Free- NBA Seal “Incentive” for Payment of Annual Bar Practising Fee Promotes Paliative Mentality By Sylvester Udemezue

(NBA Presidents Should Jettison Policies That Do Not Promote Welfare and Economic Empowerment of Lawyers!) 

By Sylvester Udemezue

1. In return for the various monies the leaderships of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and their affiliates continually collect from Nigerian lawyers, Nigerian lawyers should DEMAND and INSIST on quality, accountable responsible, responsive, transparent and effective governance from the NBA leaderships Instead of waiting for and being content with FREE-NBA-SEALS as a major incentive to continue to pay the Annual Bar Practising Fee (BPF).

2. FREE-NBA-SEAL is not a sign of responsible and effective governance but a sort of perpetuation and promotion of palliative mentality which is a major sign of ineffective governance on the part of the NBA and gullible, docile, beggarly, disoriented and fruitless followership on the part of NBA members.

3. A CORE AIM of the NBA is ”Establishment of schemes for the promotion of the welfare, security, and economic advancement of members of the legal profession”_ (See Section 3(13) of the NBA Constitution, 2015). NBA leaderships should focus on this, instead of promoting the palliative culture that encourages poverty and laziness among lawyers .

4. NBA leaders usually take collection of the Bar Practicing Fee (BPF) and other dues so seriously that they adopt, in each year, all manner of strategies to get lawyers to pay. By going about to appeal to lawyers to pay the BPF and Branch Dues, and by introducing the FREE-NBA-SEALS scheme as an incentive to encourage payment, NBA leaderships are subtly exposing their vested selfish interest in the monies ultimately collected from the BPF. Ordinarily, NBA leaders should have no business and no reasons “appealing” to anyone to pay BPF and dues. Members ought to pay the BPF WILLINGLY and HAPPILY if members are sure that they stand to benefit and especially considering the consequences of failure or neglect to pay. Additionally, (a) section 4 of the NBA Constitution provides that if you don’t pay BPF, you’re disqualified from practicing law in all its facets and from doing anything whatsoever that only a lawyer may do, for the rest of that year, until you pay. The same section says non payment of BPF is a form of unprofessional conduct. Why then does anyone need any FREE-NBA-SEALS as an incentive to pay? See also the Rules of Professional Conduct (RPC), 2023, which makes payment of the BPF a condition precedent to engagement in law practice especially advocacy, in each year.

5. If things were going on well within the NBA, if NBA members were happy with the NBA leaderships, if they were getting VALUE FOR THEIR MONEY by way of good, quality governance, they would happily and promptly pay BPF and any other dues. Unfortunately, there appears to be a situation of TOTAL FAILURE OF CONSIDERATION, as I have come to realize, meaning that Nigerian lawyers hardly get value for the monies they pay to the NBA. Thus about 90 percent of lawyers who pay BPF do so only because they want to be able to collect Stamp and Seal in that year which itself is required to be affixed to any document prepared by a lawyer for the purpose of authentication. In other words, most NBA members pay the BPF because NBA practically, indirectly COMPELS them to pay. Else, they might not and NBA leaderships know this, because there’s hardly anything lawyers get in return, BY WAY OF VALUE, GOOD GOVERNANCE

6. I repeat that payment of the BPF should be done by lawyers freely and without any inducement such as the palliative FREE-NBA-SEALS that only gives unsuspecting lawyers a false impression that NBA is doing something (giving FREE-NBA-SEAL) when the FREE-NBA-SEALS scheme in itself is neither a sign of progress for the NBA nor evidence of good governance on the part of NBA leaderships.

7. The best sign of progress is when every lawyer in Nigeria is able on his own, to apply and pay for the number of NBA seals he needs in each year; such is a sign of economic improvement as well as an improvement in the professional lives of NBA members.

8. Four major factors should constitute the major reason why Nigerian lawyers should feel obliged to pay the Annual Bar Practising Fee: (1) The payment is statutory and mandatory; (2) Default has serious consequences, as already pointed out above. (3). The payment is the annual law practising licence renewal fee for lawyers and (4).*That Nigerian lawyers are getting value for the monies collected from them by the NBA.* Unfortunately, number (4) above, as I have explained, is almost absent leading to widespread indifference by lawyers towards prompt payment of the BPF. However, as a way out and instead of delivering good, effective governance (which should be the major motivation and the real incentive for payment of the BPF), some NBA leaderships recently devised the strategy of promising lawyers who pay their BPF before 31 March in each year, a card or two of NBA seals. The scheme was begun under the Akpata leadership (2020-2022), but it appears the current NBA leadership is not interested in continuing it, in response to which there are pockets of protests by lawyers who argue that the FREE-NBA-SEALS bonus serves as “a major incentive” for payment of the BPF. Unfortunate!

9. Some others have suggested that the FREE-NBA-SEALS bonus, which was started by the Olumide Akpata leadership, was later stopped under the Yakubu Maikyau leadership, while some others say it was continued by the Maikyau leadership. Anyway, when the strategy started or stopped and whether it has stopped or has not stopped are not the focus of this commentary. The main focus of this commentary is that the FREE-NBA-SEALS in return for payment of the BPF is an ugly strategy that illustrates dilapidation, deterioration and retrogression.

10. Such a palliative mentality strategy/policy ought to be discontinued forthwith while NBA leaderships should focus their attention on upholding the core essentials of good governance as identified by UNESCAP (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific): (1) Participation; (2) Strict adherence to the Rule of law, enthronement of fair legal frameworks that are enforced impartially, and full protection of human rights, particularly those of minorities; (3). Transparency and adherence to due process ; (4). Timely and responsible responsiveness to the challenges of the NBA and its members, so as to engender trust and Consensus oriented: Mature, reasonable, fair balancing and reconciling of the many conflicting interests and needs within the NBA; (6). Equity and inclusiveness to ensure a sense of belonging to the various interests within the the NBA; (7) Effectiveness and efficiency, ensuring a result-oriented leadership where the results are such that meet reasonable expectation. Efficiency involves sustainable use of available resources while effectiveness entails producing results that meet the needs of members and stakeholders in the NBA; (8). Accountability: NBA leaderships must be accountable to NBA members and to all stakeholders. Observance of the requirements of transparency and rule of law ensures accountability, equity, and inclusiveness.

11. Delivery of good governance to NBA members (which is the fundamental reason the NBA leadership is installed) should be the best and the most credible motivation, incentive for NBA members’ commitment to prompt and regular payment of the BPF.

Respectfully,

Sylvester Udemezue (Udems), Proctor of The Reality Ministry of Truth, Law and Justice (TRM)

08109024556.

TheRealityMinister@Gmail.Com.

(31 January 2025)