The Nigerian Bar Association Annual General Conference NBA-AGC 2025, themed “Stand Out, Stand Tall,” was intended to be an inclusive event, with the NBA emphasizing an “accessible registration process” and a commitment to accommodating lawyers at all levels. However, the experiences of Lawyers With Disabilities in a call to Save A Lawyer with disabilities with Divaviva111.com correspondent suggest that these commitments have not fully translated into practical measures for accessibility.
Despite the Persons With Disability Act coming into the force, progress appears inconsistent or insufficient even with the NBA as the body that ordinarily should ensure that the laws stands tall, unshakable. Is far behind in making the Act a reality within its body.
The challenges faced by lawyers with disabilities at the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Annual General Conferences (AGC) over the years highlight a critical issue of accessibility and inclusion of Lawyers with Disabilities (LWD) within the legal profession. They are as at the time of filing this report, currently experiencing significant barriers, o includes physical inaccessibility, lack of accommodations, and social challenges like humiliation, when they speak out for an assistance which compound their difficulties during the conference.
Reports of humiliation and altercations with some Local Organizing Committees members point to a lack of awareness or sensitivity among lawyers who have been given charge over them of the needs of lawyers with disabilities.
This undermines the inclusive spirit the NBA claims to promote. This situation is what Lawyers With Disabilities Face.
The inability to access lunch due to crowd size and physical limitations suggests that logistical arrangements, such as food distribution or priority services for disabled attendees, are inadequate.
This is totally unacceptable and call on the NBA President Mazi Afam Osigwe SAN to do something speedily in this present conference and more conferences to leave a lasting legacy.
V. N. Onukwufor Esq