The Governor of Cross River State, Bassey Otu, has said that to deliver justice without fear or favour, young lawyers need mentorship to guide them on the right path.
Otu stated this late Friday night in Abuja, at the Johnny Agim Foundation’s Legacy Dialogue 1.0, themed: “The Future of Law and Professional Identity Formation: The Role of Strategic Sponsorship and Mentorship.”
Otu, who noted that mentorship is lacking in many fields in the country, identified the Law profession as one of them.
He hailed the founder of the mentorship initiative, Johnny Agim (SAN), adding that he believes there is going to be emulation from other professionals in mentoring their young professionals to be able to deliver the best services to the nation.
He said, “I am honoured to identify with this very powerful professional mentoring program initiated to level the law career of our legal experts in Nigeria. Permit me to commend the president and founder of this noble initiative because what is lacking in our nation is what is being discussed today. It is not only in the Law profession that we have this huge gap analysis existing which has cost our nation so much that our attraction has been distracted and our country, Nigeria or any nation that hasn’t got a proper path of imparting knowledge and experience cannot go too far.
“Commonly, some of the reasons that we have some of the confusions and issues that we have today. Any nation without justice cannot go too far, and when we don’t have those in the legal profession trained properly and mentored properly, then justice can be misled but where there is justice, you will see happiness, where there is justice, you will see peace.
“Young lawyers need experience to give justice without fear of favour.”
In his remarks, a former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Kanu Agabi (SAN), described the initiative as one that is very much needed at this time when the country is lacking good Samaritans.
He said, “Let me say that this is the type of foundation that we should embrace, a foundation that transcends tribe, transcends religion and it’s all about charity. We need such a foundation at this time.
“This foundation is set up at a time in our country where there is an acute shortage of good Samaritans. Our highways are so dangerous and yet there are no good Samaritans. I put an appeal to every one of us to go into that highway and help.
“I challenge every lawyer wherever you are to do your best, do your utmost best and you will succeed.”
Speaking earlier, the Founder, the JASAN Foundation, JonnyAgim, noted that with the hardship and increased tuition in public universities, the introduction of student loans is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to addressing paying tuition.
He said, “Without wanting to say what the government is doing is just the tip of the iceberg. The legal profession alone, each year, churns out over 4000 lawyers that are called to bar now if you check the entire nation, the total number that the government has provided for is less than 200,000 so what does that tell you”?
He urged others in the legal profession who are hopeful for a change in the profession and other professional bodies to explore the area of mentorship, noting that it is not enough to preach change.
“We have to bring the change we want to see. Those who are interested in that change I call on them to join me and let us see the change in the legal profession and I say it to other professions where mentorship is required, let them set up things like this.
“Never have we gotten a mentorship of this sort in Nigeria in the legal profession and I dare say every other professional body be it engineering, medical field or now even the legal profession.
“I pray and I hope that others will see the need to join me in this and we can be able to help the young lawyers who are coming up”, he added.