Oby Ezekwesili urges Nigerian lawyers to stop enabling corrupt politicians, decries poverty and poor reforms at NBA Conference in Enugu
Oby Ezekwesili NBA Conference remarks in Enugu have sparked powerful national debate, as the former Education Minister and World Bank director issued a stern rebuke to Nigerian lawyers and politicians over the country’s deepening economic crisis.
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Speaking on a panel at the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) national conference, Dr. Ezekwesili decried the worsening poverty rate, accusing political leaders of incompetence, and lawyers of enabling them.
“Stop giving this profession to a bunch of lousy politicians poised to destroy generations,” she said. “You represent the heartbeat of professionalism in our country.”
Lamenting the state of Nigeria’s economy, Ezekwesili described the fuel subsidy removal as a “good reform done in the wrong way,” blaming poor planning and government arrogance.
“What normally happens is that you prepare for that reform,” she noted. “But this was not prepared for.”
She warned that over 133 million Nigerians now live in poverty because of economic mismanagement, with the poor bearing the brunt of inflation and rising costs.
“The poor don’t have a buffer. Lawyers do. The poor suffer inflation the most,” she said.
Ezekwesili, a long-standing advocate of accountability and transparency, called on Nigerian lawyers to act as moral and legal gatekeepers.
“The idea that politics is the path to becoming wealthy is an anomaly. Professions that reward this kind of behaviour do not care about tomorrow.”
She accused the legal profession of trading its values and urged the NBA to reject complacency.
Ezekwesili’s comments come more than a year after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s controversial “subsidy is gone” declaration on May 29, 2023, which led to immediate fuel price hikes and unrest.
While the subsidy’s removal had been set in motion by the Buhari administration, Tinubu’s abrupt implementation triggered hoarding, protests, and economic instability.
By 2022, the fuel subsidy was costing the country over ₦4 trillion annually, draining public funds while failing to serve its intended purpose.
Yet the sudden change, critics argue, left the poor and vulnerable exposed.
Ezekwesili ended her remarks with a firm challenge to the legal community:
“If you invite me to your conference again, I won’t come. What’s needed is action, not polite panels.”
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Her speech has sparked nationwide reflection, particularly among young lawyers and reform advocates, many of whom praised her for voicing uncomfortable truths.
