The Rising Cases Of Attaching Teller Of Payment Of NBA Seal And Stamp To A Document By Lawyers In Place Of The NBA’s Approved Seal And Stamp: Whether The Rule 10 Of The Rules Of Professional Conducts For Legal Pratitioners, 2007 Has Been Complied With? By: Hameed Ajibola Jimoh Esq.

In the recent time,there have been rising cases of some lawyers, especially some lawyers in thepublic service and some few in the private practice, which I have seen,attaching teller showing their payment of the required sum for the provisionsof the seal and stamp by the Nigerian Bar Association-herein after referred toas NBA.

They share the views that such document can be taken as havingfulfilled the provisions of the Rule 10 of the Rules of ProfessionalConducts for Legal Practitioners, 2007-herein after referred to as RPC. Thisgives rise to such situation where a lawyer would attach a teller of paymentfor the seal and stamp which he paid in the month of February, 2018 to a documentwhich he files in the month of November, 2018. Also, such lawyer continuesto argue and blame the NBA for the non-issuance of the seal and stamp, as ifthe NBA were God to know that he has paid such money for the seal and stamp!These cases are becoming the practice and courts are being misled many times bysome of these lawyers to taking this practice as a fulfillment of theprovisions of Rule 10 of the RPC, thereby adopting the said document as havingfulfilled Rule 10 of the RPC. That is why I have decided to write thispaper to make my humble submissions on the subject matter, hence the title ofthis article.

First and foremost, Rule 10 of RPC provides thus ‘(1) A lawyer acting in his capacity as a legal practitioner, legal officer or adviser of any Government department or Ministry or any corporation, shall not sign or file a legal document unless there is affixed on such document a seal and stamp approved by the Nigerian Bar Association. (2) for the purpose of this rule, ‘legal documents’ shall include pleadings, affidavits, depositions, applications, instruments, agreements, deeds, letters, memoranda, reports, legal opinions or any similar documents’. (3) if, without complying with the requirements of this rule, a lawyer signs or files any legal document as defined in sub-rule (2) of this rule, and in any of the capacities mentioned in sub-rule (1), the document so signed or filed shall be deemed not to have been properly signed or filed’. Therefore,Lawyers have been required to affix their STAMP on every legal document prepared and/or endorsed in accordance with law. The use of the stamps became mandatory from the 1st Day of April, 2015.

By this provision of the Rule 10 of the RPC, normally, a lawyer shall affix such approved NBA seal and stamp to his documents, however, the lawyer, considering the principle of equity that ‘equity assumes as done that which ought to be done’ to reduce the hardship of the delay in producing the required seal and stamp after the lawyer must have fulfilled all the requirements for him to secure the seal but for NBA’s internal challenges, the said seal not being produced on time. Nevertheless, it is my submission that the same equity has it that ‘he who comes to equity must do equity, as equity follows the law, and equity aids the vigilant and not the indolent’. The question to ask is whether some of these lawyers who attach their teller of payment of the NBA approved seal and stamp to their documents have actually fulfilled all what it takes to secure or obtain the said seal and stamp? The writer of this paper answers No! This is because, the delay in the production of the NBA seal and stamp is self-inflicted by that lawyer who only pays for the seal and stamp and do no more.

Furthermore, it is my humble submission that for a lawyer to have been said to have fulfilled the provisions of Rule 10 of the RPC, relying on the principles of equity and in order to enjoy the consideration of not being blamed for the NBA’s delay of the seal and stamp, he must tender in evidence by documents, that he has fulfilled the requirements for stamp application as published on the NBA’s website www.nigerianbar.org.ng thus

‘REQUIREMENTS FOR STAMP APPLICATION

• A photocopy of Call to Bar Certificate (If not yet verified)
• Means of identification ( International Passport, Driver’s license, or National Identity Card- If not yet verified)
• Proof of payment of Bar Practice Fees for the current year.
• Proof of payment of branch dues.
• Evidence of change of Name (If Any)
• Proof of non-refundable Administrative fee of N2,000 (If not yet verified)
• Proof of payment for number of Stamps needed.
Please note that all the above listed documents should be attached to the NBA Stamp application form before submission. The completed forms must be endorsed by the Chairman of the NBA Branch (one of the125 NBA Branches) to which the Lawyer belongs.’.

This provision speaks for itself and clothes me with my submission to the effect that a mere attachment of teller to the said document is not enough and is not a fulfillment of Rule 10 of the RPC or an evidence of having appropriately applied for the said seal and stamp. In my humble view, such lawyer must tender in his evidence or affidavit the acknowledged prescribed application form by the NBA which shows that he has indeed applied for the seal and stamp and that the said application has been acknowledged and or received by the NBA either at the National Secretariat or at one of the Branch Office and it is then that the whole matter becomes NBA’s administrative issue for which the lawyer cannot be blamed for, else, it would be the lawyer’s self-inflicted fault. Furthermore, in my view, if care is not taken, some of those lawyers will always use this situation to avoid the payment of the bar practicing fees and the NBA branch annual due.

Also, permit me to say that the issue of attaching teller of payment for the seal and stamp cannot be equated with the issue of an expired seal. This is so because, in the case of the expired seal and stamp, the said lawyer must have in his possession, the particular year’s evidence of payment or teller for the bar practicing fees and the branch due and in this case, he can attach a photocopy of the said tellers to his defence that he is entitled to practice in that same year else, it would be unlawful, illegal and unethical (professionally) for him to practice without the said payments. See: Rule 9 of the RPC which provides thus ‘9(1) A lawyer shall pay his Annual Practicing Fees not later than 31^st March in every year. In the case of lawyers who are enrolled during the year, the fees shall be paid within one month of the enrolment. (2) A lawyer shall not sign documents, pleadings, affidavits, depositions, instruments, agreements, letters, deeds, memoranda, reports, legal opinions or similar documents, or process or file such documents as a legal practitioner, legal officer or advicer of any Governmental department or ministry or any corporation when he is in default of payment of his Annual Practicing Fees’.

Also, I advise lawyers to be at alert and on the hunt for those lawyers who stylishly evade and avoid the payment of the year’s bar practicing fees and the branch due by merely attaching their payment of teller for the seal and stamp and do no more to make their applications to the NBA for the said seal and stamp while complying with the requirement laid down by the NBA. Even NBA will not process the said seal and stamp for which a lawyer has paid for but has not paid his bar practicing fees and the branch due.

Finally, I urge lawyers to always challenge this rising practice of attaching only the teller for the payment of the NBA seal and stamp and no more rather than either the approved seal and stamp or the acknowledged photocopy of the application form submitted to the NBA with the accompanying required documents for the application, so as to curb unethical professional legal practice.

E-mail: hameed_ajibola@yahoo.com

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