- Call on the validity period to be extended by at least two weeks
By Nkereuwem Udofia Akpan
Speaking from my personal experience, for about three weeks, I was struggling to make payment on the NBA Bar practice fee platform without success and had to visit the National Headquarters thrice.
The NBA leadership did not provide an alternative to ease the stress and frustration encountered by our colleagues all over the country, despite a deluge of protests on social media and elsewhere. Even on various WhatsApp Groups and other fora, there was an avalanche of complaints from our colleagues on the challenge faced.
On various platforms, I cried out and personally complained multiple times to my Branch Chairman and several others that there’s an urgent need to provide members with an alternative mode of payment
The daily frustration of having to squeeze through ubiquitous bottlenecks everywhere from petrol stations to banks and ATMs has left its toll on the mental health of the average man or woman on the street adding another bottleneck at the NBA portal was one heartache too many.
Now, on the very last day and with a few hours to go, we suddenly have an alternative platform to make payment. While this is a welcome development, it’s too little too late as there are thousands of lawyers already caught in the queue and there’s no way all can beat the 31st March deadline for purposes of making the NBA BPF payment ‘as and when due’.
Unfortunately, the IT Unit, the Financial Secretary, and other affected officers waited till this late to come up with the much-needed intervention despite the weeks and months of clamour.
It’s truly saddening that nothing drastic was done despite the uproar that was generated by that technical glitch on the BPF payment portal and which made it impossible for thousands of willing members to pay their Bar Practice Fee in a timely fashion. Drastic situations require drastic steps and the NBA dropped the ball.
This sudden wake-up call and directive that members can use a hurriedly assembled alternative portal is the same reactionary knee-jerk approach that’s been the bane of everything Nigerian and I personally disapprove of same.
As it stands thousands of our colleagues will be in default this year unless there is an extension of the validity period.
This was avoidable and truly unacceptable and must be corrected forthwith by the creation and maintenance of not one, not two, but several alternatives of payment which must be open for purposes of that annual ritual – making BPF payment in line with established norms and practices.
It is not in doubt that one can pay his or her BPF at any time within the practice year or even thereafter, but, the real gist is in paying same before the 31st of March in a given legal year.
I suggest that the closing date for payment of 2023 BPF ‘within time’ must be extended by at least two weeks to make up for the loss of time suffered by our colleagues due to no fault of theirs.
I call on the NBA President, Y C Makyau SAN, to use his good offices and intervene by sending an official memo to the Chief Justice of Nigeria and the Body of Benchers requesting an extension of the validity period by at least 14 days for that purpose.
This is doable and it is the only way out of this unfortunate scenario.
Chief Nkereuwem Udofia Akpan
Lex Consulates & Attorneys
Maitama, Abuja FCT
On Twitter: @Chiefnkereuwem
