On Monday 24th May 2021, the Law Students Society (LSS) hosted a symposium marking the beginning of a week-long lineup of events in their first LSS Law Week, themed Promoting Social Justice, Unity, and Development. The law week started with an opening ceremony, continued through Saturday, the 29th of May 2021, with a series of events ranging from an inter chamber moot court competition, game night/marketplace Friday, and ended with a dinner/awards night.
“The Law Students Society (LSS) was established in 2018, to promote and protect the rights and interests of the Law students of the University to live in unity and harmony as one indivisible and indissoluble society, committed to the furtherance of academic excellence and to imbibe in members, a sense of responsibility and discipline in order to uphold the general ethics of the legal education and profession for the purpose of promoting good governance and welfare of our noble society,” said Abass Oroh, the first president of the society.
The society won a stallion award for best new society shortly after its establishment. The event began with a welcome address by the LSS president, Christine Vihishima, who then declared the LSS Law week officially opened.
The Dean of the School of Law, Professor Peter Ocheme, gave a goodwill message, he spoke about the LSS, thanked the generous donors, and reminded the law students about the importance of their attendance at the events.
“The LSS Law week is aimed at celebrating the existence of the society as a whole and the progress of legal education not just in AUN, but beyond. The law week allows us to focus on law students and is dedicated to their relaxation and enjoyment. It also engages them in exercises such as mooting which showcases the practical aspect of the knowledge they have acquired in the classroom. Our community is also not left behind during the law week because we also engage in community service exercises as well” says Miss Vihishima.
The two guest speakers for the symposium were Barrister Leader Leneke, the current Senior Special Adviser to the Adamawa state governor, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, and Hon. Osita Chidoka, former Minister of Aviation and former Corps Marshal, both of whom gave a speech about the theme, Promoting Social Justice, Unity and Development.
In his speech, Barr. Leader Leneke defined the keywords in the theme and went on to speak about the issues in Nigeria such as tribalism, violence against women and children, disunity, etc. He suggested a few solutions including job creation, providing security, sensitization, and improving the educational standard of the country. “Nations do not develop by accident. Unity and development are a conscious deliberate effort”, said Mr. Leneke.
He also reminded the audience that “those things that unite us in Nigeria are stronger than those things that seek to divide us”, as he encouraged unity in the country.
The second speaker, Mr. Chidoka, talked about Nigeria and the issues the country is facing, noting that there are two Nigerias. Nigeria, where all the problems are, and Naija, the world of the likes of Davido and other Nigerian youths, where the biases based on gender, religion, and ethnicity “have taken a back seat” he said.
He emphasized the importance of living in the “now”, instead of letting people suffer in the name of planning for the future. “Everybody is talking about tomorrow and nobody is talking about today,” he said.“Where Nigeria stifles, Naija liberates” he added, and advised the audience to “take the spirit of Naija and infuse it into Nigeria”. “The time to unlock Nigeria is now,” he said in conclusion.
Commenting on both speeches, “both of our keynote speakers did justice to our theme for the week and left us with a lot of things not just to think about, but to act upon,” said Miss Vihishima.
“The event was educative, and the speaker, Hon Osita implored on everyone to take proactive measures in tackling Nigeria’s issues now instead of waiting for the problems to get bigger,” said Aisha Mai, a final year law student.
The program ended with a panel discussion by two law students, Aisha Mai and Tersoo Kondoun, anchored by Clinton Oguejiofor. They discussed the Law Week theme from a student’s perspective.The event ended with a closing remark by Clinton, thanking everyone for attending.
“I am quite confident that this tradition will be continued and that future celebrations of the law week at AUN will be bigger, better, and more impactful because of the solid foundation that has been laid by this year's law week,” said miss Vihishima.
Reported by Zainab Usman