BPF: NBA REVERSES SELF, CANCELS TRANSACTION CHARGES

The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has cancelled the transaction charges payable by lawyers for the annual Bar Practising Fee (BPF).

A statement personally signed by NBA President, Mr. Olumide Akpata, noted that “the leadership of the NBA has resolved that the Association will, as was the case with AGC 2021, bear the transaction charges associated with the payment of 2022 BPF.”

It stated that the controversy generated by the high transaction charges by PAYSTACK was due to a communication gap between the NBA leadership and the service provider, adding that “while the NBA team expected that the 2021 AGC reduced fee and pass-through arrangement would hold sway, the Paystack team, having not received any clear directive in this regard, reverted to the default position which is to debit transaction charges from the purchaser, in this case, members of the Association.”

Akpata reiterated that there was no revenue sharing arrangement between the association and PAYSTACK, adding that “no portion of the transaction fees charged by Paystack is shared with or remitted to the NBA, or any of its officers or members of staff.”

The NBA leadership also said that while alternative payment platforms could be desirable, “this new arrangement of moving BPF payments online only would help the NBA improve its service offering to members, restore confidence in our electoral process and enhance accurate data gathering. The NBA will therefore continue with the online only payment policy.”

It is recalled that former NBA Lagos Branch Treasurer and erstwhile Financial Secretary, Mr. Phillip Njeteneh had in an article in CITY LAWYER chided NBA for the high charges, wondering whether the association retains a portion of the charges.

Below is the full text of Akpata’s statement.

My Dear Colleagues,

Compliments of the season and best wishes for 2022.

Since 1st January 2022 when we fully transitioned to paying our annual Bar Practising Fees (“BPF”) online, there have been numerous complaints and commentaries by some of our colleagues on a number of points. This is certainly not unexpected because transitioning to a new process, no matter how laudable or desirable, typically comes with some challenges, analyses, pushback, and initial resistance. However, as mentioned in one of our most recent notices to you, the NBA is, as it should be, open to considering all views aimed at improving our processes, and generally advancing the interests of our members and the profession. To this end, our publicity team has been responding to many of the issues raised so far and I have thought it appropriate to add to our existing responses as follows:

1. Engagement of Paystack – Paystack has been the NBA Service Provider since 2019, before this administration came on board in August 2020. A fair and transparent process for engaging them was concluded at the relevant time and this administration has continued to utilise their services, which have been quite satisfactory. We utilised Paystack’s services for processing 2021 BPF (online) payments under a hybrid arrangement and also for the 2021 Annual General Conference (AGC) registration.

2. Fees charged by Paystack – with regard to payments to Paystack for their services, in 2020, those who paid their BPF online also paid a transaction fee to Paystack which amounted to circa 2% of the transaction amount. For example, BPF of N25,000 attracted about N482.24 as transaction fee. Similarly, in 2021 (under this administration), those who opted to pay their BPF online paid the same transaction fee to Paystack. This is consistent with the contract signed with Paystack when they were engaged.

3. Bearing Paystack fees for members – with respect to the 2021 AGC for which registration was online only, the NBA was able to work out an arrangement whereby the Paystack transaction fee was not only reduced but was borne entirely by the NBA. As such, all those who registered for the 2021 AGC did not have to bear any direct transaction cost for paying online. Coming now to BPF 2022, which is to be paid online only, while the NBA team expected that the 2021 AGC reduced fee and pass-through arrangement would hold sway, the Paystack team, having not received any clear directive in this regard, reverted to the default position which is to debit transaction charges from the purchaser, in this case, members of the Association.

4. Transaction charges for BPF 2022 – the NBA has been able to negotiate a revised fee of 1.3% with Paystack for their services relating to the 2022 BPF payments. Considering that this year would be the first time when members will be required to pay their BPF online only, the leadership of the NBA has resolved that the Association will, as was the case with AGC 2021, bear the transaction charges associated with the payment of 2022 BPF.

5. Who pays the transaction charges in the future? – Going forward, it will be necessary for our Association to come to terms with the fact that online payment for goods and services has now become the norm, and those who provide the platforms through which we are able to make these payments, do so for a fee. Therefore, at the earliest opportunity, I will table a request before the NBA-NEC to take a view or make a determination on whether such future payments should continue to be borne by the Association or by the members directly.

6. Revenue Sharing with Paystack – the NBA reiterates that no portion of the transaction fees charged by Paystack is shared with or remitted to the NBA, or any of its officers or members of staff. All fees charged by them for the service(s) that they render go directly and solely to them, and the BPF paid by members is channeled by Paystack directly into the Supreme Court of Nigeria BPF Account No: 0000976716 which is held with Access Bank. The insinuations, and indeed allegations, in some quarters, to the effect that there are underhanded payments and kickbacks with respect to the transaction fees are most unfortunate.

7. Increase in BPF – to be sure, payment of transaction charges is incidental to making online payments (whether they be BPF, taxes, statutory payments, bank transfers, etc.). Such payment is not an increase in BPF as has been suggested by some of our members.

8. A dual payment system – there have been suggestions that the NBA should allow members the option of either paying their BPF online or making cash deposits at the bank. Interestingly, such hybrid system of BPF payment has existed at the NBA for at least two years, but it has proven to be inefficient to a large extent. Experience has shown that this arrangement has affected our record keeping and the integrity of some of our processes including accurate database of lawyers, NBA voters register, easy processing of stamp and seal, etc. and we are committed to eliminating these inefficiencies. So, besides the convenience for our members and the fact that electronic payment is desirable and consistent with global trends, this new arrangement of moving BPF payments online only would help the NBA improve its service offering to members, restore confidence in our electoral process and enhance accurate data gathering. The NBA will therefore continue with the online only payment policy.

9. Alternative service providers – there have been requests for the NBA to engage alternative or multiple service providers so as to allow our members choose the platform on which to make payments. While we remain satisfied with the current service offering, we will certainly consider this request in due course. The first quarter of each year is the peak period for payment of BPF by our members and we have been advised by our technical team that any consideration of alternatives to the existing platform will be best done when the high traffic abates in order not to disrupt the smooth operation of the system.

I thank you for your attention.

Sincerely,

OLUMIDE AKPATA
President
Nigerian Bar Association

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AKPATA’S AIDE BLASTS ADESINA OVER NBA ELECTION

BY EMEKA NWADIOKE

  • SAYS ‘HE PREPARED TO FAIL’

  • ‘HIS AGENT ONLY CAME TO SITUATION ROOM TO SUBMIT PETITION’

The controversies trailing the recently concluded Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) National Officers Elections took a new turn today following a fierce indictment of erstwhile presidential candidate, Mr. Dele Adesina SAN by an aide of NBA President-elect, Mr. Olumide Akpata.

It is recalled that Adesina had petitioned NBA Trustees, urging them to cancel the election due to alleged irregularities. Influential Yoruba lawyers’ forum, Egbe Amofin O’odua has also joined the fray, saying: “In clear terms, the Egbe Amofin rejects the purported results declared by the Election Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA).” CITY LAWYER also reported that the forum has placed a gag order on its members on the election, even as it appointed Mr. Femi Falana SAN and Chief Niyi Akintola SAN as its spokespersons on the election.

Apparently responding to the barrage of criticisms relating to the election, Mr. Aderemi Oguntoye, Akpata’s “Accredited Agent” at the ECNBA Situation Room for the election, blasted Adesina, saying he was “prepared to fail.”

In a trending post on social media, Oguntoye said Adesina “strongly believed he’s entitled to be handed the Bar Presidency since he served with Olanipekun as Gen-Sec and Olanipekun and Egbe endorsed him.” He stated that the former NBA General Secretary “didn’t realise that Egbe’s influence had limitations and it was actually counterproductive in the preceding circumstances of the endorsement.”

The ranking Akpata associate also noted that Adesina’s camp was aloof as regards tracking of the electoral process, adding that “the first time we had a glimpse of Adesina’s representatives was when they arrived in the afternoon of 30th July with the sole purpose of submitting their petition and this was well over 14 hours into the election.”

The full text of Oguntoye’s post is below:

Guys, pls calm down! Sustained grievance can lead to cancer. Quote me.

Adesina prepared to fail. Ask me why?

He strongly believed he’s entitled to be handed the Bar Presidency since he served with Olanipekun as Gen-Sec and Olanipekun and Egbe endorsed him. Adesina didn’t realise that Egbe’s influence had limitations and it was actually counterproductive in the preceding circumstances of the endorsement. My friends, endorsement doesn’t win elections, preparation does. *In the 21st century, nobody hands power, influence to you. You go for it.* You’ll be shocked to know that some junior lawyers in Adesina and probably Chief Olanipekun’s law firms actually voted Akpata. *The junior lawyers (age 21-33 yrs) don’t understand tribal sentiments,which our seniors are preaching on Egbe’s platforms, what they understand is Instagram and Tiktok and that’s the language OLU spoke to them* .😊😉

Pointer to Adesina’s preparation to fail:

On Wednesday 29th when the election was about to commence, ECNBA officials addresed candidates’ representatives btw 10:50pm-11:05pm. They explained the reason why they froze candidates from knowing ahead of time, the cyber platform to be utilised for the election. They basically guarded against likely direct interference by candidates with the platform/server providers (US company called Election Buddy). *Interestingly, Adesina’s representatives were absent.* At 1am, we (Ajibade’s agent and myself) were invited to ECNBA’s local tech room at the NBA house. They wanted to show us round in order to assure us that the ongoing election back up tech installation was free from manipulation.

You know what’s shocking? Adesina’s rep/agent was still no where to be found.* At about 1:30 am when the results platform temporarily froze, I agitatively rushed up to the ECNBA server room and the officials put a call through to the Americans hosting the main computation server, who later assured us that the link will come back on. They had to quickly re-configure the refreshing timing, since there was more traffic on the result link than voting link. They were overwhelmed by the number of lawyers and non-lawyers following up on the results even at 1:30am.

By 7:30am, I enquired from the ECNBA officials whether they had independent officials and they informed me that they had sent the link to nothing less than 7 Judges/Justices of different courts amongst other observers for monitoring.

Guys, the first time we had a glimpse of Adesina’s representatives was when they arrived in the afternoon of 30th July with the sole purpose of submitting their petition and this was well over 14 hours into the election.

Please, let no one fool us because we are a very intelligent people and we shouldn’t be swayed by Adesina’s pre-planned reaction. The fellow doesn’t wish to go into oblivion without some noise. My inclination is that he either overestimated his chances or he knew he would lose. *How do you explain his inability to present a situation room representative as required by the ECNBA?

Enough said for now.

Aderemi Oguntoye

Olumide Akpata’s Accredited Agent at the ECNBA Situation Room at the just concluded NBA Elections

Copyright 2020 CITY LAWYER. Please send emails to citylawyermag@gmail.com. Join us on Facebook at https://web.facebook.com/City-Lawyer-Magazine-434937936684320 and on TWITTER at https://twitter.com/CityLawyerMag All materials available on this Website are protected by copyright, trade mark and other proprietary and intellectual property laws. You may not use any of our intellectual property rights without our express written consent or attribution to www.citylawyermag.com. However, you are permitted to print or save to your individual PC, tablet or storage extracts from this Website for your own personal non-commercial use.

‘THE PLATFORM’ CANCELS NBA PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE

BY EMEKA NWADIOKE

SAYS ‘WE WILL KEEP YOU INFORMED ON ANY NEW DEVELOPMENTS’

The Platform Nigeria has formally canceled its planned “interactive session” with Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) presidential candidates in line with the disapproval of the programme by the Electoral Committee of the NBA (ECNBA). However, the promotional website for the aborted programme had not been pulled down at press time.

An email to prospective participants which originated from the Convener/Visioner of The Platform Nigeria, Pastor Poju Oyemade, gave no reason for the cancellation. He however assured participants that “We will keep you informed on any new developments.”

Oyemade, the avant-garde Pastor of the mega church, Covenant Christian Centre (CCC), had in an earlier tweet on his verified Twitter handle, invited the public to the now aborted presidential debate, saying: “This Sunday @theplatformnigeria will be holding interactive sessions with the three candidates for the post of the President of the Nigerian Bar Association. #nbadecides2020.” He has not tweeted on the cancellation at press time. The Platform Nigeria is a popular speaking podium which has hosted some of Nigeria’s leading technocrats including the Nigeria’s Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN).

The ECNBA had in an email obtained by CITY LAWYER warned the presidential candidates against featuring in the virtual “interactive session,” saying it breached the NBA Constitution and “does not meet with the approval of the ECNBA.”

In response to the ECNBA directive, one of the presidential candidates, Mr. Olu Akpata formally withdrew from the interactive session, citing the email received from the electoral body. In a notice that trended on several social media platforms, he said: “Please note that in compliance with an email notice received from the ECNBA, Olumide Akpata will not be participating in the Platform interactive session billed for the 19th of July 2020 or any other debate or interactive session involving more any other candidate.

“We thank the organisers of the Platform interactive session for the work that they have put into organising the session, and hope that they and members of the public understand with us.”

It was unclear at press time whether the other presidential candidates issued any formal statements withdrawing from the programme, even as CITY LAWYER had reported that one of the candidates may have planned to shun the interactive session.

CITY LAWYER had predicted that the ECNBA would come down heavily on the aborted interactive session when it revealed plans by the electoral body to take decisive steps to stem what it perceived as serial disobedience to its earlier directives on campaigns.

Below is an email cancelling one of the planned sessions, even as similar emails were sent for the other presidential candidates:

Poju Oyemade <no-reply@zoom.us>
9:01 AM (14 hours ago)
to (NAME)

Good morning,

The webinar “Join Deacon Dele Adesina SAN in an interactive session on his vision and plans for the Nigeria Bar Association” on Jul 19, 2020, 03:00 PM has been canceled.

The Platform Nigeria wants to thank you for registering. We will keep you informed on any new developments.

Thank you

Copyright 2020 CITY LAWYER. Please send emails to citylawyermag@gmail.com. Join us on Facebook at https://web.facebook.com/City-Lawyer-Magazine-434937936684320 and on TWITTER at https://twitter.com/CityLawyerMag All materials available on this Website are protected by copyright, trade mark and other proprietary and intellectual property laws. You may not use any of our intellectual property rights without our express written consent or attribution to www.citylawyermag.com. However, you are permitted to print or save to your individual PC, tablet or storage extracts from this Website for your own personal non-commercial use.

‘THE PLATFORM’ CANCELS NBA PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE

BY EMEKA NWADIOKE

SAYS ‘WE WILL KEEP YOU INFORMED ON ANY NEW DEVELOPMENTS’

The Platform Nigeria has formally canceled its planned “interactive session” with Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) presidential candidates in line with the disapproval of the programme by the Electoral Committee of the NBA (ECNBA). However, the promotional website for the aborted programme had not been pulled down at press time.

An email to prospective participants which originated from the Convener/Visioner of The Platform Nigeria, Pastor Poju Oyemade, gave no reason for the cancellation. He however assured participants that “We will keep you informed on any new developments.”

Oyemade, the avant-garde Pastor of the mega church, Covenant Christian Centre (CCC), had in an earlier tweet on his verified Twitter handle, invited the public to the now aborted presidential debate, saying: “This Sunday @theplatformnigeria will be holding interactive sessions with the three candidates for the post of the President of the Nigerian Bar Association. #nbadecides2020.” He has not tweeted on the cancellation at press time. The Platform Nigeria is a popular speaking podium which has hosted some of Nigeria’s leading technocrats including the Nigeria’s Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN).

The ECNBA had in an email obtained by CITY LAWYER warned the presidential candidates against featuring in the virtual “interactive session,” saying it breached the NBA Constitution and “does not meet with the approval of the ECNBA.”

In response to the ECNBA directive, one of the presidential candidates, Mr. Olu Akpata formally withdrew from the interactive session, citing the email received from the electoral body. In a notice that trended on several social media platforms, he said: “Please note that in compliance with an email notice received from the ECNBA, Olumide Akpata will not be participating in the Platform interactive session billed for the 19th of July 2020 or any other debate or interactive session involving more any other candidate.

“We thank the organisers of the Platform interactive session for the work that they have put into organising the session, and hope that they and members of the public understand with us.”

It was unclear at press time whether the other presidential candidates issued any formal statements withdrawing from the programme, even as CITY LAWYER had reported that one of the candidates may have planned to shun the interactive session.

CITY LAWYER had predicted that the ECNBA would come down heavily on the aborted interactive session when it revealed plans by the electoral body to take decisive steps to stem what it perceived as serial disobedience to its earlier directives on campaigns.
Below is an email cancelling one of the planned sessions:

Poju Oyemade <no-reply@zoom.us>
9:01 AM (14 hours ago)
to (NAME)

Good morning,

The webinar “Join Deacon Dele Adesina SAN in an interactive session on his vision and plans for the Nigeria Bar Association” on Jul 19, 2020, 03:00 PM has been canceled.

The Platform Nigeria wants to thank you for registering. We will keep you informed on any new developments.

Thank you

Copyright 2020 CITY LAWYER. Please send emails to citylawyermag@gmail.com. Join us on Facebook at https://web.facebook.com/City-Lawyer-Magazine-434937936684320 and on TWITTER at https://twitter.com/CityLawyerMag All materials available on this Website are protected by copyright, trade mark and other proprietary and intellectual property laws. You may not use any of our intellectual property rights without our express written consent or attribution to www.citylawyermag.com. However, you are permitted to print or save to your individual PC, tablet or storage extracts from this Website for your own personal non-commercial use.