{"id":8605,"date":"2013-08-19T01:40:08","date_gmt":"2013-08-19T01:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/disnaija.com\/nigerian-newspapers\/young-lawyers-bemoan-plight-allege-poor-welfare\/"},"modified":"2013-08-19T01:40:08","modified_gmt":"2013-08-19T01:40:08","slug":"young-lawyers-bemoan-plight-allege-poor-welfare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disnaija.com\/young-lawyers-bemoan-plight-allege-poor-welfare\/","title":{"rendered":"Young lawyers bemoan plight, allege poor welfare"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

Some young lawyers have raised alarm over poor welfare and high rate of unemployment among the teeming group of their colleagues in the country.<\/p>\n

The lawyers who spoke exclusively to National Mirror also criticised the insensitivity of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and some senior lawyers to their plight.<\/p>\n

A Lagos- based lawyer, Mr. Ayodeji Kehinde, said, \u201cNBA is not paying any attention to young lawyers at all. As far as I am concern, NBA is inactive and insensitive as regards to the plight of young lawyers\u201d.<\/p>\n

According to him, \u201cSome senior lawyers are selfish. Young lawyers are treated with disdain and a lot of young lawyers are suffering\u201d.<\/p>\n

He further said, \u201cSome senior lawyers also give conditions to job- seeking new wigs before they are employed. If you cannot bring clients and contribute some measurable inputs to the firm, you will not be employed\u201d.<\/p>\n

Another young lawyer, Miss Mobisola Akerele said \u201cthe NBA is not doing anything about the plight of young lawyers and I can affirm that a lot of young lawyers are being under-paid\u201d.<\/p>\n

She however commended the NBA for the discount it granted the young lawyers seeking to attend the forthcoming Bar Conference in Calabar, Cross River State on August 25. She said besides this form of support, there was no other welfare package for the new wigs.<\/p>\n

Miss Bukola Bells corroborated this position adding: \u201cThe way out of the predicament is for NBA to mandate all established law firms to pay standard minimum wages\u201d.<\/p>\n

But Chief Adeniyi Akintola, (SAN) said, \u201cYou cannot regulate what an employer would pay an employee. The Bar is not a trade union. I belong to the school of thought that says you cannot pay a junior in your chambers adequately. Where I was trained, thank God my principal is still alive, I didn\u2019t earn salary for three years, but I was not starving at the same time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is because the mechanism for the welfare of juniors that were put in place there. We used to have what we called transport allowance. For every time you went out to handle a case you were paid N20 only; you know it was a lot of money then\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut if you followed your principal to court in the morning, you would not be entitled to anything because you would be riding in his car. But Chief Afe Babalola (SAN), God bless him, changed the situation\u2019 he added.<\/p>\n

The Chairman of NBA, Ikeja branch, Mr. Monday Ubani said \u201cNBA as an institution does not run law firms, it is only our members that do.<\/p>\n

He added that \u2018\u2019No amount of money is sufficient for a lawyer as salary. It is very important that juniors must be made to learn first and they should be sure that the big monies will roll in later. Seniors must be humane in their employment policies. Junior lawyers should be encouraged\u201d.<\/p>\n

Chairman, NBA, Ikorodu branch, Mr. Saheed Owosile said \u201c What the NBA can only do is to encourage senior lawyers to endeavour to pay properly and ensure the unemployment circle is reduced to the barest minimum\u201d.<\/p>\n

Former second Vice-President, NBA, Mr. Adekunle Ojo said, \u201cI am not aware of any move by the Bar to redress the underdevelopment of the younger ones. Hence, the resort to shabby practices by many of them; there is not even any official help to enable them go into partnership\u201d.<\/p>\n

————————————————————————————————————————-
Posted in Nigerian Newspapers. <\/a>A DisNaija.Com<\/a> network.<\/p>\n

Source: National Mirror Newspaper<\/p>\n

DisNaija.Com<\/b> publishes regular posts on Nigeria News,<\/a> Nigerian Newspapers,<\/a> Online Nigeria Gist.<\/a><\/p>\n

Follow us on Twitter<\/a> and Facebook<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Nigerian Newspapers<\/a>
\n
\nFollow @Dis_Naija<\/a>
\n