•Nigerian lawyers
Some participants at the 2026 Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Annual General Conference in Port Harcourt have decried poor organisation, inadequate welfare arrangements and uncomfortable venues, saying the event fell short of last year’s edition in Enugu.
The conference, themed “Beyond Limits,” is holding in its final days amid complaints about a decline in the intellectual quality of some activities, reports The Nation.
Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Dr Monday Onyekachi Ubani, in an interim assessment, described the conference as “lacklustre, uninspiring and, in several respects, deeply disappointing.” He praised last year’s Enugu conference for its organisation, traffic management and hospitality, saying positive reports from that edition had drawn a large turnout to Port Harcourt, especially among younger lawyers.
He faulted the quality of conference materials, particularly the conference bag, saying it did not reflect the “dignity, class and intellectual character” expected of Africa’s largest gathering of lawyers.
He also questioned the choice of some invited personalities, arguing that popularity and social media visibility should not take precedence over intellectual pedigree, professional accomplishment and scholarship.
“Entertainment has its place, but it must never replace intellectual substance,” he said.
Other participants echoed concerns over welfare and feeding. A video circulating among lawyers showed participants struggling to access meals at a food distribution point, sparking reactions online, though it did not establish that meals were generally unavailable.
The NBA had earlier said registered physical attendees were entitled to lunch on each of the three conference days, with digital meal tickets introduced for access to food stations.
Ubani said lunch arrangements were not sufficiently centralised, tea-break venues were poorly organised, and some halls used during the first two days were hot and unsuitable for serious engagement.
“These may appear to be minor details to some people, but they are not,” he said, arguing that a participant contending with heat, hunger and congestion could not fully concentrate on proceedings.
The experience has also revived concerns about Nigeria’s inadequate convention infrastructure. Ubani said an annual conference attracting tens of thousands of lawyers, more than 18,000 of whom had registered as of April, should not continue to depend on facilities not designed for gatherings of such magnitude. He called for investment in purpose-built convention centres accommodating at least 25,000 people, with adequate halls, air-conditioning, parking, security, sanitation, exhibition spaces, restaurants, reliable electricity and transportation.
Describing his assessment as interim, with the remaining days still capable of redeeming the conference, Ubani urged the NBA to improve planning, strengthen logistics and select guests more carefully.
“We must plan better. We must organise better. We must select our guests with greater care. We must prioritise intellectual substance over unnecessary spectacle,” he said.
WATCH BELOW VIDEO OF PARTICIPANTS BEGGING FOR FOOD BELOW:
