Foremost Legal juggernaut and Founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, ABUAD, Aare Afe Babalola, SAN, has reeled out the nuggets of success in practice to the Final Year Law students of his 13-year-old university as they are preparing for their one-year training at the Nigerian Law School.
The first of such parley in the history of the College of Law of the University, Babalola, who addressed the Final Year Law Students in Ado-Ekiti over the weekend emphasised that they were lucky to have gone through the best Law College in West Africa (courtesy of NUC), where they have been learning the Theory of Law, garnished with practical aspects of Law.
He charged them that with the quality education they had received in ABUAD coupled with their one-year training in the Nigerian Law School where they will be tutored in Civil Procedure, Criminal Procedure, Commercial Law Business Law and Law of Evidence, as well as Arbitration which they are quite familiar with, there is no earthly reason they should not beat the 2018 record set by ABUAD Law graduates in the Law School.
During the 2018 Bar Examination moderated by the Council of Legal Education, ABUAD Law graduates recorded 100 percent Pass rate, recorded 12 First Class, while the overall best student for that year came from ABUAD. In addition to these uncommon accomplishments, ABUAD students won 24 out of the 36 available prizes as a result of which many of the much older universities have been commending the feat.
For example, former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Professor Idowu Olayinka, had this to say about the feat: “ABUAD, a private university established less than 15 years ago, is clearly a star, with its outstanding performance of having a dozen First Class. This is what you get when there is a strategic investment in human and material resources for which we warmly congratulate the Founder and Proprietor, Aare Afe Babalola, SAN.
“Some of the people in public universities, both staff and students, have the habit of dismissing the private universities. This is not supported by hard and empirical facts as seen in the example of Afe Babalola University. ABUAD has clearly distinguished itself as confirmed by this league table of performance at the Nigerian Law School.”
According to Babalola: “It goes without saying that your next journey is the Law School. My wish, hope and prayer are for your set to record 100 percent Pass Rate, the largest number of First Class with the best overall student in your set in the Law School, coming from ABUAD like we recorded in 2018. It is also my expectation that you will carte home 66.6 percent of available prizes just like your predecessors did in 2018.
“You have gone through the Best Law College in West Africa (courtesy of NUC) and so, you have no reason not to perform better than your predecessors.
“When I was studying for the B. Sc. in Economics of the University of London by Correspondence in 1954, there was a subject called Applied Economics, which you can equate with the training in the Law School. Just like it was not enough for me to study Economics per se then, but to also study Applied Economics, I can say without any equivocation that you are going to study Applied Law in the Law School. Like I said earlier, we expect you to excel because very much unlike other Colleges of Law in the country, we have inculcated in you the rudiments of all you need to excel.”
Addressing them on ‘Life after Law School’, the former Pro Chancellor of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), advised them that whatever they intend do, be it as civil servants, employees in companies or even as full-time legal practitioners, they should ensure that they undertake their pupilage training under very experienced lawyers.
He stressed that “It is a peculiar practice in this country to see a lawyer who has just been called to the Bar to open a one-man Law Office and install a signboard of XYZ & Co Solicitors and Legal Practitioners.
“It is an acknowledged fact the world over that experience is the best teacher. As I said earlier, it is not enough to learn the Theories of Law and jump into practice. The consequence is that many of the new wigs who open offices after being called to the Bar end up as poor lawyers. They are the ones often seen with their wigs and gowns rolled up and riding Okada. This certainly is not good enough for the image of the Law profession.
“It is a fact that Law is a highly honourable profession. Like in any serious profession and vocation, there is need for pupillage for new entrants into such professions and vocations. This will enable the new entrants to understudy the experienced ones in such professions and drink from their fountains of knowledge and experience. We always have a lot to learn from the success stories of those before us.
“Pupillage has been defined as the state of learning, being a student, or a period of undertaking a learning process. It is the final step towards qualification as a Barrister in England and Wales. A period during which a lawyer trains to become a Barrister by studying with a qualified Barrister or the system which allows this training. It has also been defined as apprenticeship to a member of the Bar, which qualifies a Barrister to practice independently.
“Pupillage is the accepted practise in the United Kingdom and some parts of Canada. It has been the practice in the United Kingdom for over a century. This pupillage lasts for 12 months in the United Kingdom and up to 18 months in Canada. The aim of pupillage in countries that require this before a person is permitted to practise law to ensure thoroughbred professionals in the legal profession and not allow new wigs to set up law offices, make teething errors or mislead clients. The intent is to protect and preserve the legal profession.”
Drawing from 60 years’ experience as Legal practitioner during which he represented presidents, governors, banks, oil and many blue-chip companies, Babalola urged the would-be green wigs to imbibe the culture of commitment and hardwork, stressing that while hardwork does not kill, it is indolence, on the contrary, that kills.
In addition, he urged them to also imbibe the culture of role modelling, bearing in mind that ABUAD is a role model, just like its founder is a role model in many facets of life. He went further to emphasise the need for them to also imbibe the culture of personal development, particularly as there is no end to learning, stressing that the day a man stops to learn is the day he is dead!
He listed other factors they should pay attention to as culture of discipline, determination, industry and that of punctuality and utilisation of time, because life is time and time is life.”
Above all, he underscored the culture of decent dressing. Waxing biblical, Babalola said: “You should always remember what Apostle Paul told the Corinthian Christians in 1 Corinthians Chapter 14, verse 40, to wit: Let all things be done decently and in order. Please note that all things mean all things and include decent dressing in all ramifications.”
Taking a cue from that Biblical parlance, he also urged the would-be green wigs to always take cognisance of the Yoruba Adage which says: “Iri nisi, ni so nilojo” which translates roughly into: “The way you dress is the way you are addressed and/or accepted.”
Drawing from some personal experiences, Babalola said: “I remember this case in my early days at the Bar. There was a case in court on Monday when there was a call-over. The court was full and there was this handsome lawyer dressed in a blue shining suit to the court. Chief Folake Solanke was there and I was there too. On seeing the well-dressed lawyer, Chief Solanke wondered whether the judge would comment.
“Lo and behold, when the lawyer announced his appearance, Justice Olajide Somolu, the Honourable Chief Judge, said in his baritone voice: “You are not appearing.” He announced his appearance the second time, again Justice Somolu repeated that: “You are not appearing.” At the third announcement of the lawyer’s supposed appearance, Justice Somolu said: “When you change your wedding dress and dress like a lawyer, then you can appear.” Chief Solanke, a stickler to discipline and character, said: “Thank you my Lord, that is the correct thing.”
“When you see a lawyer in England, it is very easy to identify him with his wig, sparkling white shirt, bib, black suit and his bowler hat unlike the practice here where some lawyers and even Judges wear traditional caps on Lawyers/Judges’ robes.
“In another instance, I was appearing for a client in a land matter in Ile-Ife. I went with four juniors, two males and two females. Chief Solanke, as the defendant lawyer, came with two male lawyers. Before the court sat, Chief Solanke, a very decent and courteous person, called on me to please allow her to speak with the two female lawyers in my team. I obliged her. She then took them aside and told them that lawyers don’t wear flamboyant earrings. Besides, it is not permitted that their long wiggy hair should show under their wigs. She thereafter asked them to go out and dress properly.”
Babalola, who had mentored not a few, lamented the situation today when some lawyers and even judges dress so shabbily both in and out of court, adding with regret that “it is a common sight today to see female lawyers and judges who parade long wigs and braids, some of which touch their waist level with their wigs hanging precariously on their heads.”
He further urged the would-be green wigs to put what they have learnt in ABUAD into practice by always being determined, focused and industrious and admonished them to always have it at the back of their minds that if he can make it despite his rustic beginnings, it will be much easier for them to make it faster and better.
To drive his point home, he told them a story of how after studying privately at home to obtain his B.Sc. (Economics) of the University of London in 1959 and his LL.B (Hons.) of the same university in 1963, he travelled to London for his Bar Examination because there was no Law School in Nigeria then.
After coming back home, he had his pupillage with the Ayoola Brothers, the best Litigation Lawyers in the country then before he set up his one-man Chambers in a rented “One Room and Parlour” in Adamasingba, Ekotedo, Ibadan, in 1965.
He said: “In those early days, we were in a particular gathering where some learned senior lawyers advised us on what to do to succeed in our career. Just like I have just done, they emphasised the place of pupillage, discipline, character, industry, determination, punctuality, dressing among several others. We all dispersed after the meeting. Some 10 years later, one of us met one of the senior lawyers and narrated how he had followed all the snippets of advice he gave some 10 years back and yet he was not yet at the Eldorado, practice-wise. The senior lawyer then told him that there was something he forgot to add to his earlier words of advice: that he did not ask the young lawyer to pray for good luck.”
On that note, he wished all of them good luck in their career.
On their role as Alumni of Afe Babalola University, the frontline Educationist reminded them that the world over, an alumnus of a university is a child of the university that trained the student and therefore such an Alumnus is indebted to recognise and treat the university the same way he treats the biological father.
According to him, “One expects a good child to cater for both the biological father and the university which is the other father. I recall my invitation in June 2017 to deliver the 2017 Distinguished Annual Lecture Series of the Faculty of Education of Obafemi Awolowo University Ile Ife (OAU), Osun State. In that lecture, I had attached as Annexure 1 Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife’s graduate output from 1963 /1964 to 2014/2015. The total number of postgraduate and undergraduate students was 136,270. Assuming only 75 percent of these graduates appreciate their obligation to the university and support the university with only N10,000 a year, the total annual monetary support to the university will be N1,022,020,000.00. In 10 years, it would be close to N10,220,200,000.00
“I therefore seize this opportunity to call on all members of the Alumni Association of the Afe Babalola University and other universities in Nigeria to rise to the challenge of taking their institutions to greater heights by donating handsomely to their Alma mater.
“I challenge all those who have graduated from our universities, particularly those who are gainfully employed including those in business and politics, to donate not less than 10 percent of their income to their Alumni Association Endowment Fund.”
- Olofintila, Director of Corporate Affairs, ABUAD.
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