Public Lecture: That This Profession May Not Die: The Need To Flush Out Miscreants From The Nigerian Legal Profession

Abstract

One of the key hindrances to sustainable development and economic growth
in Nigeria is the problem of corruption. For many years, discussions on
corruption inevitably focused on political abuse of powers and privileges and
wanton disregard of the rule of law. Events of the last decade however sadly
reveal that corruption, nepotism, and indiscipline have equally taken prominent
places in the Nigerian legal profession, ranging from the bar, bench and the
legal academia. Most alarming is the geometric rise in instances of corruption
in our higher institutions of learning; ranging from prevalent sharp practices in
admissions, examinations, research, teaching, tenure and academic promotions.
This paper examines the challenges of endemic and systemic corruption
in the Nigerian legal profession. The paper adopts a crosscutting approach
to discuss how perennial instances of corruption threaten the nobility and
growth of the Nigerian legal profession. It proposes a holistic purging of
the bench, practicing bar, and the legal academia to name, shame and expel
miscreants, in order to restore the age long discipline and dignity of the
Nigerian legal profession.