The Senate will on the 20th day of this month conduct a public hearing on the Legal Practitioners Amendment Bill 2017. It calls on Institutions and members of the public to send memoranda for presentation at the hearing.

In the paragraphs ahead, I will walk you through the Bill, its strengths and weaknesses.
The Bill is sponsored by Senator Godswill Akpabio. It intends to amend the Legal Practitioners Act Cap C11 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004. It has a total number of 7 sections with EXPLANATORY NOTE of 5 paragraphs.
This write-up seeks to discuss the form and substance of the Bill.
A combine reading of the preamble, sections 1 and 2 of the Bill goes:
“ENACTED by the National Assembly of the Federal Republic of  Nigeria as follows:
“1. The Legal Practitioners Act Cap C11 LFN 2004 in this Bill referred to as the (“the Principal Act”) is amended follows:
“2. Section 2 (1) of the Principal Act is repealed….”
If you look at it carefully, you will observe that the preamble introduces the sections of the Bill with the phrase, “as follows” starting with section 1. What this means is that all the sections of the Bill are dependent on the preamble which states that the Bill is an ENACTMENT of the National Assembly.
All the sections of the Bill, other than sub-sections, are supposed to be dependent on the preamble and independent on any other section(s). But in this Bill, section 1 introduces section 2 thus:
“1. The Legal Practitioners Act Cap C11 LFN 2004 in this Bill referred to as the (“the Principal Act”) is amended follows:”.
There are two things wrong with this particular section: 1) it introduces a whole section, not a sub-section; and 2) it a typographically omits the preposition ‘as’ which is between AMENDED and FOLLOWS. So you has ‘amended follows’ instead of ‘amended as follows.’
The defect of flow or introduction can be cured by a redraft of the preamble and section 1 of the  Bill. Instead of:
“ENACTED by the National Assembly of the Federal Republic of  Nigeria as follows:
1. The Legal Practitioners Act Cap C11 LFN 2004 in this Bill referred to as the (“the Principal Act”) is amended follows:” I prefer and suggest:
“ENACTED by the National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to amend the Legal Practitioners Act Cap C11 LFN 2004 as follows:
“1. The Legal Practitioners Act Cap C11 LFN 2004 is referred to as the (“the Principal Act”) in this Bill.
Here, the preamble is clearer and section one stands on its own.
Section 2 of the Bill repeals section 2(1) of the Principal Act and substitutes with:
“2.-(1) Subject to the provisions of sections 8, 9, 10, 11, and other  provisions of this Act, a person shall be entitled to practice as a Legal  Practitioner if, his name is on the roll.
For the sake of clarity, I reproduce section 2(1) of the Principal Act thus:
“Subject to the provisions of this Act,  a person shall be entitled to practise as a barrister and solicitor if, and only if, his name is on the roll.
A calm reading of the repealed section 2(1) of the  Principal Act and its substitute will reveal that section  2(1) of the  Principal Act is not actually repealed. The draftsman simple inserts the phrase “sections 8, 9, 10 11 and any other” between “subject to the ” and “provisions of this”.
The draft of section 2(1) of the  Principal Act is better. There is no point of mentioning specific sections if a person concerned is also bound by the provisions of others sections in the same Act.
Section 3 of the Bill repeals section 8 of the  Principal Act “Right of Audience and Precedence” and substitutes it with “Practicing Fees.”
The problem with section 8 of the  Bill is that it attempts to establish the NBA.
The question here is, can the National Assembly enact a law to establish an association which is not a statutory body? What will happen to the Act if Corporate Affairs Commission decide to unregister the Incorporated Trustees of the NBA?
Another issue with the sub-section is the use of pronouns.
“8.-(1) No legal practitioner shall have the right to practice… unless HE or SHE has paid….
In Nigeria, we use Masculine Gender Rule and General Gender Rule. That is to say, in all the Acts of the National Assembly you can find, when it comes to gender, you can either see the pronoun “HE” or a noun phrase “a person or any person.”
In Masculine Gender Rule, where “man” or “he” is used, “she, her or woman” is included. Where singular is used, plural is included.
I am not saying that we cannot use the Two-Way Rule as used in the Bill. The Principal Act consistently uses “He”. This Bill cannot insert he into it without amending all the “HEs” to “HE or SHE”/ “HIS or HER” in the Principal Act.
Consistency is the soul of understanding. I suggest that the pronoun “she” be expunged from the draft.
Section 4 renumbers sections 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19,20, 21,
22, 23, 24, and 25 of the Principal Act to sections 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21,
22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30 respectively.
Section 5 inserts new sections 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 in the Principal Act.
The proposed section 9 talks about Practicing License”. It has 4 sub-sections.
Section  9(1) and (2)empowers the National Executive Committee of the NBA to make regulations for persons whose names are on the roll to practice after they obtain practice license from the NBA. The license is to be renewed from time to time.
By section 9(3) for one’s license to be renewed, one has to show that he:
a) has participated in a mandatory continuing legal education organized by the NBA and has obtained the required number of credits;
b) paid his annual practicing fees; and
c) is a person of good character.
By section 9(4) it is unlawful for anybody to do the things under paragraphs (a-e) of the sub-section without first obtaining a practice license as stipulated in the Act.
Sub-section (5) of the  section criminalises any noncompliance to the provisions of the section with an imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or fine of N100,000.00 or both.
I have two major problems with this section: 1) the section is trying to deny law lecturers who are not legal practitioners the right of lecturing in our respective law faculties.
There are legal luminaries who are not legal practitioners in that lecture in various law faculties. In Ahmadu Bello University for example, we have Prof. K.S Chukkol and Prof. M.T Ladan. They are law graduates. They elected not to go to the law school for reasons known to them. They are very good at what they do. They are not lawyers. They are not members of the NBA. This means they cannot obtain practice license from the NBA. Are they to stop lecturing because of that?
Another question to ask here is, is lecturing legal practice? I honestly think that law lecturers who are not legal practitioners be excused from this rule.
The terrifying part of the Bill is the proposed section 9(5). It makes it a crime for a lawyer whose practice license expires to sign or prepare anything that has to do with the law.
I honestly think that section 9(5) is undemocratic and draconian. It will be better if it states that the processes signed or prepared by the lawyer be null and void,  not to criminalise the act.
TO BE CONTINUED…
Thank you for reading.
Sani Ammani Esq. is a Kano based legal practitioner.
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