NEWS RELEASE 

1. The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) is irrevocably committed to giving effect to the mandatory provisions of Rules 11 and 12 of the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners (RPC), 2023 as well as the provisions of the mandatory Continuing Professional Development requirement as stipulated by the NBA Mandatory Continuing Professional Development (MCPD) Rules, 2025.

2. The NBA has resolved to give a concrete effect to these mandatory provisions which appeared for the first time in our Rules of Professional Conduct in 2007 but have never been strictly enforced.

3. The implementation of these mandatory provisions will neither be suspended nor scrapped.

4. Any lawyer who fails to abide by these mandatory requirements of law will be deemed to have voluntarily decided to suffer the disability and or consequences for non-compliance with the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners (RPC), 2023.

5. The RPC was made by the General Council of the Bar (“the Bar Council”), in the exercise of the powers conferred on it by Section 12(4) of the Legal Practitioners Act to make rules on professional conduct in the legal profession. It is therefore a subsidiary legislation which derives its force and efficacy from the principal legislation to which it is therefore secondary and complimentary.

6. A subsidiary legislation or enactment has been variously judicially described as ‘one that was subsequently made or enacted under and pursuant to the power conferred by the principal legislation or enactment. It derives its force and efficacy from the principal legislation to which it is therefore secondary and complimentary’- please see DIN V. A.G.F. (1988) 4 NWLR (1987) 147, ISHOLA V. AJIBOYE (1994) 6 NWLR (35552) 506.

7. The Rules were made for the maintenance of the highest standards of professional conduct, etiquette and discipline in terms of that constitution.

8. It is part of the fundamental duties of the NBA to control and regulate lawyers engaged in legal practice in Nigeria, to monitor and enforce the provisions of the Act and regulations and rules made under it, that relate to lawyers, uphold the fundamental obligations imposed on lawyers involved in the provision of legal services, assist and promote law reform, protection of the principles of the rule of law and respect for an enforcement of fundamental rights, human rights and people’s rights.

9. Neither the threat of lawsuits nor the abuse of social media to disseminate false information and narratives about the implementation of the statutory mandatory Continuing Professional Development programme will dissuade the NBA from insisting on the implementation of the same.

10. We all have a duty to obey and indeed ensure that the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners is complied with by lawyers.

11. The NBA wishes to remind all legal practitioners that Rule 1 of the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners, underscores the importance of the duties a lawyer owes to the cause of justice by requiring a Lawyer to “uphold and observe the rule of law, promote and foster the cause of justice, maintain a high standard of professional conduct, and not engage in any conduct which is unbecoming of a legal practitioner”.

12. We therefore wish to remind us that we owe allegiance to a higher cause: the cause of truth and justice. We must not consciously mis-state the facts, knowingly conceal the truth or mischievously or unjustly make a charge of fraud, that is, without evidence to support it.

13. We call on all lawyers to utilize all training opportunities to ensure that they meet the stipulated minimum credit hours, particularly the free training offered by the NBA-ICLE and some other service providers. This is to ensure that legal practitioners have access to high-quality legal education at reasonable, transparent, and competitive costs, given that the proceeds from these trainings go to the service providers.

14. No lawyer will be compelled to attend any accredited Continuing Professional Development (CPD) training as every lawyer has the right to choose which training to attend. We reiterate that lawyers can make up the five (5) CPD Hours for each year by attending free seminars conducted by accredited institutions or by attending free trainings organised by the NBA ICLE, Branches and any other service providers.

Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN
President

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