THE use of stamp and seal became mandatory from 1st April 2015. The enabling law being the provisions of Rule 10, Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioner 2007, there is need to make immediate adjustments in the advancement of justice and the bar.
Being that the NBA NATIONAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE (NEC) resolved this mandatory application in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State on 14th November 2014, three factors now make a digital stamp and seal most attractive:
1. The ongoing COVID-19 Lockdown, online use of communication for meetings, and the suggestions that proceedings be adapted to suit the court hearings;
2. Hardcopy stamp and seal are due, unavailable or even if available transportation is restricted for branch deliveries for 2020;
3. Expensive production process and print before sending across the branches nationwide will be a challenge in weeks and months to come;
4. These enormous changes and the fact that funds for these logistics must be reassigned to alternative and more viable projects make it attractive that we adopt secure electronic signature and to make a click on stamp and seal to be pasted on documents before printing in colored for court filing.
5. It is no longer news that digitization of our practice has come to stay. We started with electronic research materials and law reports and may be left behind if we still wait for rows of physical tiny round seals before appending on documents for a lawyer’s franking. The prices will reduce by reason of not printing but the same sheet number may be maintained and used per click.
6. What is the procurement process?
The below NBA information will suffice:
“Lawyers are hereby required to affix their STAMP on every legal document prepared and/or endorsed in accordance with the law. This online stamp request platform is for verified lawyers ONLY, the unverified lawyer must ensure that they are verified with the Nigerian Bar Association and also ensure that all requirements stated below are available before undertaking this process otherwise access will be denied.
REQUIREMENTS FOR STAMP REQUEST ONLINE ARE:
Payment of Bar Practice Fees for the current year.
Payment of branch dues.
Evidence of change of Name (If Any)
Payment for the number of Stamps needed.”
Because of this pandemic, our dynamism as a Bar must be to take the challenge of change and adaptation.
Ndedde, Legal Adviser, Eket Branch