THE EXPERIENCE - NBA AGC PORT HARCOURT 2016

Hi Guys! I'm more than certain that sharing my experience at the just concluded Nigerian Bar Association Annual General Conference (NBA AGC) Port Harcourt City 2016 will make up for any excuse for my long absence.

I had a blast! I'll rewind time just to have the experience again. I'm so spoilt! I was actually getting used to the ''soft'' life that I almost forgot the ''real'' life. LOL. Then again, must life be work, work, work and work? Holidays like this are essential to make you appreciate all the time you put into earning a living, (now, I'm beginning to sound all adult in my head)...yeah right, I'm earning a living. I work so hard for this money mehn. I deserve a spoil like this.

I had my reasons for attending this year's lawyers conference. One of the reasons was that I get a whole six working days off work and have bae-time alongside (I love Fin Insurance no doubt though). Another reason was that the Conference was happening in a town I had never been to before even though it is just less than three hours away from my state of origin and my University, and I thought I'll steal the occasion to visit my Dad who was now working in the town. Thirdly, it afforded me the opportunity to meet and greet a lot of former colleagues, make new friends, network, get encouraged and mentored by successful lawyers whom I look up to, also, to understand your peculiar industry you work in (in my case, Insurance), and meet like minds in that industry too.

Yes oh, for a 10k conference fee as a young lawyer, I had all these and much more to gain in mind. And without mincing words, I got more than I bargained for (in a good way) in just over a week holiday!

There were massive setbacks, but I wasn't deterred.

If you know me well, you'll probably be able to get a peek into my life by picking pieces of paper you may find in my wallets, bags, room, diary etc. I write long lists for everything in my life. I'm my dad's daughter. I possibly wrote fifty rough estimated expenses for this trip to Port Harcourt. The bill was huge, and I was scared but I felt it was doable. I was hopeful for a sponsor, but I got disappointed just few days to travel. That was a major setback and I needed to re-adjust. I almost called off the trip, but I had come too far to back out and my expectations were high.

So I travelled on Friday and made a brief stop at Warri. I had two beautiful nights in Warri. I visited friends, Bae took my brother and I on several food experiences I had previously heard about and I later went fabric shopping for my dad at a mall.

We embarked on a road trip on Sunday from Warri to Port Harcourt. That day was also Bae's birthday (another reason this trip was very important to me). So, we stopped at the grocery shop and got food, drinks, snacks, water et al for the journey. We had earlier arranged to pick Bae's colleague and his wife (wifey) somewhere in Warri too, so we did all that, and embarked on our journey to the Garden City.

                                                              Wifey and I

It was the first meeting with Chuks and wifey, and I must say they are a cute pair. Even though I have previously had the pleasure of talking to Chuks severally over the phone and he has continually harassed the life outta me...in a good and funny way. I knew the journey was going to be a fairytale with them and trust me, it sure was! At all the checkpoints, we enjoyed the luxury of telling the uniformed men that we were lawyers and on our way for our annual conference. At each point, we were treated like the royalty we are.

It must have been the smooth ride and gists and lovely music playing in the background because before I knew a thing, we were already in the beautiful city. Our first stop was at my Dad's (story for another day). And then we rushed off to get our conference materials. The ride to our hotel rooms was pleasant too and we were already in love with the city and its ambience. Zino, our friend, who is a Port Harcourt resident was extremely helpful during our stay. We had a quick bath and change at the hotel and came back to Albert-Spiff Civic Centre for the opening ceremony. It was a pleasure to see former classmates from University and Law School, and senior colleagues at the bar also. Timaya was billed to perform, and he did, but I missed his performance. Here's how that happened...Timaya was running late, and so we just chilled at the friendship centre beside the Civic centre with Odiri, UK, Tony Oweh, Zino and Dorcas, we later heard he was already performing at the Civic centre, and before we could make up our minds to shift base, he was done! We just sat back, enjoyed our food and drinks and had a good evening.

Monday was great too. Well tailored suits, gowns, beautiful ladies and handsome men graced the conference. There was a lot of hugging and shaking, smiling and snapshots to last a lifetime! And this continued throughout the conference. Duncan Mighty and the legendary Tuface performed on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively, but I had an appointment with my branch office in Port Harcourt and later that evening, an excellent hosting by Port Harcourt DELSU chapter for all DELSU alumni. I saw the likes of former DELSU lecturers like Barr. Giwa, Barr. Olanrenwaju and colleagues like Ebika, Olive, Akpos, Oghogho, Elo, Hillary, Odiri Lana, Ufuoma, Emmanuel Ibi, Zino and way way senior colleagues that I didn't meet in school. I must say that I didn't miss much from the artistes performances, PH DELSU Alumni hosted us well.

                                  Lateef (FGCI Alumni and ardent Barby's Diary reader also) and I

In all of this, there was a ''divine'' change of hotel , this was sponsored by Bae's law firm's client. We had a lot to drink and eat...all we needed to do was make a request! There was buffet for breakfast and the rooms were cozy and beautiful. We spent four nights there and checked out on Saturday at noon.

There were hiccups here and there especially as regards distribution of conference materials, but I didn't allow that to steal the fun vacation. I was new in the town, and google map almost led Bae and I to Bayelsa on Wednesday morning, but it was still a beautiful experience I wouldn't forget in a hurry.

I must commend the Rivers State Government and the executive of NBA and LOC for a secured and enjoyable one week. Sometimes, I got back to my hotel room as early as 1am (I'm sorry Mom!) and there were still mobile policemen on patrol. All you needed to do was to show them your Conference tag. The streets are well lit, and the road network is near perfect and easy to love at night.

And then there was the NBA President's valedictory dinner. Even though we had to wait far into the night for the Governor and his counterpart from Sokoto to arrive. I also liked that he ditched the protocol speech and asked us to just dig into the food! It was hilarious to see lawyers deny decorum and hustle for food mehn! It was more funny than it was embarrassing. And then I was seeing funny combos on plates. Fruits mixed with ice-cream, bread and egusi and the likes...Oh well! Free food palaver!

                                                              My dinner date and I
There's a lot to write on this conference trust me, but I wouldn't want to leave you wishing you attended...let the pictures do the rest of the talking.

                                                                   Night life

                                                              Checking out

and guess what, I am back to work!

Barby!