The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has invited leaders of the Advocacy for Bar Licence Freedom (ABLIF) to a high-level meeting in response to their latest petition challenging the enforcement of the Mandatory Continuing Professional Development (MCPD) policy.
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In a letter dated 31st July 2025 and signed by NBA Assistant General Secretary, Henry Barnabas Ehi, the Association formally invited Amb. Hameed Ajibola Jimoh, Esq., Chukwuemeka Clement, Esq., and Christabel Zoe Ayuk, Esq., to meet with the NBA President, Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN.
The meeting is scheduled for Friday, August 1, 2025, at 10:00 AM in the President’s Boardroom, NBA National Headquarters, Abuja.
ABLIF, a nationwide coalition of lawyers, had on 29th July submitted a second formal petition to the NBA, demanding the immediate suspension of the MCPD policy as a precondition for renewing the Annual Practicing Certificate (APC). In the petition, they cited structural exclusion, administrative overreach, and lack of stakeholder consultation as core grievances.
Describing the MCPD system as “systemic exclusion disguised as reform,” ABLIF further condemned proposed constitutional amendments that would confer disciplinary powers on the NBA National Executive Council (NEC), calling it a “power grab” with no basis in law.
The group also warned of a growing climate of intimidation within the Bar and threatened peaceful protests, litigation, and international advocacy if their concerns are ignored.
NBA’s decision to meet the petitioners may signal a turning point in the long-running tension over the policy, which critics say disproportionately affects junior and rural-based lawyers.
ABLIF maintains that their demands are not an act of rebellion, but a plea to “preserve the Bar as a sanctuary of equity, justice, and legal freedom.”
Whether this meeting will lead to a compromise or entrench deeper divisions within the legal profession remains to be seen.
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