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A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mrs Mia Essien, on Tuesday decried sexual harassment of female lawyers by their senior colleagues, urging that lawyers’ Rules of Professional Conduct (RPC) should condemn sexual assault and bullying.

Essien, the Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association Section on Legal Practice (NBA-LP), made the call at the Showcase Session of the 59th NBA Annual General Conference (AGC) at the Eko Hotel and Suites in Lagos.

The session had the topic: “Bullying and Sexual Harassment in the Legal Community”.

“There are situations where senior lawyers travel with junior female colleagues and make no hotel reservations for such females,” she said.

She said that such females ended up in the rooms of their principals, who deliberately did so to sexually exploit them.

According to Essien, while the RPC talks about ethical conduct for legal practitioners, it says nothing about sexual harassment or bullying of lawyers.

“I urge the NBA to ensure an amendment of the RPC to reflect these issues,” she said.

Essien said that lawyers were expected to know that sexual harassment and bullying were condemnable and thus, should conduct themselves in the most ethical manner.

The senior advocate said that there was a difference between bullying and correction of a junior colleague, which she described as a key element of legal practice.

“It is important to be courteous as a lawyer; courtesy demands that you offer your seat to a senior colleague who is standing up in court, and also to speak with respect to seniors.

Another panelist in the session, Mr Ogaga Emoghwaren, described sexual harassment as an unsolicited, unwelcomed and unexpected sexual advance to elicit unwanted sexual relationship.

He described bullying as the act of intimidating a weaker person to make him to do something against his will.

Ogaga said that although sexual harassment of lawyers by their seniors in courtrooms was not common, there existed sexual harassment in law firms.

“I encountered a situation where a young female lawyer ran out of her principal’s office crying; when I interrogated her, she described her principal as a beast who just raped her,” he said.

According to Ogaga, unwillingness of victims to open up, made sexual harassment and abuse to be increasing.

He noted the young female lawyer who was allegedly raped, refused to formally complaint for fear of sack.

Ogaga also blamed the situation on poor enforcement of laws against sexual abuse.

“Although there is a law criminalising the offence of rape; more proactive measures must be put in place to tackle the menace,” he said.

Another panelist in the session, Mrs Awulika Osuigwe, said that sexual molestation in workplaces had been going on unnoticed due to poor reportage.

She advised that females should report acts such as slapping of their buttocks by men.

On bullying at workplace, she claimed that it was mostly done against females, most of whom were not afforded opportunities like their male counterparts.

She described it as gender discrimination.

“Sometimes, a principal will prefer to take a trip with a male colleague, and the excuse is that the female may not be intellectually capable.

“In some places, married women are given specific periods for pregnancy, if they must keep their jobs,” she said.

Osuigwe described the acts as gender bias, calling for a change of attitude by employees and superiors.

Chief Assam Assam, also a panelist in the session, said that bullying also thrived in courtrooms and among judges.

“I encountered a scenario where two members of the bench sitting on appeal, engaged in a face-off and rained abuses on each other before a full courtroom,” he said.

According to him, some judges bully lawyers appearing before them.

“For a person to be appointed a judge, he must be psychologically checked,” he said.

In his remarks, the NBA President, Mr Paul Usoro, gave the assurance that in the next one year, his administration would take steps to adequate address the issues.

He advised lawyers to make complaints about sexual harassment for measures to be taken.

NAN reports that the International Bar Association Report was launched during the session by its President, Mr Horatio Neto of Brazil.

The 59th NBA-AGC had the theme: “Facing the Future”.

About 10,000 people are participating at the six-day conference to end on Thursday.

NAN

The Federal Government has assured Nigerians that there is no imminent threat to Nigeria’s assets in spite the recent award of 9.6 billion dollars judgment debt by a UK court over a botched contract.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed gave the assurance on Tuesday in Abuja at a news conference on the court ruling authorising Process and Industrial Developments Ltd. (P&ID) to seize 9.6 billion dollars in Nigerian assets.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the briefing was jointly addressed by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN).

Also at the briefing were the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Hajia Zainab Ahmed and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele.

Mohammed noted that contrary to reports in certain quarters, the country is not about to lose any of its assets to P&ID.

“In the first instance, the enforcement of the award cannot even commence now because the Judge in the UK court ordered that P&ID cannot enforce the judgment against Nigeria until after the court resumes from its current vacation.

“What this means is that enforcement action cannot begin until further hearing on the matter, which will take place on a date to be determined by the court upon its resumption.

“The Federal Government, therefore, wishes to use this opportunity to assure Nigerians that there is no immediate threat to Nigeria’s assets as has been wrongly interpreted by a section of the media.

“Nigerians should be assured that the Federal Government is taking all necessary steps to appeal the decision of the UK Court.

“The government will seek for a Stay of Execution of the decision, to defend its rights and to protect the assets of the people,’’ he said.

The minister assured that the Federal Government would avail itself of all defence customarily afforded to sovereign states under the United Kingdom Sovereign Immunity Act to stave off any enforcement of the award.

He, therefore, appealed to the sense of patriotism of the media in the reportage of the sensitive matter.

“It is capable of threatening the very existence of the country, especially as some media outfits have clearly thrown overboard objectivity and patriotism in their very biased reporting of this matter,’’ he said.

Mohammed said experts’ analysis of the damages awarded by the court, showed that “it was clearly unreasonable, unjustifiable and manifestly excessive and exorbitant.

“The damages over-compensated P&ID on a frankly gargantuan scale and imposed a punitive award on Nigeria.’’

Narrating the issues that led to the judgment, the minister said it was fallout of the contract purportedly entered into in 2010 between the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources and P&ID

“In a 20-year Gas Supply Processing Agreement (GSPA) purportedly entered into with the P&ID in 2010, the company never performed as agreed.

“With the contract having suffered a setback, the case went to arbitration. P&ID’s claim in the arbitration proceedings was mainly for the loss of profit for the 20-year term of the GSPA.

“In an interim award, the Arbitration Tribunal ruled that Nigeria has breached the contract.

“Though Nigeria successfully applied to have that award set aside by the Federal High Court in Lagos, the Tribunal ignored this decision.

“Consequently, on January 31, 2017, the Tribunal rendered its final award against the Ministry of Petroleum Resources in the sum of 6.597 billion dollars.

“This was in addition to pre-award interest at the rate of seven per cent per annum, effective from March, 20 2013 and post-award interest at the same rate from the date of the award.

“This interest increased the size of the award to 9.6 billion dollars,’’ he said.

The minister said that after the arbitration award in 2017, Nigeria made several attempts to negotiate the award and resolve the whole issue amicably with P&ID but to no avail.

He said following an enforcement proceedings instituted simultaneously by the company in the UK and the U.S. the government engaged the services of the U.S. law firm of Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP.

The minister also reiterated government’s position on the underhanded manner in which the contract was negotiated and signed.

He said indications were that the whole process was carried out by some vested interests in the past administration.
Mohammed said the saboteurs colluded with their local and international conspirators to inflict grave economic injury on Nigeria and its people.

He said following President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was conducting investigations into the company and the contract agreement.

The minister said the investigation was being conducted by EFCC in conjunction with the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and the Inspector-General of Police (IGP).

NAN

(FLOWERBUDNEWS)  Dangote Cement on Monday presented four new cars to four of its Cement customers on Monday in Abuja and Onitsha respectively.

While three customers, Olatunji Victor Junaid, Bayo Fabiyi Joseph and Ahmed Muhammad won the cars in Abuja,Iwuafor Blessing Chidiebere won in Onitsha, Anambra state. Tricycles, Refrigerators, Television sets and other gift items were also presented to various winners at the two locations on Monday.

 

The Group Managing Director(GMD) Dangote Cement Plc Engr. Joseph Makoju who made the presentations, described yesterday as ‘Special and spectacular” for both the winners and the company as a corporate body.

The GMD said the presentations further authenticate the fact that the promo is real while urging Nigerians to key into it, as the winning cards are in over 72million promotional bags of cement.

According to him: ‘I am pleased that I am presenting four cars in a day. This is the first of its kind since the promo began last month,’ Makoju said.

He said Dangote was not only leading in the cement sector but it is leading in quality as it is the only cement company in Nigeria that uses automatic robotic engineering to deliver quality to end-users. He assured that the company’s management will do all within their power to always give back to the highly esteemed customers who have stayed loyal to the brand for over the years.

“Our customers are the best. They have stayed loyal to our brand and we are happy because they know us for quality and also for having their interests at heart. I assure you that we will always give back to them, while ensuring that our products are easily available for everybody to get”

Marketing Director Dangote Cement Plc Funmi Sanni said over 21 million winners of various items are expected to emerge at the end of the promotion in September.

According to her over hundred million naira has so far been given out to winners across the country.

Mrs. Sanni explained that the consumer promo was in line with the mission of the company which is to touch the lives of the people by providing their basic needs, and pointed out that the consumer promotion is another huge investment to help the customers improve their rate of sales and make more profit while at the same time improve the consumers’ quality of life. “We are doing this for the sake of our consumers who have not really benefitted much from our previous promo.”

The Dangote Cement ‘Bag of Goodies’ promo, which began nationwide in July and is to run till September ending, has so far yielded numerous winners of prizes in various categories.

Among other unique gifts, a total of 43 brand new cars, cash prizes of N200 million, 24 tricycles, 500 refrigerators, 24 motorcycles, 400 television sets, generators, Goodies packs, are available for winners in a promo, which has generated so much excitement among Nigeria, with over 21 million lucky winners targeted

A civil right group, The Initiative for Equal Rights has called for the dismissal of criminal case against 57 suspected gay men arrested by the Lagos State Police Command.

The groups demands that the men, arrested at a birthday party in Egbeda area of Lagos, a year ago be freed for lack of exidence.

The suspects were arrested for allegedly being initiated into a homosexual club at a hotel on 26th of August, 2018 but no single charge has been brought against them, and no evidence has been brought forward despite five court appearances.

The civil right group called for the dismissal of the case at a press conference held for the young men to tell their side of the story and what they have been going through after the Nigerian Police paraded them in front of the media.

The Group Executive Director, Miss Xeenarh Mohammed, while addressing journalists said for one year, the 57 men had been branded as criminals, incurring travel, and legal costs, while the police, with support from the magistrate, had given excuses why they had not been charged or acquitted.

In her words, “We got in touch with them and they don’t have legal representatives, and I think that’s also the part of the problems that happen in Nigeria. If you are from a lower class where you don’t have money, where you cannot buy justice, you are left to rot in jail without help from anyone.

“Some of the boys are here so they can talk about what they have been through since they were arrested and there are many people in Police stations, in Kirikiri who are suffering worse cases than them because they have nobody to stand up for them.”

Mohammed called for the case to be dismissed for lack of evidence, and asked the Nigerian Police to tender an apology to the boys for the brutality and maltreatment they received while in detainment.

“We hope you are here today to help us call for justice that these boys should be acquitted, they should get the apology that the constitution has guaranteed them and also their freedom,” she said.

The lawyer and lead counsel to the suspects, Oludare Falana, sid the police had failed to file any case against the suspects up till date.

According to him, the suspects were detained under Section 264 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Laws of Lagos State pending the outcome of the police’s investigation, adding that the magistrate granted the boys bail and that they were left off the hook at least, temporary.

“It’s been one year exactly, and I can tell you that as at the last time we were in court, not a single charge has been filed against them. I was in court the last adjournment and I tried to move the magistrate to strike out the case because there is no case before the court because there is no charge but in her wisdom, she said she is going to adjourn again.”

Citing the Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution, Falana said the suspects had the right to assemble and freedom of association.

“If the constitution has guaranteed their freedom of association, freedom to assemble together, that fundamentally guaranteed freedom cannot be taken away by anybody. Anybody can gather, that’s what the constitution says and from the charge that I saw, it was not signed the Police and they said they were engaged in cultism and later they said it was unlawful sexual relationship.

“If you are going to charge people to court, you must give us the proof of evidence, the proof of evidence is everything you were able to gather during the cause of your investigation which informs your decision to charge them to court.

“For now, every other thing as it stands today is in the realm of speculation. These boys have been shown to the whole world as homosexuals, as criminals and all that and at the end of the day, if a state cannot prefer a charge against them in one year, it tells a lot about what has gone wrong in their investigation.

“Secondly, how are you going to make up for these stigmatization? Are you going to take them back on air and say you are sorry, these boys are not who we thought they were and therefore we apologize? Are you going to put it in the newspapers? How do you ameliorate their pains in terms of recreating the wrong impressions you have given the whole world?

“Till date, the Police have not been able to come up with anything and that tells us the extent of injustice in our system. I am aware that this will not happen in any clime except Nigeria. And I do not know why our government is not taking things like these seriously,” he stated.

Falana lamented that the police were quick to arraign people and do media trial but that when it comes to the issue of substantiating the allegation against them, “suddenly they just go numb, and then they will be foot-dragging and eventually the case will fizzle out.”

“But what happen to these boys? They are Nigerians, this story had gone viral even international. These boys are lucky they have a voice, what about others who don’t have anyone to speak for them? They die in pain?” He asked.

The Federal Government has paid the allowances of all Nigerian athletes to the on-going 12th African Games in Rabat.

Mr Olusade Adesola, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Youth and Sports Development confirmed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday, shortly after arriving Rabat to support and cheer Team Nigeria to victory in the Games.

Adesola who arrived Rabat on Monday was emphatic that the ministry was not owing the athletes any outstanding allowance for the Games.

“The Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports is not owing athletes of Team Nigeria at the on-going African Games in Rabat, Morocco any outstanding allowance,” he said.

NAN reports that the clarification became imperative following reports in some quarters that some athletes were being owed allowances.

The Permanent Secretary commended all athletes, coaches and officials of Team Nigeria for their discipline and hard work in ensuring Nigeria achieve podium performances in the recent haul of clean medals.

He said the ministry was committed to ensuring that that Team Nigeria shoots to the top of the Games medal table.

Adesola added that the ministry had also revived the practice of bringing former Olympians to motivate the athletes, such as Falilat Ogunkoya and Olumide Oyedeji of the Athletes Commission.

NAN reports that 462 athletes and officials are representing Nigeria at the Games.

NAN also reports that Team Nigeria as at Tuesday morning were 6th on the Games medals table, with Egypt, South Africa and host, Morocco leading the pack for now.

It is however believed that the table will soon turn as events with Nigeria’s dominance such as athletics, weightlifting and football gets to the crucial medal stages.

The games which officially started on Aug. 19, will end on Aug. 31. (NAN)

The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has cried out over the abduction of two of its members sent to deliver ransom to kidnappers keeping the two children of a Kaduna-based bishop hostage.

Kaduna CAN Chairman, Rev. Joseph Hayab while speaking in Kaduna, alleged that the kidnappers abducted its members and also failed to release the Bishop’s two children after receiving the ransom.

It was also learnt that Pastor Elisha Numan, the Senior Pastor of the Nagarta Baptist Church in Makeri area of the state and his son Emmanuel, were also kidnapped three weeks ago.

The kidnappers who demanded N20m, released the Pastor’s son so as to be used as a negotiating contact.

They later reduced the ransom to N7m, threatening to kill Pastor Numan if the money is not paid in three days.

“Rev. Elisha Numan of the Baptist Church, Angwan Makeri, and the two children of one of our bishops in Kaduna are still with their of kidnappers. They were abducted about three weeks ago and are still being held in captivity till date.

“The church and their families are helpless and traumatised. We are once again calling on security agencies to do the needful and help secure the release of our people.

“Rev. Elisha was sick when he was kidnapped and we are afraid for his health. The son of our bishop is just nine years old.

“He is not strong and mature to go through this ordeal. We are appealing that these innocent people should be released,” Hayab said.