MATTERS OF URGENT PROFESSIONAL IMPORTANCE!!!

It has become very apposite and inherently pertinent that young lawyers of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) make known their concern on the recently approved Annual General Conference (AGC) registration fee by the National Executive Committee.

1. Recall that at the meeting of the NBA NEC held in Kogi State from Tuesday 30th May to Thursday 1st June, 2017, approved the 2017 conference registration fees as follows:

Regular Fee 20th July – 9th August.

Late and on site fee from August 10th

* 5yrs post call : 20K / 40K / 80K

* 6-10yrs post call: 30K/60K / 120K

* 11-14yrs post call: 40K/70K/140K

* 15-20yrs post call: 60K/90K/180K

* Above 20yrs post call: 100K/150K/300K

* SAN,AGs,Benchers : 200K/300K/500K

2. Recall also that several other conferences and seminars such as the Annual Section of Business Law (SBL) registration fees are hiked that its practically impossible for any young lawyer to grace the conferences and seminars,

3. In view of the facts that vast majority of the young lawyers are paid little or paltry salaries across the country in various law firms where they work,

4. In consideration of the fact that many young lawyers are technically deprived of the opportunity to attend this conferences and seminars because of the meagre remuneration packages they are paid which cannot even with combination of more than a month salary, cannot pay for the conferences and seminar registration fees,

5. In further consideration of the facts that location of the venue of the AGC being Lagos has a high cost of transportation and living which makes it even more difficult for young lawyers from other cities to cough out the registration fee and still bear their cost of transit to and from Lagos for the said AGC,

6. With serious and unreserved consternation on the role of the NBA to nurture and groom young lawyers as the harbinger of the ideals of the profession by taking into account the ordeals of young lawyers in the profession and making policies that will guarantee their equal participation in the NBA events,

Young lawyers across the country with unity of minds and in one voice wish to state categorically and without fear of equivocation as follows;

1. That they reject in its entirety the NBA AGC August registration fees approved at the NBA NEC meeting held in Kogi State from 30-01/06/2017.

2. That the decision of of the NBA NEC in respect of the August AGC be rescinded forthwith as same was taken without properly taking the interest of young lawyers across the country into consideration.

3. That the inclusion of a Tablet upon registration should be made optional as same is not the most pressing needs of young lawyers because many already has tablet and other means of accessing law pavilion and other law reports.

4. That preferably, the registration fee should be the same with that of 2016 or slightly different in order for many young lawyers to attend the conference.

5. That with due respect to the NBA NEC, the AGC registration fee is technically discriminatory and therefore a coy to discourage the attendance of young lawyers to the conference,

Arising from the foregoing, we the YOUNG LAWYERS across the whole country say no to discriminatory AGC Conference registration fee without taking accounts of the plight of young lawyers and their ability to attend the conference and we hereby demand that the conference registration fee be reverted to what it was in the 2016 AGC conference held in Portharcourt, Rivers State.

Thank you for signing this petition to save young lawyers from being stifled out of the profession.