The Fidelis Odita Foundation has refurbished and handed over a Centre for Business Law and Policy, to the Faculty of Law, University of Lagos.
Speaking at the handing over ceremony of the centre on Tuesday in Lagos, Chairman of the foundation, Prof. Fidelis Odita, said over N20 million was spent in refurbishing the centre.
The legal practitioner noted that the gesture is a testament to the forward-looking leadership of the university and its Law Faculty.
Odita, also the President, Nigerian Branch of the International Law Association, added that the gesture was also borne out of the need for a symbiotic relationship between an academic institution and the practicing world.
“I believe in the collaboration between academic lawyers, practitioners and policymakers which, I know, is one of the objectives of the centre.
“Such collaboration is important. The ability of a profession to sustain its exclusivity and jurisdiction lies partly in the power and prestige of its academic knowledge.
“Academic knowledge legitimises professional work by clarifying its foundations and tracing them to major cultural values and themes.
“There is thus, a symbiotic relationship between academic and practical law; they feed off each other and each is enriched by encounter with the other.
“It is to encourage and sustain this symbiotic relationship that I decided to refurbish and equip the Centre for Business Law and Policy, which is being handed over today to the University of Lagos,” Odita said.
He expressed optimism that the centre would become a centre of excellence in the exposition of all areas of business law and policy.
According to him, in the fullness of time, the centre will become a leading centre for the research and teaching of business law.
The chairman added that it would also assist in enhancing the well-deserved reputation of the Faculty of Law, as a centre for teaching and research.
“The centre is well positioned to play this role and fulfil its mission. This is in part due to its unique location in Lagos, the commercial capital of Nigeria.
“It is also in part, due to the large, successful and engaged pool of alumni who are at the forefront of commercial law practice and policy formulation,” he said.
The chairman, who is also an alumnus, noted that he believed in the power of quality education as this had formed the basis of his success.
“Above all, I believe that lawyers have a political, economic and social roles to play in the development of our nation and that funding an email institution which is at the forefront of producing quality lawyers is a very worth while project in itself,” he noted.
Odita stated that the starting point in seeking to strengthen the country’s legal education was putting more money into the educational system at all levels.
According to him, this requires a partnership between the government and Nigerians.
He added that almost all the weaknesses in the country’s legal education could be traced directly or indirectly to the chronic under-funding of the institutions.
“Ill-equipped libraries are a function of lack of cash; so is lack of teaching aids, overcrowded classrooms, insufficient teaching staff, absence of computers and many more.
“If legal education is adequately funded, the academic legal education will achieve its aims, as it did in the past.
“But we know that education, including legal education, is in competition with other societal needs – health, water, electricity, roads, and other infrastructure, for the country’s limited financial resources.
“We cannot expect the government to abandon other competing needs and put all public resources into education.
“In my view, what is needed is a public-private partnership where the government provides a significant proportion of funding, which is supplemented by private money,” he stated.
He added that such private money should be raised by putting greater efforts into development activities.
According to him, it also involves getting alumni and other members of society who can afford to donate, to put back something into the educational system.
Odita added that compared to what was obtained abroad, Nigerian universities are far behind in mobilising private money to plug the huge funding gap in the country’s higher education.
“Developmental activities should not be a one-off initiative. They should be a permanent initiative requiring a dedicated and fully equipped development office, to ensure the continuity of the development fund raising.
“In 2008, I funded the establishment of the moot court in this very space, in order to enhance the learning and mooting experience of our law students.
“I understand that the moot court has been relocated to the recently-expanded main faculty building.
“Let me therefore congratulate the Faculty of Law and, by extension, the university of Lagos, for the establishment of this centre for Business Law and Policy.
“It is a testament to the forward-looking leadership of the this institution and its Law faculty,” Odita noted.
In her remark, Prof. Ayodele Atsenua, Deputy Vice Chancellor (Development Services) of the university, described the gesture as exciting, as it would enable the institution and the country as a whole to move forward.
According to the professor of Public Law, it will also advance the mandate of the university, which is to grow all opportunities for improving scholarship, and other academic works such as research, teaching and learning.
“What makes it even more exciting is that it is a case of an alumni giving back. We are excited because I will say that alumni are the major stakeholders of the university.
“I must say that the alumni of this university is doing very well.
“My message therefore is that 2022 promises to be a better year in the life of this university and I will like to urge the alumni to plan to have some major homecoming .
“Early in the year in the first quota from March 16, the university will be hosting the NUGA games. Additionally, the university will be clocking 60 in October 2022.
“So, we hope that our alumni can use all these platforms to do major homecoming and also give back. Give, not just to the success of these events, but to the growth and development of their alma mater,” she added.
