the foot soldiers of the constitution” – The Lawyer Myth
The National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is a bicameral legislature which consists of a Senate with 109 members, and a 360-member House of Representatives. The 36 states of Nigeria have their own houses of assembly saddled with the responsibility of making laws for peace, order and good governance. There should be about 1,000 members of the state houses of assembly. This means that with the senators and members of the House of Representatives, including members of the state houses of assembly, we should have over 1,500 lawmakers in the country.
At this point, it should be noted that Nigeria has one of the best set of laws in the world lying in dusty files for lack of enforcement and implementation. Year in year out, our lawmakers pass laws that should better the lives of citizens, yet the Nigerians on the street do not feel the impact or importance of these laws. For instance, the Freedom of Information Act (2011) which affords every Nigerian, regardless of tribe, age or creed a right of access to information or records held by public institutions and private entities irrespective of the form in which such information or records are kept.
Yet, eight years down the road, Nigerians still derive information about public institutions through rumours. Only recently, a colleague was surprised to find out that with the FOI Act, failure of any public institution not to release a record on demand is an offence that the court can act on.
Which begs the question, what is responsible for lack of consciousness on the laws passed by our lawmakers, and do those saddled with the responsibility of making these laws have the requisite knowledge to make laws for the people?
To me, we can do better by emulating China; we can do everything by ourselves by encouraging and making use of our indigenous potentials. The Council of Legal Education graduates more than 4,000 lawyers every year, and yet, less than five per cent of our lawmakers hire the services of legal professionals to guide them in making laws for the country.
It is not enough to sponsor a bill without knowing or appreciating the effects of the bill on Nigerians when it becomes a law, or what it will cost the average Nigerian for such law to be enforced or implemented. Any person who wishes to serve in the legislature ought to hire the services of a legal professional. I am not talking about lawmakers briefing a lawyer to help them draft a bill, I am talking about lawmakers hiring a legal professional as part of their team for the four year- term they will be in office.
This gives the lawmaker firsthand information about how a bill will affect the Nigerian citizen, its effect, implementation and enforcement challenges, and also how to get Nigerians involved in the lawmaking process. This will also help reduce unemployment in the legal industry which is on the rise.
On the role of lawyers in social transformation, Anujunant stated that, “… lawyers are those small pillars in a building that are required during the construction of the main pillar as to give it support towards the right direction.” Simply put, lawyers are the officers who work to make sure that citizens are not deprived of their right, that is the more reason why lawmakers ought to hire the services of legal professionals so that the rights of citizens can be protected in the lawmaking process.
If we indeed want to make a difference, we must start doing the right thing. Don’t make laws without the services of a legal professional.
Godspeed.
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