COVER STORY NBA NEWS 21/06/2023
NBA Releases New RPC And Scale Of Fees/Charges Enacted By The Bar Council (DOWNLOAD)
Distinguished Colleagues,
1. I write to bring you up to speed on the recent developments in the regulatory frameworks of the legal profession in Nigeria.
Legal Practitioners Remuneration (for Business, Legal Service and Representation) Order, 2023
2. In my Inaugural Speech on 26 August 2022, I did indicate that I will liaise with the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to set up the Legal Practitioners Remuneration Committee (LPRC) as provided for under Section 15 of the Legal Practitioners Act, 2007 (LPA). This effort was primarily meant to incorporate the recommendations of the NBA Remuneration (White Paper) Committee adopted by the National Executive Council (NEC) on 9 June 2022, after a painstaking and detailed work by the NBA Remuneration Committee constituted by President Olumide Akpata.
3. Pursuant to this commitment and considering that the last time a Remuneration Order was issued was in 1991 under the hand of Prince Bola Ajibola, KBE, CFR, SAN (of blessed memory), as the then Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, I wrote to the HAGF requesting the formal constitution and inauguration of the LPRC. The Committee, by the provisions of the LPA is made up of the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation, the Attorneys General of the States, the President of the NBA and 3 representatives of the NBA. Three of our members, namely: Abdullahi Yahya, SAN, Barbara Omosun and Reginald Aziza, were nominated into this Committee by virtue of their participation in the earlier work by the NBA Remuneration Committee, to ensure continuity.
4. I also constituted an ad hoc committee – the Remuneration Order Committee – to prepare a draft of the Remuneration Order. This Committee, chaired by Oluseun Abimbola, SAN, with Abdullahi Yahya, SAN; John Aikpokpo-Martins; Attah Ochinke; Anthony Nwaochei; Ruth Kabruk Badung; Ovonlen Ebhohimhen and the Assistant Publicity Secretary, Charles Ajiboye, came up with the draft Legal Practitioners Remuneration Order.
5. The LPRC was formally inaugurated on 15 May 2023 and the draft Remuneration Order was presented for consideration. The LPRC considered the draft and eventually passed same, giving birth to the Legal Practitioners Remuneration (for Business, Legal Service and Representation) Order, 2023, on 16 May 2023 under the hand of the HAGF. It is now Gazette No. 0102 in Vol. 110, Government Notice No. 68.
Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners, 2023
6. You will recall that upon the enactment of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) published a circular in February 2013, directing all Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions (DNFBPs), including legal practitioners, to register with the Special Control Unit against Money Laundering (SCUML). You will also recall that the Registered Trustees of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) took out an action in March 2013 against CBN and the Attorney General of the Federation at the Federal High Court (FHC). The facts and decisions of the FHC on the matter delivered on 17 December 2014 and the subsequent judgement of the Court of Appeal in CA/A/202/2015 – CBN v. Registered Trustees of the NBA & Anor. are very well known to all of us and require no repetition herein. The appeal against this decision is pending before the Supreme Court.
7. In the meantime, in May 2022, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria signed into law the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, which repealed the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act of 2011. Pursuant to the new Act, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, in November 2022 made the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Anti-Money Laundering, Combating the Financing of Terrorism and Countering Proliferation Financing of Weapons of Mass Destruction for Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions, and Other Related Matters) Regulations, 2022.
8. Both the 2022 Act and the regulation made pursuant thereto referred to law firms, legal practitioners, and notaries as DNFBPs. Section 11(4) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, states that “legal professional privilege and the invocation of client confidentiality shall not apply in connection with the purchase or sale of property; the purchase or sale of any business; the managing of client money, securities or other assets; the opening or management of bank, savings or securities accounts; the creation, operation or management of trusts, companies or similar structures.” This provision was intended to circumvent the decision of the Court of Appeal above mentioned. Some of our members and their law firms have unfortunately been subjected to the provisions of this new law and regulations. We received several reports of restrictions on the personal accounts of lawyers and clients’ accounts maintained by law firms, with many law firms either invited to the EFCC or received notices of what the EFCC described as ‘compliance examination visit’.
9. While the NBA recognises the dangers of money laundering and financial terrorism on the integrity of the legal profession, legal practitioners, the economy, and the nation’s standing in the international community, it is our firm view that the decision of the Court of Appeal in CBN v. Registered Trustees of the NBA & Anor (supra), decided on the 2011 Act, remains the position of the law. We maintained the position, as we still do, that the provisions of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022 and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Anti-Money Laundering, Combating the Financing of Terrorism and Countering Proliferation Financing of Weapons of Mass Destruction for Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions, and Other Related Matters) Regulations, 2022 do not outstrip nor detract from the decision of the Court of Appeal aforesaid.
10. We have vehemently and consistently maintained that the NBA will not allow or in any way subscribe to any arrangement that will subject the legal profession to the regulatory control of 3rd parties. Thus, we were prepared to launch a fresh litigation on the 2022 Act owing to the actions of the EFCC, NFIU and SCUML which were predicated on some provisions in the Act. The law firm of Sofunde, Osakwe, Ogundipe & Belgore graciously accepted to lead the charge in this regard. An originating processes had since been prepared and ready to be filed.
11. In the interim, however, I began to actively engage with the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other relevant Regulatory Agencies/Authorities. Following these engagements and our insistence, it was accepted that the NBA will self-regulate its members with regards to Anti Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing Guidelines and to achieve this, a decision was taken to incorporate the relevant guidelines into the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners, which will provide the necessary structure and framework for self-regulation by the NBA.
12. Mr Jide Ogundipe, again, offered to give us the draft guidelines which was used as the basis of our engagements with the EFCC. A committee comprising Funke Adekoya, SAN, Prof Ernest Ojukwu, SAN, Jide Ogundipe, Seun Abimbola, SAN, Wale Fapohunda, SAN, some members of the General Council of the Bar (GCB) and myself, had series of meetings with officials of the EFCC and SCUML.
13. After several weeks of meetings and in-depth deliberations, the Committee came up with draft Guidelines and Rules on Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Financing of Terrorism for Legal Practitioners. Consequent upon this, a new Rules of Professional Conduct was proposed to the General Council of the Bar (GCB) which contains the extant Rules as Part 1 while the Guidelines and Rules on Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Financing of Terrorism for Legal Practitioners was incorporated as Part 2. The draft was presented, considered, and passed by the GCB on 15 May 2023. Accordingly, the GCB under the hand of the then HAGF and Minister of Justice, issued the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners, 2023, pursuant to Section 12(4) of the Legal Practitioners Act. It is now Gazette No. 103 in Vol. 110, Government Notice No. 69.
14. It is important to note that the last time the RPC was reviewed was in 2007, under the hand of Chief Bayo Ojo, SAN as the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.
15. The RPC 2023 revoked the existing Rules, with effect from 31 December 2023, while the new RPC 2023 Rules shall come into effect on 1 January 2024. This is to give time for sensitization, advocacy and for the necessary structures to be put in place before the implementation of the Guidelines and Rules on Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Financing of Terrorism.
16. I thank Mr Abubakar Malami, CON, SAN, the former Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice and the Solicitor General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary Ministry of Justice, Mrs. Beatrice Jedy-Agba, mni, OON for their forward-thinking posture and partnership with the NBA. I also thank the former Director, Legal Drafting Department, Federal Ministry of Justice, Mrs. I. C. Nwajagu, who retired from service last week, Alhassan Mohammed (Young Professor), Mrs Gladys (Director, Solicitors); Maimuna Belgore Shiru (Director, Civil Litigation) and other staff of the Federal Ministry of Justice. I am grateful for the roles they played individually and collectively in the inauguration of the General Council of the Bar and the Legal Practitioners Remuneration Committee, and the prompt review of all the relevant documents that saw to the actualization of the long-awaited Legal Practitioners Remuneration (for Business, Legal Service and Representation) Order, 2023 and the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners, 2023.
17. I thank all the Attorneys General of the 36 states of the Federation led by Mr. Moyosore Jubril Onigbanjo, SAN (Attorney General, Lagos State) and other members of the GCB, for their cooperation and diligence. The Attorneys General, who were also members of the Renumeration Committee together with the NBA nominees, worked so hard to give us the Renumeration Order. The dispatch with which they variously attended to the matters of the Remuneration Order and the RPC is the reason we could achieve so much in such a short while. I will not fail to mention Nkechi Chukura Shittu and Wunmi Oyeniran-Opaleye, who were very helpful during the drafting stages. My profound gratitude goes to the senior members of the Bar earlier mentioned, who committed their time and resources, and also worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make these instruments a reality. The Bar remains indebted to all of them. I equally acknowledge and thank members of the NBA Remuneration Committee (as previously and presently constituted) and the NBA Remuneration (White Paper) Committee for the dexterity and hard work that went into their recommendations.
18. Finally, I thank you all for your unwavering support and cooperation. I had in my Manifesto promised that the reform of our institutional frameworks will be part of the focus of my administration, your cooperation is the reason we have achieved these so far. I therefore urge that you continue to give us your support so that, together, we can achieve the much-needed reforms in the legal profession in Nigeria. As we strive to live for the direction of the people and the advancement of the cause of our nation, we must remember that our ability to provide leadership to the people is heavily dependent on how much confidence we are able to command. And this can only happen if we conduct ourselves ethically and professionally. So help us God!
19. The scanned copies of the Rules of Professional Conduct and the Legal Practitioners Remuneration Order are hereto attached.
Rules-of-Professional-Conduct-for-Legal-Practitioners-2023
Legal Practitioners Renumeration Order 2023
20. Please accept the assurances of my esteemed professional regards.
Yakubu Chonoko Maikyau, OON, SAN
PRESIDENT
