NBA’s Stamp for Lawyers: Finest Moment of the Bar
It was a golden moment for the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) when Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Mahmud Muhammed, CFR, GCON formally launched the NBA Stamp and Seal Products on Wednesday April 15, 2015 at the Borno Room of TransCorp Hilton, Abuja.
Supporting the project, Justice Mohammed in his remarks noted that “This launch celebrates the welcome actualisation of a long held aspiration of the Bar for which the President, National Executive Council (NEC) of the NBA, and indeed predecessors in office, should be applauded and commended. To contextualise this innovation, a key role of the NBA is the regulation of its members’ identities through various means of identification. Indeed the significance of this event is underpinned by the provision of Rule 10(1) of the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioner, which mandates that any lawyer acting in his or her capacity as a legal practitioner, legal officer or adviser of any government department or corporations, shall not sign or file a legal document unless his stamp and seal are affixed on any such document. The Stamp we are here to launch today has breathed life into this provision and further elevated legal practice in Nigeria to meet the challenges of an evolving society”.
He added that, “No doubt, one of these challenges is how to differentiate between a ‘real’ and ‘fake’ legal practitioner. The prevalence of fake lawyers in the country negatively affects the integrity of the legal profession and casts a shadow of disrepute upon us all. Indeed, Judges find it difficult to identify which Counsel, appearing before them, is genuine or otherwise. Of even greater concern is the fact that members of the public are often left in a quandary over in whose hands they can place their trust, property or even lives in.”
“We must not forget that the credibility of the Bar has a direct impact on respect for the Rule of Law and the independence of the courts. This is why it is our collective responsibility to ensure that the stamp is used as a veritable means of authenticating a qualified legal practitioner and the documents emanating from him. I believe that the stamp can, if properly deployed, become a hallmark of a firm’s work and a way for prospective clients to better identify their counsel – a veritable means to ‘Know Your Counsel’. Thus, having an innovation, which may bestow a ‘stamp’ of integrity and respect, is indeed welcome.”
“This event is also timely in its occurrence. Our Judiciary is similarly introducing the greater use of information and communications technology solutions like legal email and Court automation into the Administration of Justice in the tri-strata of our Superior Courts. I believe that an enhanced synergistic use and adoption of appropriate ICT innovations will further enhance our ability to bring the legal profession into the 21st century and re-position the Temple of Justice to provide effectively, a qualitative justice dispensation system that meets the complex demands of our dynamic society. These innovations will soon include the electronic service of hearing notices from the Supreme Court and more secure inter and intra – communications platforms between the Courts and Legal Practitioners.
“My lords, ladies and gentlemen, I am confident in the ability of the leadership of the NBA to sustain and engage all members of the Bar in this initiative. However, I urge the NEC of the Bar to ensure that a proper management structure is established to administer the scheme, as this will enhance the confidence of the users, while also reducing the avenues wherein fraudulent misuse may be occasioned,” he then congratulated the Bar once more.
Giving the history of the project to his audience, which included acting Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja Hon Justice Ishaq Bello, and his Borno State counterpart Justice Kashim Zanna, the NBA President Augustine Alegeh (SAN) remarked that, “The Nigerian Bar Association had in the past few months signed partnership agreements with several service providers for the provision of welfare packages to its members. This initiative was in fulfillment of this present administration’s promise to vigorously pursue and safeguard the interest of Nigerian lawyers. Today therefore marks the actualisation of this promise and the beginning of a new dawn for the Nigerian legal profession.’’
On the NBA Stamp, Alegeh noted that, “The Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners, 2007 makes it mandatory for every legal document signed and filed by a lawyer to bear a stamp and seal approved by the Nigerian Bar Association. This requirement of law necessitated the recent decision of the NBA to engage the services of Strataflex Nigeria Limited for the provision of adhesive paper stamps for lawyers. These stamps will only be issued to verified lawyers who have paid their Bar Practicing fees at the cost of N4, 000 (Four Thousand Naira only) per pack of 120 (One Hundred and Twenty) stamps. The stamps are valid for one year only (1st April – 31st March) yearly and have distinctive high quality security features which make duplication and forgery close to impossible. The security features will continually be updated. The stamps are specially designed to bear the name and enrolment number of each lawyer. It is instructive to note that prior to this moment, there was no way of verifying the authenticity of legal documents said to have been prepared by lawyers. The introduction of the NBA stamp will address and resolve this issue and all documents which bear this stamp will prima facie be deemed to have emanated from the lawyer whose details are contained therein”.
“The NBA National Executive Committee approved the provision of two colours of the Stamps – Green and Red. The Green Stamps will be issued to Lawyers who are in private legal practice while the Red stamps will be issued to lawyers in Public practice. The design and all the security feature of stamps are the same.”
“The provision of an NBA approved Stamp is further demonstration of the commitment of the NBA to promoting the Rule of Law in Nigeria. The situation where the authenticity of Legal documents has remained a mirage must come to an end immediately. Affidavits have become so abused that it is possible for a Deponent to file an affidavit in Court declaring himself Dead! The proliferation has reached an unbearable limit. We have left our doors so wide open that even foreigners are practicing Law in Nigeria in clear breach of the provisions of the Legal Practitioners Act, Cap L11 LFN 2004. The introduction of the NBA approved seal would address this problem.”
“All NBA members must be united in addressing this scourge in the legal profession. We must all be watchdogs and enforcers if this policy is to succeed. Our collective welfare would remain threatened if we do not protect our business from legal and foreign quacks. The business we lose daily would come back to our members if we all cooperate to ensure the success of the Stamp Policy”, he cautioned.
Alegeh allayed the fears of ‘doubting Thomases’ thus “We are not unaware of the initial doubts by Lawyers in Public practice that colour-coding of this stamps may adversely affect them. We met with the leadership of the Law Officers Association of Nigeria (LOAN) and after exhaustive discussions resolved the issues and cleared their doubts. No systems is perfect and the NBA being a dynamic body will continually review the implementation of