The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Lagos State branches, on 11 February 2026 convened a Town Hall Meeting at the Nigerian Law School, Victoria Island, Lagos, to deliberate on the proposed Lagos State Remuneration Portal and the implementation of the Legal Practitioners Remuneration Order.
The meeting commenced at approximately 9:40 a.m. with the recital of the NBA Prayer and the National Anthem, followed by opening remarks. Chairmen of all NBA branches in Lagos State addressed members, emphasizing that the Lagos State Remuneration Portal is aimed at ensuring that lawyers are adequately and fairly remunerated in line with the Remuneration Order.
Panel Presentations
The panel session was moderated by Ifeoma Ben, Secretary of the NBA Lagos Remuneration Committee.
Chief Emeka Obegolu, SAN, delivered a presentation on the Legal Practitioners Remuneration Order, describing it as a necessary regulatory framework designed to standardise legal fees and protect young practitioners from underpricing and exploitation.
Thereafter, Olawunmi Adeola, Chairman of the NBA Ikorodu Branch, presented the proposed NBA Lagos State Remuneration Portal. She explained that the portal is conceived as a central compliance and verification platform, a unified digital infrastructure for reporting, verification, compliance tracking and data management while still accommodating branch-specific needs.
Although designed as a single portal, each NBA branch in Lagos State will operate its own interface. For instance, members of the Ikeja Branch will not access the Ikorodu interface, and vice versa. A general interface will also be available.
Discussions also addressed how lawyers from outside Lagos State would utilize the portal. One proposal suggested allowing such lawyers to transact under any Lagos branch using the name of their home branch without registering with the host branch. Others proposed that out-of-state lawyers should transact through the general interface without affiliating with any specific branch.
Mode of Operation
The portal is expected to play a key role in land transactions. Lawyers handling such transactions would be required to upload relevant details, including survey plan numbers. Where survey details are unavailable, basic information such as the names and addresses of the parties would be uploaded.
Following submission, a vetting committee would review the information and issue a Certificate of Compliance. Failure to obtain the certificate would prevent registration of the relevant documents at the Land Registry.
The portal will charge a fee for maintenance. It was clarified that, unlike earlier proposals, lawyers’ entire professional fees would not be paid into the NBA account. Instead, only the portal fee would be remitted. The system will auto-calculate the applicable minimum fee for each transaction. While lawyers may charge above the prescribed minimum, they may not charge below it when using the portal.
The platform is designed to ensure that transactions are captured and traceable, to promote compliance and safeguard lawyers’ remuneration. For personal land transactions conducted by lawyers, users would be required to upload either an affidavit confirming the personal nature of the transaction or the front page of the relevant document.
The portal will apply to lawyers practising in Lagos State and those from outside the State conducting land transactions within Lagos. Lagos-based lawyers will register under their respective branches and be assigned unique codes and barcodes. A whistleblowing policy has also been incorporated into the system.
Concerns Raised by Members
While members both onsite and online welcomed the Remuneration Order, several concerns were raised regarding the portal’s implementation:
- Possible delays in land transactions due to vetting processes.
- Risks relating to client data protection and confidentiality.
- Concerns about backend data access, particularly given changes in NBA leadership.
- The potential for client poaching following data uploads.
- Objections to making the portal mandatory, with warnings that compulsion could trigger legal challenges.
- A preference for a flat-rate fee rather than a percentage-based charge.
- Fears of unintended consequences, including the possibility of in-house counsel preparing land documents to avoid portal requirements.
Panel Responses and Additional Contributions
In response, a panelist acknowledged that no system can offer an absolute guarantee against data breaches but urged members to elect trustworthy leadership to safeguard client information. It was also noted that much of the work targeted by the Remuneration Order, particularly that undertaken by young lawyers, originates from private individuals rather than corporate entities.
Several contributors suggested that while the Remuneration Order is laudable, a digital portal may not be the most appropriate enforcement mechanism. One member observed that surveyors operate under fixed professional fees without a comparable portal structure.
Other members called for enhanced public education on lawyers’ fees and their statutory regulation. Concerns were also raised about the perception that the NBA could be seen as financially benefiting from members’ work, especially given existing obligations such as Bar Practising Fees, branch dues and NBA seals.
Suggestions included strengthening ethical enforcement mechanisms, establishing minimum transaction thresholds, limiting uploaded data to essential information, and aligning the portal with international best practices.
A member proposed that the portal could incorporate artificial intelligence features capable of generating relevant legal documents once transaction details are uploaded, thereby providing tangible value to users and justifying the associated fee.
Another participant noted that the portal currently appears focused on land transactions and recommended conducting a survey to identify other major practice areas for possible inclusion.
Resolution and Way Forward
A panelist disclosed that a prior memorandum and survey seeking members’ input had attracted minimal responses. Consequently, it was resolved that a fresh survey would be conducted to allow broader participation and enable the Committee to refine the portal in light of members’ concerns.
Responding to suggestions that the initiative should be implemented nationwide rather than as a state-based platform, the President of the Legal Practitioners Remuneration Committee stated that Lagos, as the nation’s commercial hub, often pioneers reforms that are later adopted by other states. He added that the long-term objective is for the compliance mechanism to evolve into a nationwide framework applicable to lawyers across Nigeria.
The Town Hall concluded with a commitment to further consultation before final implementation of the proposed portal.