Most Rev. Dr. Alfred Adewale Martins, the Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, has urged lawyers to be sensitive and vocal about issues, including the execution of justice, insecurity, governance, and the economy.
He advised lawyers to utilize their profession as a platform to share the importance of their religion, which includes upholding moral integrity, being sincere in their intentions, and working for peace and justice.
The clergy continued by saying that steps must be taken to achieve shared objectives.
The Archbishop made this known at the 2022 New Legal Year Mass held at Holy Cross Cathedral, Lagos.
“I urge you to arm yourself with knowledge of the social teachings of the church so you can bear effective witness to Christ and others in the service of human life, dignity of labour, rights and responsibilities of people,” he said.
“We must pray that those who rule us must do the right thing so we can practice our faith,” he added..
“We want to hear them state very clearly what they wish to do and how they want to achieve that. It’s not enough to say you are going to create many jobs, tell us how you want to do it,” he stated.
Philip Njeteneh, president of the National Association of Catholic Lawyers (NACL) Lagos Archdiocese said that as a group, lawyers should use their profession to provide pro bono and other services to the community.
“We offer pro bono services, we go to the correctional centers on a regular basis to interview inmates that need legal services and provide them with basic needs also. Last two months, we donated five Olympic-sized table tennis boards to the prisons/correctional centres in the state, as the centres are meant to be correctional and not punitive.
“The donation is to allow them opportunity of participating in sporting activities and things that could enhance their positivity throughout their stay,” he said.
