September 2026
I read a public statement credited to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), wherein the Commission cautioned Legal Practitioners against charging professional fees in foreign currencies and threatened prosecution for non-compliance.
This statement reportedly followed a strategic meeting between officials of the EFCC Lagos Zonal Directorate 2 and the NBA Lagos Task Force on the Illegal Practice of Law.
Section 15 of the Legal Practitioners Act, Cap. L11, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, established the Legal Practitioners Remuneration Committee and expressly confers upon it the exclusive mandate to regulate the remuneration of Legal Practitioners.
Section 15(3) of the Act particularly empowers this Committee to oversee lawyers' charges, including private agreements concerning professional fees negotiated between Legal Practitioners and their clients.
This statutory power has been duly exercised through the Legal Practitioners Remuneration (For Business, Legal Service and Representation) Order 2023, enacted pursuant to section 15(3) of the Act.
This comprehensive framework governs remuneration across various domains, including consultations, legal opinions, corporate practice, litigation, property transactions and ancillary professional services.
More so, the leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association has consistently reiterated that the 2023 Remuneration Order remains the definitive and enforceable benchmark governing professional legal fees nationwide.
Consequently, the EFCC cannot by means of administrative press releases, executive warnings, or coercive threats of prosecution, usurp the statutory functions explicitly vested in the Legal Practitioners Remuneration Committee by the Legal Practitioners Act.
A vital legal distinction must be drawn between denominating or agreeing to a professional fee in foreign currency, transacted through lawful banking channels, and receiving proceeds of crime, engaging in money laundering or otherwise breaching extant foreign exchange and anti money laundering legislation.
While the Nigerian Naira remains our legal tender, its status does not automatically criminalize every foreign-currency fee arrangement. There is no existing legislation in Nigeria declaring that a fee agreement referencing or involving foreign currency between a lawyer and his client constitutes an automatic crime prosecutable by the EFCC.
The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is unequivocal regarding criminal liability. Section 36(12) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) enshrines the foundational principle that no person shall be convicted of a criminal offense unless that offense is explicitly defined and the penalty prescribed in a written law.
Regulatory governance over legal practice remains the exclusive province of the Legal Practitioners Act, the Remuneration Committee, the 2023 Remuneration Order, and the Rules of Professional Conduct.
As a creature of statute, the EFCC must operate strictly within the jurisdictional boundaries defined by its enabling legislation. While the campaign against economic and financial crimes is vital to national development, strict adherence to the rule of law is equally indispensable.
Professional regulation cannot be substituted with prosecutorial overreach or intimidation.
The rule of law binds all institutions and citizens alike, most notably those entrusted with its enforcement.
By N.D. Abdulsalam
Chairman,
Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Gwagwalada Branch,
FCT - Abuja.
