Delta CJ Challenges Lawyers To Aspire To SAN Rank

By Timothy Agbaragu
The Delta State Chief Judge, Justice Marshal Umukoro has challenged members of the bar to aspire to the rank of senior advocates.

Justice Umukoro gave the challenge while performing the foundation stone laying ceremony of the Bar Centre at the High Court 1 Complex in Ughelli, Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta State.

The chief judge is a member of the Legal Practitioners Privileges Disciplinary Committee of the Body of Benchers, the organ saddled with the sensitive responsibility of considering, approval and conferring the title of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) on lawyers.

He expressed disappointment that no lawyer practicing in the state, apart from the State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Peter Mrakpor, was among the list of applicants recently shortlisted for appointment into such important position of the legal profession.

Justice Umukoro remarked that legal practitioners in the branch had requisite qualification to be conferred with the rank of senior advocate but observed that they lacked awareness on how to go about it.

While commending the chairman of the branch, Mr Scott Ayo-Okhiria for the boldness in embarking on such capital-intensive project, Justice Umukoro pledged the sum of N500,000.00 N500,000.00 (five hundred thousand naira) to support the project.

The chief judge, who was accompanied by his brother Judges to the ceremony, stated that the chairman had written his name in the hall of fame of the branch, even if the project was not completed at the end of his tenure.

The chairman of the branch, Mr Scott Ayo-Okhiria, thanked the chief judge for granting the parcel of land for the building of the centre and honouring their invitation to perform the foundation stone laying ceremony amidst his tight schedule.

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He explained that the centre, which comprised a secretariat of five offices, a lounge, 300-seater capacity hall and a digital library, when completed, would pride herself as a member of the comity of sister branches in the state with such edifices.

According to him, the centre would be a symbol of rule of law adding that it would afford the public opportunity to continue to reach out to it to address social ills and serve as learning centre/research hub with its proposed state of the art digital library.

Highpoint of the ceremony was the foundation stone laying of the Bar Centre by the State Chief Judge, Justice Marshal Umukoro.