The 72 legal practitioners who were recently elevated to the rank of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN), would be formally conferred with the rank at a ceremony scheduled for December 8 at the Supreme Court, Abuja.
The Director of Press and Information, the Supreme Court of Nigeria, Dr. Festus Akande said, in a statement, that the event was part of activities to formally herald the court’s new legal year.
The statement reads: “The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon. Dr. Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad, CFR, will confer the highly coveted rank of Senior Advocates of Nigeria on 72 senior lawyers on Wednesday, 8th December 2021 at the main Courtroom of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
“The swearing-in ceremony is one of the several programmes outlined to officially herald the 2021/2022 legal year of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, even though the Court has already commenced sitting in this new legal year since Monday, 13th September 2021.
“The prevailing third wave of Covid-19 and the protracted strike embarked upon by the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) early in the year, which largely slowed down the work of the Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee, informed the late conferment of the SAN rank for 2021.
“Expectedly, during the new legal year ceremony, the Chief Justice of Nigeria will deliver a state-of-the nation’s Judiciary address, which is ostensibly to highlight the performance of the Supreme Court; and by extension, the Nigerian Judiciary in the outgone 2020/2021 legal year.
“It will be recalled that out of the 159 legal practitioners that applied for the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria in the course of this year, 72 were successful at the end of the rigorous exercise. Out of this number, ten are academics while 62 are advocates.
“The Supreme Court commenced its annual vacation after a remarkably successful 2020/2021 legal year on Monday, 25th July 2021.
“All the programmes billed to mark the commencement of the new legal year are to start at 10:00 am prompt.”
