JUSUN Strike: Lawyers Resort To Taxi Driving, Farming

Editors Note; Originally published in
Daily
Trust^[1]

*Junior lawyers need to diversify – SANs

The last eight weeks have not been the best of times for lawyers
who make their living by going to courts in Nigeria, following the
prolonged strike by the Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN).
Daily Trust Saturday findings show that most of them have turned to
other jobs for survival.

The strike, declared by the union on April 6, over the
non-implementation of autonomy for the judiciary in the states have
seen all the courts nationwide shut; as a result, activities around
litigations went into a lull.

The total lockdown in the third of arm of government affected
the Supreme Court, the various divisions of the Court of Appeal,
the National Industrial Court, the Federal High Court nationwide,
state High Courts, Sharia Courts, Customary Courts, down to the
Magistrate’s Courts, Area Courts and tribunals.

The impact of the strike is being felt by lawyers. Those who
have some savings are resting or working on some outstanding files
while others have embarked on alternative means of livelihood,
according to findings by Daily Trust Saturday.

Cab driving, farming, sundry businesses top new
engagements

Top on the list of occupations by lawyers at this time is taxi
driving, farming and some businesses, especially in Lagos, Abuja,
Enugu, Ilorin and Kaduna.

An Abuja-based lawyer, Kene Ifekwe, said he had been involved in
managing real estate and rental services for clients, which has
kept him going.

Some lawyers who spoke on condition of anonymity told our
correspondent that the near two months of JUSUN strike had dealt a
huge blow on their finances.

They noted that the strike action had compounded their woes,
especially as they were trying to recover from the economic effects
of COVID-19.

“We have to survive. Our colleagues are into many things –
farming, petty businesses, fashion designing, among others. I am
planning to go into farming too,’’ a male lawyer told our
correspondent.

A member of the Kwara State chapter of the Young Lawyers Forum
(YLF) who craved anonymity, said many young lawyers had devised
other means of surviving the strike.

“What most lawyers do now is the business of agents and
caretakers and selling properties. Many of our females are now
involved in trading on foodstuff, provisions, dresses, materials,
while others have become fashion designers and farmers. A colleague
of ours is now a disc jockey (DJ). We even have cases of those
involving on unethical practices this time around, living on
clients’ money, especially those managing properties, even though
it has not gotten to the open,” he said.

According to him, those in private practice are the worst hit,
unlike their counterparts in the public sector, who still continue
to draw their salaries from the government monthly.

“The few notary publics among us who are signing documents have
reduced their fees to notarise documents from N2,000. There is a
senior lawyer in town who collects N100 per document, just to
attract patronage. It is that bad,” he added.

An Enugu-based lawyer, Victor Amilo, said some of his junior
colleagues started driving Uber and Bolt cars for income while some
had gone into trading and providing legal services to
politicians.

A Kaduna-born legal practitioner, Ali Zubairu, said 70 to 80 per
cent of lawyers involved in litigation had borne the brunt of the
strike as many clients were turned back because the courts are not
sitting.

Reacting to the development, Yomi Omowunmi said he would lay off
his junior lawyers if the strike is not called off at the end of
the month because of the cost of maintaining them.

Joseph Otteh, the convener of Access to Justice (AJ), has
pleaded with the striking judiciary workers in the country to call
off the strike, saying they should consider the plight of detainees
who have been denied justice since the commencement of the
industrial action.

Also lamenting the situation, Rasheed Lawal said most of the
legal documents that had been prepared were piled up in their
offices, yet to be signed. He added that what had kept some lawyers
going were their legal advisories and retainership agreement fees
with some companies/clients.

“As Nigeria and the world continue to battle the scourge of the
COVID-19 pandemic, it is worrisome that detention centres are
holding more detainees than they are designed to hold, making them
fertile grounds for the transmission of the virus.

“My disappointment and disgust for the leaders we have today is
increasing everyday. The political class deserves no applause, the
APC deserves no praises, and some leaders of the Nigerian Bar
Association (NBA) should just bury their heads in shame,’’ he
said.

Junior lawyers need to diversify – SANs

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Adegboyega Awomolo, said he
felt pity for junior lawyers who have no other means of survival
other than appearance fees from clients and allowances. He
encouraged them to think outside the box without compromising the
integrity of the legal profession.

“I can tell you that when I was a junior lawyer in Ilorin, I ran
a farm where I planted yams and kept poultry. I also engaged in
transport business: I had two taxis in Ilorin. But the Nigerian
economy is so bad now that no investment is encouraged. You cannot
take money from the bank and expect good interest, you can’t do any
business that will bring you profit. We are going through the worst
era as a country.

“If you want to go into farming and herders come and destroy the
farm, what would you do? I am happy that a lot of lawyers have
businesses. We used to have a Central Bank of Nigeria investment
for lawyers. In that investment, if you had N1million or N2million
in your savings account you would get N5,000 as interest at the end
of the month,’’ he said.

He said the legal profession had become so challenged in the
country that lawyers now find it difficult to survive, while the
police are taking advantage of the absence of courts.

Also speaking, a former president of the Nigerian Bar
Association (NBA), Abubakar Balarabe Mahmoud (SAN) said the
association should be in the forefront of issues affecting the
welfare of lawyers in the country.

“They have to come up with a realistic plan on how to mitigate
this. The best realistic way is to mobilise the senior members of
the Bar who have the capability to assist the younger ones. I think
that is the immediate solution to this problem. Other solutions
have to be more medium and longer-term solutions,” he said.

He described as unfortunate and unacceptable, the shutting of
courts for almost two months, explaining that the impact is not
just on lawyers but the wider society.

Also speaking in the same vein, an Abeokuta-based lawyer, Habeeb
Whyte, said the strike was a clarion call for lawyers to diversify
their sources of income.

According to him, the strike is biting hard on lawyers as some
of them only make money on litigations, charging per hour or
appearance.

“The effect of the strike is quite enormous economically because
everybody is just at home.

“The best we can do for ourselves is to keep on improving on the
knowledge of the law by reading, having more time for the library
and checking on all our cases. Doing that is good, but you can’t be
doing that on empty stomach. You have to survive anyway you
can.

“Most lawyers that didn’t go to police stations now go there to
settle cases without resorting to court. They do that because they
can’t steal,’’ he said.

The spokesman of the NBA, Dr Rapuluchukwu Nduka, did not respond
to a text message to his phone for comments.

John C. Azu (Abuja), Adelanwa Bamgboye (Lagos), Mumini
Abdulkareem (Ilorin) & Peter Moses (Abeokuta)

Editors Note; Originally published in
Daily
Trust^[1]

*Junior lawyers need to diversify – SANs

The last eight weeks have not been the best of times for lawyers
who make their living by going to courts in Nigeria, following the
prolonged strike by the Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN).
Daily Trust Saturday findings show that most of them have turned to
other jobs for survival.

The strike, declared by the union on April 6, over the
non-implementation of autonomy for the judiciary in the states have
seen all the courts nationwide shut; as a result, activities around
litigations went into a lull.

The total lockdown in the third of arm of government affected
the Supreme Court, the various divisions of the Court of Appeal,
the National Industrial Court, the Federal High Court nationwide,
state High Courts, Sharia Courts, Customary Courts, down to the
Magistrate’s Courts, Area Courts and tribunals.

The impact of the strike is being felt by lawyers. Those who
have some savings are resting or working on some outstanding files
while others have embarked on alternative means of livelihood,
according to findings by Daily Trust Saturday.

Cab driving, farming, sundry businesses top new
engagements

Top on the list of occupations by lawyers at this time is taxi
driving, farming and some businesses, especially in Lagos, Abuja,
Enugu, Ilorin and Kaduna.

An Abuja-based lawyer, Kene Ifekwe, said he had been involved in
managing real estate and rental services for clients, which has
kept him going.

Some lawyers who spoke on condition of anonymity told our
correspondent that the near two months of JUSUN strike had dealt a
huge blow on their finances.

They noted that the strike action had compounded their woes,
especially as they were trying to recover from the economic effects
of COVID-19.

“We have to survive. Our colleagues are into many things –
farming, petty businesses, fashion designing, among others. I am
planning to go into farming too,’’ a male lawyer told our
correspondent.

A member of the Kwara State chapter of the Young Lawyers Forum
(YLF) who craved anonymity, said many young lawyers had devised
other means of surviving the strike.

“What most lawyers do now is the business of agents and
caretakers and selling properties. Many of our females are now
involved in trading on foodstuff, provisions, dresses, materials,
while others have become fashion designers and farmers. A colleague
of ours is now a disc jockey (DJ). We even have cases of those
involving on unethical practices this time around, living on
clients’ money, especially those managing properties, even though
it has not gotten to the open,” he said.

According to him, those in private practice are the worst hit,
unlike their counterparts in the public sector, who still continue
to draw their salaries from the government monthly.

“The few notary publics among us who are signing documents have
reduced their fees to notarise documents from N2,000. There is a
senior lawyer in town who collects N100 per document, just to
attract patronage. It is that bad,” he added.

An Enugu-based lawyer, Victor Amilo, said some of his junior
colleagues started driving Uber and Bolt cars for income while some
had gone into trading and providing legal services to
politicians.

A Kaduna-born legal practitioner, Ali Zubairu, said 70 to 80 per
cent of lawyers involved in litigation had borne the brunt of the
strike as many clients were turned back because the courts are not
sitting.

Reacting to the development, Yomi Omowunmi said he would lay off
his junior lawyers if the strike is not called off at the end of
the month because of the cost of maintaining them.

Joseph Otteh, the convener of Access to Justice (AJ), has
pleaded with the striking judiciary workers in the country to call
off the strike, saying they should consider the plight of detainees
who have been denied justice since the commencement of the
industrial action.

Also lamenting the situation, Rasheed Lawal said most of the
legal documents that had been prepared were piled up in their
offices, yet to be signed. He added that what had kept some lawyers
going were their legal advisories and retainership agreement fees
with some companies/clients.

“As Nigeria and the world continue to battle the scourge of the
COVID-19 pandemic, it is worrisome that detention centres are
holding more detainees than they are designed to hold, making them
fertile grounds for the transmission of the virus.

“My disappointment and disgust for the leaders we have today is
increasing everyday. The political class deserves no applause, the
APC deserves no praises, and some leaders of the Nigerian Bar
Association (NBA) should just bury their heads in shame,’’ he
said.

Junior lawyers need to diversify – SANs

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Adegboyega Awomolo, said he
felt pity for junior lawyers who have no other means of survival
other than appearance fees from clients and allowances. He
encouraged them to think outside the box without compromising the
integrity of the legal profession.

“I can tell you that when I was a junior lawyer in Ilorin, I ran
a farm where I planted yams and kept poultry. I also engaged in
transport business: I had two taxis in Ilorin. But the Nigerian
economy is so bad now that no investment is encouraged. You cannot
take money from the bank and expect good interest, you can’t do any
business that will bring you profit. We are going through the worst
era as a country.

“If you want to go into farming and herders come and destroy the
farm, what would you do? I am happy that a lot of lawyers have
businesses. We used to have a Central Bank of Nigeria investment
for lawyers. In that investment, if you had N1million or N2million
in your savings account you would get N5,000 as interest at the end
of the month,’’ he said.

He said the legal profession had become so challenged in the
country that lawyers now find it difficult to survive, while the
police are taking advantage of the absence of courts.

Also speaking, a former president of the Nigerian Bar
Association (NBA), Abubakar Balarabe Mahmoud (SAN) said the
association should be in the forefront of issues affecting the
welfare of lawyers in the country.

“They have to come up with a realistic plan on how to mitigate
this. The best realistic way is to mobilise the senior members of
the Bar who have the capability to assist the younger ones. I think
that is the immediate solution to this problem. Other solutions
have to be more medium and longer-term solutions,” he said.

He described as unfortunate and unacceptable, the shutting of
courts for almost two months, explaining that the impact is not
just on lawyers but the wider society.

Also speaking in the same vein, an Abeokuta-based lawyer, Habeeb
Whyte, said the strike was a clarion call for lawyers to diversify
their sources of income.

According to him, the strike is biting hard on lawyers as some
of them only make money on litigations, charging per hour or
appearance.

“The effect of the strike is quite enormous economically because
everybody is just at home.

“The best we can do for ourselves is to keep on improving on the
knowledge of the law by reading, having more time for the library
and checking on all our cases. Doing that is good, but you can’t be
doing that on empty stomach. You have to survive anyway you
can.

“Most lawyers that didn’t go to police stations now go there to
settle cases without resorting to court. They do that because they
can’t steal,’’ he said.

The spokesman of the NBA, Dr Rapuluchukwu Nduka, did not respond
to a text message to his phone for comments.

John C. Azu (Abuja), Adelanwa Bamgboye (Lagos), Mumini
Abdulkareem (Ilorin) & Peter Moses (Abeokuta)