Registration for the 2024 Annual General Conference (AGC) of the Nigerian Bar Association will commence tomorrow amid widespread clamour for reduction of registration fees for the annual event.
A notice issued to members by NBA Publicity Secretary Habeeb Lawal stated that “Registration for the 2024 Annual General Conference shall open at 11:55pm on Wednesday 22 May 2024.
The registration commenced despite clamour by many lawyers for the reduction of the registration fees for this year’s conference which is significantly higher than the previous ones especially for young lawyers.. With this, it would appear that there would be no downward review of the fees.
Recall that the Early Bird rate for young lawyers during the 2023 AGC was as low as N7,500 for lawyers who met the Continuing Legal Education (CLE) requirements. However, the Early Bird rate for this year’s conference has galloped to N50,000, showing almost 700 %. Badejo-Okusanya had argued that the increase was due to the current 30 % national inflation rate.
While the Regular Rate for 2023 was N20,000 the Regular Rate for this year’s AGC stands at N75,00. Late Registration which cost young lawyers N40,000 last year has shot up to N200,000 for the 2024 conference.
Several Bar Leaders had also weighed in on the debacle, urging a rethink of the fees, even as many NBA branches also made entreaties for a downward review of the fees. NBA Ikeja Branch threatened to boycott the annual conference unless the fees were slashed. It was unclear at press time whether the branch will make good its threat in light of the latest development.
