Back in September 2017 we reported on the Nigerian Bar Association’s legal and regulatory reform objectives. Since then a number of initiatives have been undertaken. The NBA President, Abubakar Balarabe Mahmoud, recently attended a meeting with the Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (BOSAN) and presented them with a number of documents for review:
- An executive summary of the Nigerian Bar Association’s reform initiatives, which explains the context for NBA reforms, provides an overview of the current state of the Nigerian Legal Profession, and elaborates on the NBA Reform Strategy. The Reform Strategy focuses on the promotion of reforms in four crucial areas: the regulation of the legal profession, representation of NBA members, re-engineering of the NBA’s administrative structure, and in public interest interventions by the Nigerian Bar.
- A review of the NBA’s Corporate Governance and Financial Control Processes undertaken by KPMG Advisory Services.
- A Report and draft Legal Profession Regulation Bill 2017 produced by the NBA Legal Profession Regulatory Review Committee (LPRRC)
The presentation was well received by BOSAN members, who endorsed the Review of the Corporate Governance and Financial Control Processes of the Nigerian Bar Association, and urged the President to ensure that the recommendations proposed by KPMG in its report were implemented before the completion of the tenure of the current NBA administration. The Body also set up a Committee, which is mandated to review the draft Legal Profession Regulation Bill and forward its recommendations on the Bill to the NBA for its harmonisation into the final draft Bill.