The five branches of the Nigerian Bar Association in the Federal Capital Territory have commenced a coordinated effort aimed at strengthening implementation and enforcement of the Legal Practitioners (Remuneration for Business, Legal Services and Representation) Order, 2023.
The branches — NBA Abuja, Garki, Bwari, Nyanya-Karu and Gwagwalada — convened lawyers and stakeholders for a Remuneration Town Hall Meeting at the NBA National Secretariat in Abuja.
The initiative brings the five FCT branches together around one of the most persistent economic challenges confronting lawyers: undercharging and the failure to comply with minimum professional fees prescribed for legal services.
The meeting featured Chief Emeka Obegolu, SAN, Chairman of the NBA Remuneration Committee, as the main speaker.
The participating Branch Chairmen are Yakubu Philemon, SAN, Abuja; Askira Adamu, Garki; Emmanuel Nwude, Bwari; Alexander Edim, Nyanya-Karu; and N.D. Abdulsalam, Gwagwalada.
From sensitisation to enforcement
The significance of the intervention lies in the shift from merely explaining the Remuneration Order to discussing its practical enforcement.
The 2023 Order establishes minimum fees for specified legal services and is intended to address the chronic undervaluation of professional legal work.
The NBA Remuneration Committee has consistently maintained that lawyers may agree to reduced fees only within the limits permitted by the Order and applicable professional rules.
LegalLinkz has previously reported that the NBA’s implementation framework empowers branches to develop context-specific enforcement models, provided such mechanisms are properly adopted and submitted through the appropriate NBA structure. Nigerian Law Updates
That means local branches have a significant role to play in ensuring that prescribed fees do not remain merely theoretical.
Why the FCT intervention matters
A coordinated FCT approach could have significant practical implications because Abuja has one of Nigeria’s largest concentrations of law firms, government institutions, corporate clients, property transactions and regulatory work.
Undercutting by one practitioner often places pressure on others to reduce fees below professionally sustainable levels.
Supporters of enforcement argue that such practices ultimately affect not only lawyers’ earnings but also the quality, sustainability and independence of legal practice.
The challenge, however, is to build an enforcement system that protects prescribed professional standards while remaining consistent with the Remuneration Order, the Rules of Professional Conduct and established disciplinary procedures.
The FCT initiative therefore represents an important test of whether branches can move from awareness campaigns to a workable collective compliance regime.
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