By Dr. Tonye Clinton Jaja
In the year 1985, a musical group was formed, their name was “A TRIBE CALLED QUEST”.
It is their fascinating name that I have adapted for this write-up.
Let me begin with a caveat, the view expressed in this write-up are my personal views and not the views of the leadership of the Nigerian Law Society (NLS) of which I currently serve as the Executive Director.
Yesterday, 10th July 2025, during a meeting of the leadership of the Nigerian Law Society (NLS), I expressed the strong opinion that the NLS should be wary of admitting members of the group of about 900 Nigerian lawyers under the ABLIF (Advocacy for Bar Licence Freedom).
My logic is based on the common sense that: “a leopard rarely changes its spots”, therefore this group of lawyers who are currently rebelling against a policy of the NBA, if admitted into the NLS, would also rebel against any of the policies of the NLS that they disagree with!!!
In my argument, I stated that having practised law in the United Kingdom and the United States of America (as a previous member of the Federal Bar Association, Capitol Hill Chapter), and now in the Kingdom of Lesotho, Continuing Legal Education is a mandatory requirement for lawyers to renew their practising licence.
ABLIF is an acronym for Advocacy for Bar Licence Freedom. This is a group of lawyers that are advocating against the Nigerian Bar Association-NBA’s recent directive that all it’s members must undertake Mandatory Continuing Legal Education Programmes (MCLE).
According to the NBA, without undertaking five (5) points of MCLE, none of its lawyer members would be issued with a bar practicing licence.
However, ABLIF is of the view that payment of annual Bar Practising Fees as stipulated by the Legal Practitioners Act, 1962 is the only pre-requisite requirement for Nigerian lawyers to obtain practising licence.
So in defiance of the NBA’s directive on MCLE, the ABLIF, led by Ambassador Hammed Jimoh and Clement Chukwuemeka (Democrat) formed the ABLIF, which currently has about 900 lawyers as members.
They wrote a formal letter of protest to the President of the NBA.
In response the President of the NBA has responded that it will not reverse the said directive on mandatory MCLE.
The ABLIF now says it will proceed with its plans to press home its demands by a combination of peaceful protests at the National Assembly and other venues, as well as undertaking litigation in courts of law.
In its letter/statement of response dated 10th July 2025, the President of the NBA had threatened that there will be negative consequences upon lawyers who failed to comply with the mandatory MCLE directive. Amongst other sanctions, he stated that their names of such defaulters would be published and effectively they would cease to be members of the NBA!!!
In the face of potential excommunication from the NBA, members of the ABLIF started weighing the option of joining and enrolling as members of the Nigerian Law Society (NLS).
However, membership of the NLS is not automatic for the members of the ABLIF.
This has put the members of the ABLIF in some kind of limbo or purgatory!!! “(Purgatory (in Catholic doctrine) a place or state of suffering inhabited by the souls of sinners who are expiating their sins before going to heaven.”
So in the meantime, members of the ABLIF are now like nomads and itinerant lawyers wandering between the lacuna of wilderness and chasm between the NBA and the NLS!!!
Fortunately, for them there is the option of floating an independent Bar Association of lawyers such as they have in South Africa. An independent Bar Association of lawyers that are neither aligned to the NBA or the NLS!!!
Also, they have the additional option of working as digital nomads without the requirement of obtaining NBA licence.
Estonia was the first country to introduce digital nomad visa in June 2020.
“A Digital nomad is a person who travels freely while working remotely using information and communications technology such as the Internet. Such people generally have minimal material possessions and work remotely in temporary housing, hotels, cafes, public libraries, co-working spaces, or recreational vehicles, using Wi-Fi, smartphones or mobile hotspots to access the Internet”
These are interesting times to be a Nigerian lawyer!!!
The views expressed by contributors are strictly personal and not of Law & Society Magazine.
