Ahead of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) 2020 election, an entertainment lawyer, Rockson Igelige has backed Olumide Akpata’s bid to reposition the association as its President.

Igelege in a statement issued on Friday in Abuja, he described Akpata, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) as a lawyer with a 21st-century mindset

He said that a vote for Akpata as the new NBA president would mean a departure from analog to a digital NBA.

He called on all entertainment and Intellectual Property (IP) lawyers to massively vote for Akpata as the next president of the NBA to take the association to the next level.

Igelige noted that Akpata had a vast range of experience and knowledge to properly reposition the NBA as the most dominant organization in Nigeria with global standards.

He described Akpata as an experienced lawyer and Senior Partner and Head of the Corporate and Commercial Practice Group of Templars, which had been in existence for 25 years.

“Akpata has the first-class technical know-how to rebrand and raise the standard of NBA to meet global standards.

“We are in an era where digitalization has become a necessity for success, the NBA has operated in the analog for too long and this has hindered our successes as the most dominant organizations in Nigeria.

“There is no better time than now to rebrand the NBA to meet up with global standards through digitalization.’’

Igelige urged lawyers, mostly the entertainment and IP practitioners to take advantage of the opportunity offered to elect Akpata as the next NBA President.

“As IP lawyers, we cannot joke with the upgrade of our knowledge, which is rooted on digitalization; the world has changed and still changing very fast.

“We need a vibrant leader with knowledge of modern-day reality which is what Akpata represents,’’ he said.

He said Akpata had helped to build one of the most successful and largest chambers, Templars in Nigeria.

He said that such expertise, experience, and knowledge were needed at this crucial time in the history of the NBA to move the association to the “next level that we all deserve”.