Distinguished Colleagues,
It is with joy that I write to you all today. I am grateful to our Maker for keeping us all alive and in health to witness a new year, the challenges of the past year and the attendant public health crisis notwithstanding. I believe that with lessons learnt, we will all come out stronger. I therefore wish you all the best that this year has to offer.
•On Practicing Fees
As you all know, with each new year comes the need to pay our Annual Bar Practicing Fees (“BPF”) by all lawyers enrolled at the Supreme Court of Nigeria. This payment usually commences from 1st January and ends on 31st March every year. The same applies this year by virtue of Rule 9 (1) – (3) of the Rules of Professional Conduct. I therefore ask that you all to pay the BPF within this period.
•Benefits of Paying
-Payment of your BPF is a requirement to maintain your practice licence, retain your name on the roll of legal practitioners, and to be in good standing. Extant laws make it a professional misconduct not to pay within the applicable period. But beyond the aforementioned, and in line with the promises I made to the Bar, upon payment of the BPF and Branch Dues as and when due, members will be entitled to two (2) free packs of stamp and seal (48 stamps in all). Other benefits of paying within the prescribed period include:
•Automatic Life Insurance cover of up to N2 million;
-Permanent/total disability insurance cover of up to N1 million; critical illness cover of up to N500,000.00 and a limited accidental medical expense cover;
-Being eligible for the health insurance, access to finance and other welfare programmes to be set up by the NBA;
-Meeting the eligibility requirements for Notary Public Application;
-Meeting the eligibility requirements for Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Application;
-Being eligible to vote and be voted for at all NBA National and Branch Elections; and Eligibility for Letter of Good Standing from the NBA.
Further to the above, upon filing processes in our Courts, proof of payment of BPF is sufficient in lieu of the stamp and seal receipt. It is therefore important to retain proof of payment. For those who require additional stamps and seals, your local branch will afford you the requisite information relating thereto, which is indeed not different from what has always been done.
Please note that the provisions of Rule 10 of the Rules of Professional Conduct remain in force, and as such, the stamp and seal still remain a compulsory requirement for signing and filing legal documents.
•Mode of payment and other relevant information
Payment can be made online or at any branch of Access Bank. Those who wish to pay online should log into their membership portal on https://nigerianbar.org.ng/membership-portal and follow the instructions.
Those who wish to pay using the manual process should pay into the following account using a customized or other teller provided by the bank:
Account name: Supreme Court of Nigeria (BPF) Account Number: 0000976716
Bank: Access Bank
When completing your payment forms (whether online or at the bank), please indicate your full details (including your name and unique Supreme Court Number) for ease of identification. For instance, your name should appear as “Abubakar Emeka Tunde” and not as “Abubakar E. T” or other formulations.
Members should also indicate their branch names and branch codes on the payment tellers. The branch codes for Branches of the NBA are contained at the end of this notice.
•Schedule of Fees Payable
The schedule of BPF per year of call is as follows:
-Senior Advocates & Honourable Benchers – N50,000
-Legal Practitioners of 15 Years & above post call – N25,000
-Legal Practitioners of 10-14 Years post call – N17,500
-Legal Practitioners 5-9 Years post call – N10,000
-Legal Practitioners of 1-4 Years post call – N5,000
NBA BRANCHES AND CODES
S/N
Branches
Code = 1
Aba Branch = 1 2
Abakaliki Branch =2 3
Abeokuta =3 4
Abuja Branch =4 5
Ado-Ekiti Branch= 5 6
Afikpo Branch =6 7
Agbor Branch =7 8
Aguata Branch = 8 9
Ahoada Branch =9 10
Akure Branch 10 11
Asaba Branch = 11 12
Auchi Branch =12 13
Awka Branch = 13 14
Badagry Branch =14 15
Bauchi Branch =15 16
Benin Branch =16 17
Birnin Kebbi Branch =17 18
Biu Branch = 18 19
Bori Branch =19 20
Bwari Branch = 20 21
Calabar Branch =21 22
Damaturu Branch =22 23
Dutse Branch =23 24
Eket Branch =24 25
Ekpoma Branch =25 26
Enugu Branch =26 27
Funtua Branch = 27 28
Gboko Branch =28 29
Gombe Branch = 29 30
Gusau Branch 30 31
Gwagwalada Branch = 31 32
Ibadan Branch ! 32 33
Idah Branch = 33 34
Idemili Branch = 34 35
Ihiala Branch = 35 36
Ijebu-Ode Branch = 36 37
Ikeja Branch =37 38
Ikere Ekiti Branch = 38 39
Ikirun Branch = 39 40
Ikole Ekiti Branch = 40 41
Ikom Branch
41
42
Ikorodu Branch
42
43
Ikot Ekpene Branch
43
44
Ile-Ife Branch
44
45
Ilesa Branch
45
46
Ilorin Branch
46
47
Isiala Ngwa Branch
47
48
Isiokpo Branch
48
49
Iwo Branch
49
50
Jalingo Branch
50
51
Jos Branch
51
52
Kabba Branch
52
53
Kaduna Branch
53
54
Kafanchan Branch
54
55
Kano Branch
55
56
Katsina Branch
56
57
Lafia Branch
57
58
Lagos Branch
58
59
Lokoja Branch
59
60
Maidiguri Branch
60
61
Makurdi Branch
61
62
Mbaise Branch
62
63
Minna Branch
63
64
Mubi Branch
64
65
Nnewi Branch
65
66
Nsukka Branch
66
67
Obollo Afor Branch
67
68
Offa Branch
68
69
Ogoja Branch
69
70
Ogomosho Branch
70
71
Ogwashi-Uku Branch
71
72
Ohafia Branch
72
73
Oji River Branch
73
74
Okene Branch
74
75
Okigwe Branch
75
76
Okitipupa Branch
76
77
Oleh Branch
77
78
Ondo Branch
78
79
Onitsha Branch
79
80
Orlu Branch
80
81
Osogbo Branch
81
82
Ota Branch
82
83
Otukpo Branch
83
84
Owerri Branch
84
85
Owo Branch
85
86
Oyo Branch
86
87
Pankshin Branch
87
88
Port Harcourt Branch
88
89
Sagamu Branch
89
90
Sapele Branch
90
91
Sokoto Branch
91
92
Suleja Branch
92
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