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Ajogwu Extols Role of Lawyers in National Development
Prof. Fabian Ajogwu, SAN, Principal, Kenna Partners recently stated that lawyers have a vital role to play in the development of the society through a clear understanding of the importance of professionalism and ethics.
Prof. Ajogwu stated this at a colloquium to mark the 25th anniversary of Kenna Partners, a multi-service law firm based in Lagos.
The event with the theme: “Footprints in Law and society towards a paradigm shift” was held at Oriental Hotel in Victoria Island.
He noted that Law and society are inextricably tied by loosely connected yet solid strings, stressing that a clear understanding and recognition of the importance of this link forms the basis of a good society.
According to him, “Lawyers play a vital role in the development of society through a clear understanding of the importance of professionalism and ethics.
“Having chosen the noble profession, the lawyer should aim to live a life of integrity and dignity, accompanied by a competent and professional approach to the delivery of legal service and discharge of the judicial function.
“The legal practitioner must aim for excellence and to hold his own among his peers anywhere in the world, with high ethical conduct, not of regressive, unorthodox approach to the practice of law but of progressive, technology driven style of legal practice dictated by the finest traditions of the profession and by ‘the good that happens elsewhere’.
He also used the commemoration of the silver jubilee to highlight the landmark cases they have been privileged to work on in the past 25 years.
He added that the achievements recorded in the past 25 years were because of the heavy investment made in human capital development and information technology enhanced platform.
The unveiling of ‘Brief Insights: A Selection of Milestone Cases’
Prof. Ajogwu thanked members of staff of the firm for their dedication, expertise, commitment in carrying out their duties from the early days to date.
“The measure of achievement is based on the dedication, expertise, commitment and strength of the men and women who have helped steer the Firm’s ship from the early days to date.
They have done more than is required and gone much further than is expected. Without such dedication, the Firm would not be where it is today,” he added.
Speaking at the event, Chief ‘Folake Solanke, SAN, The first female Senior Advocate of Nigeria, decried the poor quality of graduates our tertiary institutions are churning out, noting that the problem could be traced to compromise on the part of lecturers in our institutions.
Chief Solanke, who was the chairman of the event called on the government and other public spirited organizations to protect our educational sector from collapse.
She noted that something urgently needs to done to address the hydra headed monster in our tertiary institutions.
She further called on judges to urgently start making use of electronic tools in carrying out their duties, adding that it’s a must for them to familiarize themselves with ICT tools if we want to move forward as a nation.
“Judges and lawyers must just go digital in carrying out their duties,” she added.
Mr. Odein Ajumogobia, SAN, senior partner, Ajumogobia & Okeke delivering a speech at the event stated that we should be equal before the law irrespective of class or status.
He noted that rule of law is fundamental in the development of any society.
He stated that lawyers have a role to play in safeguarding rule of law in the country.
The legal profession, according to him is severely under threat in the country.
He called on the profession to being to work towards lifting the country from the shackles of stagnation.
Cutting of the 25th anniversary cake at the event
Earlier, Mr. Damian Dodo, SAN, principal, D.D. Dodo & co said that if we want to witness a significant paradigm shift as a people, we should look at the quality of people we elect into elective positions especially in our legislative houses.
He also noted that we as a people must review the party supremacy rules to thrive.
Mr. Dodo said that we should have a mechanism in our laws that will be able to fish out those who committed electoral offences and adequate punishment meted out accordingly.
He appealed on lawyers to go back to the standards set by fore fathers of the profession, adding that time has come for a paradigm shift in the country.
He called for dispute resolution mechanism in the country to be intandem with global best practices.
The highlight of the event was the unveiling of a book titled Brief Insights: a Selection of Milestone Cases, which chronicles some notable decisions of the Nigerian Courts.
The book is a careful selection of cases which celebrate matters brought by litigants before the Courts, the persuasive arguments of lawyers and the decisions that have enriched legal practice and modern legal history in recent times.
The milestone cases selected and discussed, touch on the practice and procedure of the Courts, company law, real estate, fundamental human rights, election petition, oil and gas, maritime amongst others.
The book is another contribution to legal knowledge and practice in Nigeria by the law firm of Kenna Partners
Cybervergent has launched version 3.0 of its artificial intelligence (AI)-native posture management platform and expanded operations into Kenya, Ghana, and SA.
The move, according to the company, introduces automated risk verification for enterprises and aims to position Africa as a force in digital governance technology.
It goes on to say the latest platform upgrade introduces continuous posture management, replacing traditional point-in-time governance, risk, and compliance reporting with real-time verification systems.
An AI engine independently verifies 99.9% of audit and monitoring findings before they appear on enterprise dashboards, according to Cybervergent.
It says risk management, compliance, audit, and data security operations are integrated into a unified system built for cloud and on-premise environments.
According to Cybervergent, the platform maps more than 4 500 controls across frameworks, including the Nigeria Data Protection Act (NDPA), International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) 27001, and System and Organisation Controls (SOC) 2.
Cybervergent says the rollout of its first South African customer validates the platform’s readiness for highly regulated enterprise markets and strengthens its expansion strategy across Africa’s leading technology and financial hubs.
The company is also adopting a channel-first deployment model, working with local partners and system integrators in Lagos, Accra and Johannesburg to scale verified security infrastructure for enterprises navigating increasingly complex regulatory demands.
“We built verification into the architecture,” said Ayomide Daniels, co-founder and chief scientist at Cybervergent. “If a finding is not traceable back to source documentation, it does not reach the dashboard.”
Cybervergent rebranded from Infoprivacy in late 2023 to reflect its shift towards AI-automated cybersecurity.
The start-up previously focused on data privacy compliance in the West African market before pivoting to its current integrated posture management model.
Federal Government has directed recipients of honorary doctorate degrees to stop using the title “Dr.” before their names, as part of efforts to protect the integrity of academic qualifications and curb the misuse of honorary awards.
Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa
Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, announced the directive after the approval of the new policy by the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
Alausa said the measure was necessary to address the growing abuse, commercialisation and politicisation of honorary degrees in some tertiary institutions across the country.
He explained that honorary doctorates are symbolic recognitions of outstanding contributions to society and do not equate to earned academic qualifications obtained through rigorous study, research and examination.
“Recipients of honorary doctorate degrees are not entitled to use the title ‘Dr.’ as a prefix to their names in official, professional or academic engagements,” he said.
According to the minister, awardees may instead indicate the honorary distinction after their names using formats such as D.Litt (Honoris Causa), LL.D (Honoris Causa) or other approved honorary designations.
Under the revised policy, only universities with active doctoral programmes will be permitted to confer honorary doctorate awards.
The government also restricted recognised honorary awards to four categories: Doctor of Laws (LL.D), Doctor of Letters (D.Litt), Doctor of Science (D.Sc), and Doctor of Humanities (D.Arts).
In addition, all honorary degree certificates must clearly carry inscriptions such as “Honorary” or “Honoris Causa” to distinguish them from earned academic degrees.
The minister warned universities against indiscriminate conferment of honorary degrees, noting that institutions found violating the directive would face sanctions from the National Universities Commission and the Federal Ministry of Education.
He said the policy was part of broader reforms aimed at restoring credibility to Nigeria’s higher education system and ensuring academic titles are not misrepresented for personal, political or financial gains.
Observers say the development could reshape the long-standing culture where public office holders, business executives and celebrities often adopt the “Dr.” title after receiving honorary awards.
African fintech revenues are projected to expand 13-fold to approximately $65 billion by 2030, marking the continent as the world’s fastest-growing digital finance market.
The “Beyond Payments: Unlocking Africa’s Second FinTech Wave ” report, released by Boston Consulting Group at the Inclusive FinTech Forum in Kigali, indicates the sector is shifting from transactional inclusion to scalable, infrastructure-driven systems.
While Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 74% of global mobile money volume, more than 50% of lending still occurs through informal channels, representing a massive gap for B2B payments and data-driven underwriting.
The opportunity now is to convert scale into sustained, institutional-grade growth, says the report. Markets offering regulatory clarity and interoperable infrastructure are becoming increasingly attractive to long-term capital.
Rwanda is highlighted as an example of deliberate institutional coordination that lowers the cost to scale for financial institutions.
Forward-looking regulation and the License Passporting Memorandum of Understanding between Rwanda and Kenya are cited as practical steps toward easing regional expansion.
Financial centres like the Kigali International Financial Centre play a critical role in this next phase by reducing uncertainty for banks and investors.
By combining regulatory clarity and Pan-African integration, they reduce uncertainty for banks, fintechs, and investors, and help position markets as credible, long-term investment destinations.
Africa’s next fintech phase will be led by financial institutions, the report notes. It goes on to say banks and regulated entities are becoming the primary customers of digital financial infrastructure, demanding platforms that align with their risk frameworks.
The report identifies five institutional priorities to sustain momentum: interoperable infrastructure, data-driven credit, regulatory coherence, trust, and resilience.
Building seamless wallet-to-bank integration will enable more efficient value movement, while transforming transaction data into AI-enabled underwriting models will help bridge the gap in SME lending.
Proportional licensing frameworks and predictable supervisory practices will lower the cost to scale for innovators. Furthermore, expanding cybersecurity capabilities will ensure the ecosystem remains reliable as digital usage grows.
Africa has demonstrated that fintech scale is achievable, and the next decade will be shaped by those markets that strengthen their institutional foundations, the report concludes.
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