The budget for the 2026 elections of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), submitted by the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA) and approved by the National Executive Council (NEC), has come under sharp criticism from a senior NBA official who questioned why none of the over 500 NEC members challenged what she described as questionable expenditure items in a budget approaching N170 million.
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Tosan Barbara Onwubiko, Esq., the Financial Secretary of the NBA Section on Public Interest and Development Law (NBA-SPIDEL), shared the ECNBA’s proposed budget on her Facebook page on May 19 at 5:56 AM, accompanied by a pointed critique that raised specific questions about the necessity of multiple line items and accused NEC members of rubber-stamping the President’s decisions without scrutiny.
“I continue to question why we maintain a National Executive Council (NEC) of the NBA. With an ECNBA budget nearing N170,000,000, NEC members could not question its contents,” Onwubiko wrote.
“I perused the ECNBA budget approved by the NEC, and while unsurprised, I noted that no member appeared to object to some of the budget’s content,” she added.
The ECNBA’s proposed budget, contained in a document sent by ECNBA Chairman Aham Ejelam, SAN, and Secretary Ibrahim Aliyu Nassarawa, Esq., to the NBA General Secretary, Dr Mobolaji Ojibara, on May 4, 2026, is divided into five major categories totalling approximately N164.66 million plus $25,000 in foreign currency components.
The Office and Administration segment accounts for N24,974,000 and includes items such as seven computer laptops at N4,900,000, a Xerox printer at N2,500,000, four phones with SIM cards at N400,000, seven flash drives at N105,000, a projector and screen at N750,500, website design and hosting at N1,925,000, situation room setup, logistics, meals, water and refreshment at N4,000,000, four ad hoc staff for periods ranging from eight to ten months at N6,300,000, ten cartons of A4 paper at N600,000, printing of certificates of return at N200,000, consumables including toners and drums at N1,500,000, and computer installation for seven devices at N300,000. The category also includes standard office supplies such as staplers, markers, highlighters, envelopes, biros, files, stamps, cellotape, scissors, liquid gum, correction fluid, binding materials, and file tags.
The Voter Education and Sensitisation segment accounts for N9,450,000, covering travel and accommodation for ECNBA teams to conduct voter education across three zones — Northern, Eastern, and Western — with each zone allocated N3,150,000. The Northern Zone covers trips to FCT Abuja (serving Benue, Nasarawa, Kogi, Kwara, and Plateau), Adamawa State (serving Gombe, Bauchi, Yobe, Taraba, and Borno), and Kano State (serving Kaduna, Zamfara, Katsina, Sokoto, and Kebbi). The Eastern Zone covers Enugu (serving Ebonyi, Anambra, and Enugu), Akwa Ibom, and Port Harcourt (serving Rivers, Bayelsa, Imo, and Abia). The Western Zone covers Oyo State (serving Osun, Ekiti, and Oyo), Edo State (serving Delta, Ondo, and Edo), and Lagos State (serving Ogun and Lagos). Each trip is budgeted at N600,000 for return tickets, N300,000 for one night’s hotel, and N150,000 for contingency.
The Aspirants’ Debate segment accounts for N12,900,000, covering stage setting at N4,000,000, refreshment at N4,500,000, private security at N2,000,000, a compere at N800,000, video and photography at N800,000, and media and publicity at N800,000.
The Technical/ICT segment is the largest single category at N49,750,000, dominated by a single line item: Technical Support Consultant and Data Protection Officer at N40,000,000. Other items in this category include bulk SMS service provider at N3,000,000 (calculated at N3 per unit), press conference at N3,000,000, social media dissemination of ECNBA notices at N1,500,000, internet and data subscription at N1,200,000, call services at N1,000,000, two email accounts at N50,000, and a functionality line item for email, SMS and related services at $25,000 in foreign currency.
The Other Logistics segment accounts for N70,736,000 — the single largest category — and is overwhelmingly dominated by travel and accommodation. Return tickets for seven ECNBA members are budgeted at N29,400,000 (approximately N4.2 million per person), accommodation for the same seven members at N30,000,000 (approximately N4.3 million per person), airport taxi at N4,800,000 (calculated at N20,000 per trip, four ways, 12 times), contingency at N5,000,000, and lunch for 12 to 15 meetings at N1,500,000.
When all five categories are combined, the ECNBA’s proposed budget totals approximately N167.81 million in naira terms, plus $25,000 in foreign currency a figure that aligns with Onwubiko’s characterisation of the budget as “nearing N170,000,000.”
Onwubiko raised several pointed questions about specific line items in the budget, focusing on what she described as unnecessary duplication of expenditure and inflated costs.
On equipment procurement, she asked what became of all the printers, computers, projectors, laptops, binding materials, phones, and flash drives that the previous ECNBA — which conducted the most recent NBA elections in 2024 had purchased and used. “Why is there a need to spend over N20,000,000 to secure another set of items?” she questioned.
The concern is significant because the ECNBA is constituted afresh for each election cycle, but the physical assets purchased by previous committees computers, printers, projectors, and other durable equipment should logically remain available for use by subsequent committees, particularly when elections are held every two years. If the NBA is purchasing entirely new sets of equipment for each election, the cumulative cost over multiple cycles would be substantial and potentially wasteful.
On the website, Onwubiko asked why there was a need to redesign the website from what the ECNBA currently utilises, given that N1,925,000 was allocated for website design and hosting. This question takes on additional significance in light of the separate controversy over the ECNBA’s use of the Zoho Desk platform for voter list corrections suggesting that significant IT infrastructure is already in place and operational.
On the Technical Support Consultant line item of N40,000,000, Onwubiko questioned why it was necessary to pay such a sum to a single consultant. This is the largest single non-travel expenditure in the entire budget, and its size relative to the overall budget raises questions about what services the consultant would provide that could not be handled by the ECNBA’s own members or the IT companies being separately shortlisted for the electronic voting platform.
On travel expenses, Onwubiko questioned why the NBA needed to spend so heavily on transportation when voter education trainings could be conducted in Abuja or online. The combined travel and accommodation costs across the Voter Education (N9,450,000) and Other Logistics (N70,736,000) categories total over N80 million nearly half the entire budget raising questions about whether the ECNBA’s operational model is designed around physical travel when more cost-effective alternatives exist.
Perhaps Onwubiko’s most damning observation was directed not at the ECNBA but at the NEC itself the NBA’s highest decision-making body between general meetings, which comprises over 500 members including the national officers, branch chairmen, section chairs, and other senior figures in the Bar.
“Out of over 500 NEC members, not one questioned this budget?” Onwubiko asked.
She characterised the failure to scrutinise the budget as symptomatic of a deeper institutional problem within the NBA. “I maintain that a significant problem within the NBA is the inability of NEC members to challenge, object and/or question the President’s decisions,” she stated.
The criticism implies that NEC has become a rubber-stamp body that approves whatever is placed before it by the NBA’s executive leadership, rather than functioning as the rigorous oversight mechanism that the NBA Constitution envisions. If NEC members many of whom are senior lawyers accustomed to scrutinising complex financial documents in their professional practice cannot bring themselves to question a near-N170 million election budget, the implications for accountability within the Bar association are significant.
Onwubiko’s budget critique is the latest in a series of challenges she has directed at the current ECNBA. She had earlier filed a formal petition before the NBA Board of Trustees alleging constitutional breaches in the ECNBA’s candidate qualification process, including the alleged unlawful inclusion of a candidate who did not comply with mandatory requirements, the concealment of names of nominators and disqualified aspirants, and a pattern of irregularities linked to ECNBA Secretary Ibrahim Aliyu Nassarawa.
Her petition sought the dissolution of the current ECNBA constituted under NBA President Afam Osigwe, SAN, and the reconstitution of a new electoral committee.
The budget controversy also intersects with the separate dispute over the ECNBA’s shortlisting of six IT companies for the electronic voting platform, where lawyers questioned the transparency of the procurement process, and the publication of the preliminary voters list using a Zoho Desk support portal that is not affiliated with any of the shortlisted companies.
Together, these controversies paint a picture of an electoral committee facing mounting credibility challenges from multiple directions as the July 20, 2026, election date approaches — with questions now spanning candidate qualification, IT procurement, voter list management, and financial accountability.
Neither the ECNBA, NBA President Afam Osigwe, SAN, nor the NBA General Secretary, Dr Mobolaji Ojibara, has publicly responded to Onwubiko’s budget critique as at the time of this report.
The ECNBA’s proposed budget was submitted on May 4, 2026, by Chairman Aham Ejelam, SAN, and Secretary Ibrahim Aliyu Nassarawa, Esq., from the ECNBA Secretariat at NBA House, 24 Oro Ago Street, Garki, Abuja.
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