![\"Femi](\"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Fani-Kayode-Seyi-Tinubu-three-others-receive-senior-counsel-rank.jpg\"){kind=icon}
Fani-Kayode said his diplomatic assignment in South Africa had strengthened his commitment to human rights, given the challenges facing some Nigerians in the country.\n<\/p>\n
He recalled that his first official engagement after arriving in South Africa was a town hall meeting with members of the Nigerian community, where he listened to their concerns and assured them of the Federal Government\u2019s commitment to protecting Nigerians abroad.<\/p>\n
He added that the promotion of human rights required courage, compassion, sacrifice and commitment to truth.\n<\/p>\n
The NLS President, Amb. Dahiru Aliyu, said the society was established to provide an organised platform for Nigerian law graduates whose professional activities were outside courtroom litigation.\n<\/p>\n
He listed the areas of practice to include corporate administration, legal consultancy, arbitration, mediation, compliance, governance, legislative drafting and research.<\/p>\n
Aliyu said the NLS was established alongside the Body of Senior Counsel of Nigeria (BOSCON) and obtained its certificate of registration on December 30, 2025. <\/p>\n
He said the society\u2019s establishment was in line with Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, which guarantees freedom of association.\n<\/p>\n
According to him, the Blue Silks initiative recognises professional excellence, dedication and contributions to the legal profession outside conventional courtroom practice.\n<\/p>\n
He said it would also encourage younger law graduates to uphold professional ethics and pursue continuous professional development.\n<\/p>\n
Aliyu said his administration would prioritise institutional consolidation, membership expansion, continuing professional education, financial accountability and stronger national and international partnerships.\n<\/p>\n
He urged members to promote transparency, abide by the society\u2019s constitution and resolve disagreements through dialogue and lawful dispute resolution mechanisms.\n<\/p>\n
In her keynote address, the BOSCON Chairperson, Mrs Elizabeth Orebiyi, represented by Mrs Ndidi Okoro, said contributions to legal practice and development extended beyond courtroom litigation.<\/p>\n
She identified universities, corporate organisations, legislative chambers, regulatory institutions and policy development as areas where law graduates could contribute to the profession outside litigation.\n<\/p>\n
Orebiyi said the Blue Silks initiative recognised non-litigation legal professionals under four categories: Senior Legal Academic (SLA), Senior Corporate Counsel (SCC), Senior Legislative Counsel (SLC) and Senior Law Reform Counsel (SLRC).\n<\/p>\n
She said the Senior Counsel designation should reflect experience, competence, integrity, intellectual leadership and service.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cA Senior Counsel should be a mentor, a custodian of professional values and an example to those who follow,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n
She urged young law graduates to develop expertise in emerging fields, including technology, artificial intelligence, commercial innovation, regulatory transformation, international transactions and alternative dispute resolution.\n<\/p>\n
Also speaking, the Chairperson of the NLS Physical Planning and Building Control Appeals Committee, Olufunmilayo Osifuye, said fairness and accountability should guide everyday relationships and interactions.\n<\/p>\n
Osifuye, who chairs the committee responsible for hearing appeals on planning permits and building control in Lagos, said the NLS was not in competition with the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are not competitors to other arms of the legal profession, but complementary to their work because we serve the same goal,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Nation newspaper won the 2026 Best Legal and Judiciary Reporting Award at the conference.\n <\/p>\n
Source: <\/p>\n
The Nigerian Law Society has conferred the rank of Senior Counsel of Nigeria on Nigeria\u2019s High Commissioner to South Africa, Lesotho and Eswatini, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, and four other legal… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10372,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10371\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}