Press Releases

Fashola Calls For Review Of UN Regulations To Meet Current Global Needs
• Charges lawyers to evolve new legal order

Aug 18, 2009 - Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), Wednesday called for the review of some of the regulations of the United Nations in order to meet current global needs saying such regulations, made over 50 years ago, are now obsolete.

Governor Fashola, who spoke at the Lagos House, Alausa, Ikeja, when he hosted the President of the International Bar Association (IBA), Dr. Fernando Pelaez-Pie, said as a result of the failure of such regulations to meet the global needs of today, there is increasing poverty while the world is also threatened by conflicts.

Citing the Principle of Non-Aggression as example of regulations that did not anticipate today’s problems, 40, 50, 60 years ago, Governor Fashola declared, “The whole world was concerned about international aggression; one man was trying to conquer the whole world and we set up bodies like the United Nations and one of the critical principles and policies that emerged then was the principle of non-aggression. Now, how useful is the Principle today if states cannot intervene in crisis of genocide? Is that principle applicable where states as a matter of might and for economic interest invalidate that principle?”

According to the Governor, “Much of the under-developed parts of the world today are faced with internal conflicts created by those entrusted with authority and the Principle of Non-Aggression becomes a barrier as states cannot intervene to save human beings”.

“Is it not time to look at these regulations; to begin to prescribe regulations that also prohibit leaders from inflicting pains and harm on the same people they are entrusted to care for?”, the Governor queried urging the IBA President to use his position as leader of the largest body of lawyers globally to consider the issue at the forthcoming Conference of the Association in Madrid, Spain.

Charging the legal profession to evolve new world legal orders, Governor Fashola again queried, “If all of those organs set up to protect humanity are now confounding the new problems, what roles are lawyers playing in evolving new legal orders?”, adding that lawyers, as people trained in the knowledge and act of Law have more than ordinary responsibilities in regulating and conducting themselves in the affairs of any community.

Governor Fashola said because of the roles that lawyers play in economies across the world, there is no boardroom that they cannot be found as company secretaries, CEOs and directors adding, “Therefore, we have a critical role to play in affecting the distribution of resources and reducing poverty”.

“If Africa and Nigeria, with their large population, represent a very strong market today for investment, I think that the International Bar Association should help to project them as representing a large market for goods and services, especially when that assemblage of lawyers, of which Nigeria contributes a huge number, meets”, the Governor urged, pointing out that he has always made it a duty to attend every session of the International Conference that deals with Public-Private Partnership.

Expressing fears about the sustainability of the Public Private Partnership as a noble financial mechanism for sustaining public expenditure especially as governments are now beginning to spend more, the Governor declared, “The critical challenges ahead may require lawyers to create new economic solutions”, adding that Nigeria would remain very healthy member of the International Bar Association. “We would give our best as we get”, he promised.

Earlier, in his remarks, the IBA President said one of the reasons why he is attending the 2009 Annual Conference of the NBA was because he is committed to seeing all the different regional forums come together.

“The important thing for me as part of the works I have been doing for a number of years is to recognize the contributions from the people from all the different regions and I was in charge of working on the restructuring of the regional activities within the IBA” he said.

Describing his invitation to the NBA Conference as an honour, the IBA President said the relationship between the NBA and the IBA has been very strong and very active adding, “We have always been having delegations from Nigeria in our conferences especially Annual Conferences”.