Nigerian social media activist VeryDarkMan has drawn criticism from members of the legal community after describing law as one of the country’s “poorest professions,” triggering pushback from the Nigerian Bar Association.
The activist said a significant number of Nigerian lawyers were unemployed, underemployed or not actively practising, and questioned how many law graduates ultimately secure jobs or regularly appear in court. “Law has not been a noble profession,” he said, adding that many licensed lawyers remain effectively out of work despite holding the qualification.
He argued that Nigerian law schools continue to graduate thousands of new lawyers each year even as job opportunities in the field remain scarce, calling law “one of the most broke professions” in the country.
Senior lawyer and rights activist Femi Falana responded by defending the NBA’s practice of inviting established figures with relevant expertise to engage the legal community, saying invited guests historically had “paid their dues” and brought substantive professional contributions, in a rebuke of what he characterized as more recent gatherings resembling entertainment events rather than serious professional engagement.
The exchange adds to a broader, long-running debate in Nigeria over the earning prospects of legal practitioners and the value of a law degree relative to its cost, amid persistently high numbers of law graduates entering an increasingly saturated job market.
