The Supreme Court on Monday clarified its position on the new online payment system of bar practising fees by lawyers in the country introduced by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), saying it was authentic and in good faith.
The NBA, in a circular, had directed lawyers to henceforth pay the statutory annual fees via an online payment portal known as Paystack.
The new practising fees mode had generated disputes among lawyers on its proprietary or otherwise.
But Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court, Barrister Hajo Sarki-Bello, in a statement in Abuja on Monday backed the authenticity of the new system as it was in line with the new global information and communication technology order.
The statement reads: “Our attention has been drawn to the controversies being generated by the order given by the leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association directing all legal practitioners in Nigeria to henceforth be paying the statutory annual Bar Practicing Fees via an online payment portal called “Paystack.”
Read Also: BREAKING: Court sacks 20 Cross River lawmakers
“The Supreme Court of Nigeria has meticulously investigated this new development and equally had incisive discussions with the leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association, with a view to ascertaining the propriety or otherwise of the directive.
“From our findings, the new payment plan via the online portal is authentic and equally done in good faith, ostensibly with the sole aim of operating within the ambit of the new global information and communication technology order.
“However, those interested in manual payment also have the choice of doing it at any branch of our designated bank, as was previously done.
“With the explanations given by the leadership of the NBA, their action has not, in any way, contravened the Legal Practitioners Act 2004, which explicitly confers such role and function on the Chief Registrar of the Court.
“The subsisting mode of payment makes the Chief Registrar and NBA President co-signatories to the Supreme Court’s Bar Practicing Fees (BPF) account into which the fee is paid annually by all lawyers in Nigeria.”