Hire A legal Professional By Daniel Bulusson | Nairalaw

“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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