The NBA’s position is that CPD is crucial for maintaining professional standards and competence within the legal profession. According to Vivian Onukwufor Esq publisher of Divaviva111.com “It is worthy to note that from my point of view as a lawyer in Nigeria, making CPD mandatory is a safe guard for both the public and the profession’s integrity and failure to comply can indeed lead to license suspension as provided for by the rules”
“NBA Will Neither Suspend nor Scrap the Mandatory Continuing Professional Development Programme”
In response to his post, Bala Zarki wrote;
I’ve seen the recent comments by the National President , NBA suggesting that attendance at ICLE programs and the accumulation of CPD points are now mandatory for lawyers — with the justification that such obligations can validly arise from subsidiary legislation under the Legal Practitioners Act (LPA).
Respectfully, we must call this what it is: a misinterpretation of law and overreach in regulation.
Yes, subsidiary legislation is made pursuant to a principal law — but it cannot impose obligations or penalties that the principal law (in this case, the LPA) does not authorize. Nowhere in the LPA is CPD or ICLE attendance made compulsory. And certainly, there’s no legal basis for using non-compliance as a ground to deny a lawyer the right to practice.
Our courts have been clear: if a regulation goes beyond what the parent law allows, it is invalid. See Unilorin v. Oluwadare(2006)14 NWLR( Pt1000)751. No matter how noble the intention, compulsion without lawful backing is tyranny — even if done by the NBA.
Let’s be clear: CLE and CPD are valuable. But value must lead; not force. Inspire us, don’t threaten us.
We are lawyers, not law students. Respect is mutual. Let’s build a Bar where learning is encouraged, not imposed without basis.
The rule of law must apply to the regulators as much as it does to the regulated.
Let hear your thoughts.