By Muhammad Nazir Faruk, Esq

That on the 28th Day of October 2021, at NBA’s Annual General Meeting, the NBA’s President had briefly read out the letter from the RG of the CAC expressing the commission’s decision to stop presenting its report to the NBA.

That in fact, had no doubt generated a lot of divergent opinions on the nature of treatment the RG’s letter deserved.

Some delegates thought that the RG’s letter should not be allowed to take its natural course of stopping to present the commission’s report. While others were echoing the view that stopping to present the commission’s report needed to be looked into by escalating the issue to the minister of Industry trade and investment as championed by Chief Ngige, SAN.

I observed the whole issues under discussion with some mixed feelings:

That, historically, this is a matter of norms of the convention at the NBA’s AGM and not of law to request mostly some institutions to present their reports by way of interactive sessions so that typical issues, complaints, and suggestions might be addressed holistically therein.

In a bid to juxtapose the arguments of the learned minds at the AGM of the NBA therefore, it is important to know the causative factor of the RG’s reaction to the NBA’s invitation to present its report.

While it is a renowned fact that lawyers generally are not happy with the services rendered by the CAC nowadays.

Conventionally, presenting reports by so many institutions like CAC at the AGM of the NBA serves as an avenue to address the most pressing issues for the members of the NBA who are mostly affected by one particular decision of the commission or the other.

Although the NBA representatives at various institutions in Nigeria present their respective reports at the NBA’s NEC meetings, generally, the CAC being the creation of the law is not a member of the NBA even though the RG of the CAC must as a matter of law be a lawyer to which he will automatically qualify as a member.

It is equally correct to say that the juristic personality in the CAC is never a member of the NBA.

I must acknowledge the correct argument of the RG’s letter that the NBA does not have any supervisory authority on the Corporate Affairs Commission to warrant presenting its report to the NBA.

Moreover, the CAC is not as a matter of law answerable to the NBA. This is the more reason why NBA invites them for the benefit of the delegates.

Conclusion/Suggestion/recommendations to the NBA:

It is pertinent to note that, the RG’s letter to the NBA did not in any way run counter with any extant law in force for the time being apart from breaching a norm of the convention which is not a crime. My President has seen some logic in the letter and I believe if there is anything the RG of the CAC has omitted to have done, was at least to respect the norm of the noble profession to which by the grace of God he happens to be a member.

Further, considering the nature of the RG’s tone and choice of words in the letter sent to the NBA, that letter must have been triggered by some independent factors. In other words, there must be some underpinning factors that prompted the decision of the commission.

The NBA, particularly its President may constitute a committee to intervene through dialogue or discussion to make an inquiry and address the conflicting issues with no sentiments.

The committee may pinpoint some reasons the commission’s report at the largest gathering of lawyers is important and how it can go a long way to improve the services rendered by the commission.

To be honest, the decision of the corporate affairs commission is with all due respect not in the interest of the majority of the delegates. But I don’t subscribe to the view that as simple as this issue is, the whole NBA escalates such issue to even RG’s supervisory Minister.

I must admit that as settled as the law is, an appointment, suspension, and removal must always be done by the approval of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Therefore, this goes to mean that this issue of not presenting a report to the AGM of the NBA did not even administratively constitute an issue of concern to the Minister of Trade and Investment to warrant instructing the RG to heed to the will of the NBA. That is to say, if at all the Minister’s attention is drawn by the NBA on this point of concern, that issue can not request for his memo to the President for any further directives. The exercise may only be a futile attempt.