The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has said that Mr Steve Sun, a
Lawyer and social analyst who recently asserted that the NBA lacks
the power to set up an online payment portal for Bar Practising
Fees (BPF), is wholly mistaken in his arguments and
assumptions.
The NBA had recently advised members that annual practising fees
and other NBA payments could now be made through its new online
payment portal.
A statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary of the
association,Mr Kunle Edun, read: “the premise on which Sun built
his argument was that Section 2(3) of the Legal Practitioners Act,
Cap L11 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 (“LPA”) mandates
the payment of the BPF “to the Registrar (i.e. the Chief Registrar
of the Supreme Court)” and he believes and posits that the payments
of the fees through the NBA Online Payment Portal detracts from
those provisions.
“The Bar Practice Fees, whether paid online through the
innovative NBA Online Payment Portal or in the old tedious manner
of visiting the Bank Branches and lining up to make the payments,
all get paid into the same Access Bank Account Number 0000976716
whose Account Holder is “Supreme Court of Nigeria, Abuja (BPF)”.
For emphasis and the avoidance of doubt, the Bar Practice Fees that
are paid through the NBA Online Payment Portal do not go to any
account other than the afore-specified “Supreme Court of Nigeria,
Abuja (BPF)” account”.
The NBA said what it has done through its online payment portal
is to facilitate an efficient, stress-free, technology-driven
payment process of the BPF and other NBA related payments, for the
benefit and comfort of its members, and this is to the knowledge of
the Supreme Court Chief Registrar and the Honorable
Attorney-General of the Federation, both of whom are members of the
NBA.
“There is therefore nothing ultra vires or incompetent howsoever
in the innovative online BPF payment method that has been
introduced by the NBA. Indeed, this innovative payment facilitation
by the NBA is not any different from the role the NBA has always
played from time immemorial in encouraging members to make their
BPF payments on time” the statement read.
The NBA also reminded that the manual BPF payment method has not
been scrapped, rather it co-exists with the online payment system
for members who, for one reason or the other, may wish or opt to
make their payments the old-fashioned way. “Both payment methods
are legitimate and legally competent, and they all go to the same
purse i.e. Access Bank Account Number 0000976716 titled “Supreme
Court of Nigeria, Abuja (BPF)” it said.