The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says lawyers who charge clients in foreign currencies could face prosecution, but Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) officials argue that the commission has no legal power to regulate lawyers’ professional fees.
On September 11, the EFCC condemned the practice of lawyers charging clients in dollars, labeling it “unethical and illegal,” and warned of decisive prosecutorial action against offenders. The stance was articulated by the EFCC’s Acting Director of the Lagos Zonal Directorate 2, Ikoyi, Bawa Kaltungo, during a courtesy visit by a delegation from the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Task Force on Illegal Practice of Law.
Kaltungo disclosed that the Commission is currently handling two cases involving lawyers allegedly caught charging fees in foreign currency. “We are also worried about the activities of lawyers who are involved in illegal and unethical practices,” he stated. “We have two cases of lawyers who were found to have charged fees in dollars. This is unethical and illegal, as the naira is the country’s legal tender.”
He further cautioned that some legal practitioners have been invoking the EFCC’s name to justify exorbitant charges to their clients. “Lawyers should stop name-dropping the EFCC to overcharge their clients. They have the right to charge their clients as much as they like, but they shouldn’t drag the EFCC into it,” Kaltungo added, urging the NBA to support the agency’s bid to rid the profession of “unscrupulous practitioners.”
However, the anti-graft agency’s stance has stirred a hornet’s nest, drawing sharp rebuke from legal professionals who accuse the EFCC of overstepping its statutory mandate.
Reacting to the development, Nurudeen Abdulsalam, Chairman of the Gwagwalada, FCT, Branch of the NBA, maintained that the EFCC lacks the statutory power to regulate professional fees. He pointed to the Legal Practitioners Act, Cap. L11, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, which expressly vests the regulation of lawyers’ remuneration in the Legal Practitioners Remuneration Committee, not the EFCC.
“The committee had since exercised that statutory mandate through the Legal Practitioners Remuneration (For Business, Legal Service and Representation) Order 2023,” Abdulsalam noted, emphasizing that private agreements on professional fees are legally protected under this framework.
Echoing this sentiment, Dr. Uzoma Dioha, Chairman of the Anaocha branch of the NBA in Anambra State, urged the EFCC to distinguish its legitimate mandate of investigating economic crimes from the regulation of professional remuneration. He highlighted that the Foreign Exchange (Monitoring and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act expressly recognizes foreign currency derived from “professional fees and other forms of invisible earnings” as a legitimate source of foreign exchange.
“That statutory language is particularly significant,” Dioha argued. “It makes it difficult to sustain a sweeping proposition that the mere receipt of professional fees in foreign currency is, in itself and in every circumstance, a criminal offence.”
Senior members of the Bar have also weighed in, questioning the legal basis of the EFCC’s threat. Chief Chukwuma Nwachukwu, a veteran legal practitioner, insisted the agency had “overstretched it a bit,” noting that an act can only be an offense if specifically defined and punished by written law. He pointed out the inherent contradiction in the government’s own practices: “Even the Federal Government itself, through the NNPC and its affiliate agencies, customarily makes procurement payments in the oil and gas industry partly in naira and also in dollars. This is not a hidden fact!”
According to Chief Nwachukwu, the true offense would not be receiving payment in dollars, but rather a service provider refusing to accept payment in naira for a job done within Nigeria.
As the debate intensifies, the standoff highlights a fundamental tension between macroeconomic policy enforcement and professional self-regulation. While the EFCC’s intent to curb financial impropriety is clear, the legal community remains steadfast in its defense of statutory boundaries. Until the courts or the legislature provide definitive clarity, this clash of institutional mandates will continue to dominate the discourse on legal ethics and financial regulation in Nigeria.
Promise Idoko is Junior Reporter working with moderncrux He covers global politics and international affairs. Based in Nigeria,
