*Move Is Geared Towards Ensuring Members Have Access To Finance.
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The NBA just recently signed memorandum of understanding with some banks in Nigeria for the purpose of providing finance for it’s members.
In an interview, the NBA president Olumide Akpata, said that the move was necessitated by the desire and agenda of his administration to cater for the welfare of lawyers. He went on to state that through this initiative financial members of the Association will have access to funds for anything relating to the legal practice, and he emphasized the fact that there were structures put in place to mitigate risk; through risk allocation between the NBA, the banks and the members.
In his words: “the well-being of our members is critical, it’s uppermost in our own consideration and this is one of the ways we know we will impact and will affect the lives, the professional lives of our members. “
Speaking on the process of accessing these finances, the president said: “that is essentially what it is. Work through the branch, liaising with the finance committee of THE NBA, Lawyers can access finance for their legal practice, for those who want to buy books, anything that is related to the practice of law”.
He went on further to throw light on the way the program was designed: “firstly, the program is in place, and as many banks we can partner with. We have 70,000 financial members this year, it may be too much for one bank, so we have just made it possible that we keep our options open that are partnering with more than one bank”.
The NBA President also stated in clear terms that structures were put in place for the program to run smoothly, especially mitigation of risk. He stated this: “even with best intentions, even if the individual means to pay back, anything can happen. So, we have put structures in place to ensure tha,t this is why we are standing in the gap, it’s all about risk allocation. NBA is carrying some risk, the bank is carrying some risk, the individual is carrying some risk.”
“I think we have had it pretty much worked out. We want to approach this with that mindset that since we have done our homework, all will be well”.
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