The Nigerian Bar Association has announced the disbursement of the sum of N10, 000 each to the first batch of 5, 838 eligible young lawyers as palliatives.

 

This is contained in a statement signed by the President of the NBA, Paul Usoro (SAN) and made available to Legaldeskng (LDN)

According to Usoro, the delay in the disbursement was due to issues with the bank details of some of the eligible beneficiaries, duplicate applications and unqualified applicants of 2005 and 2008 post-call lawyers who were weeded out.

The NBA President thanked the welfare committee members for their selfless service and the donors for their generosity.

Usoro also promised to publish the names of all recipients after the completion of the payments

Read the full statement below:

1. Further to my update report of 06 August 2020 on the above subject matter, I am pleased to inform all our members that the bank accounts of 5,839 of our eligible younger colleagues were today credited with N10,000.00 each being their share of the COVID-19 Pandemic relief that was donated mostly by our senior colleagues. These 5,839 younger colleagues constitute the first batch of the 1-4 years Post-Call young-lawyer recipients of these relief funds. I have already received directly and through third parties, including some Branch Chairmen, messages of appreciation from the palliatives’ beneficiaries.

2. The plan is to ensure that all the other eligible lawyers receive their share of the relief fund this week but not later than next week which is the week of our Annual General Conference. The slight delay in paying everyone is because we have had issues with the bank details of some of the eligible beneficiaries; these are being sorted out by the NBA National Secretariat directly with the lawyers. We also had a number of duplicated applications and unqualified applications (mainly lawyers who were over-aged including 2005 and 2008 Post-Call lawyers). These unqualified lawyers are being weeded out from the list of beneficiaries in order to share the palliatives only to the eligible lawyers i.e. 1-4 years Post-Call lawyers.

3. I must again express deep appreciation to all the donors, mostly senior lawyers, I again repeat. Their generosity has made these palliatives possible. Incidentally, there were one or two new donors after my last Release. It is to acknowledge those additional donors that I consider it meet and proper to publish the revised list of donors, as attached. For those who may be motivated to still contribute to the fund, the door is not at all shut. Feel free to send your donation to the following account:

Account Name: NBA COVID-19 Relief Fund Account No.
Account Number: 1387741801
Bank: Access Bank Plc.

4. Special thanks also go to the members of the NBA Welfare Committee for their selfless services. Apart from the fact that most of them also donated generously to the fund, none of the SAN-members of the Committee accepted or asked for any allowance whatsoever for their Committee assignment. They all expended their time and resources on this assignment tirelessly and without seeking for any recognition or remuneration. This class of lawyers – i.e. the donors and the Welfare Committee members, with their humility and generosity of spirit – make me very proud to be a Nigerian lawyer.

5. In line with our earlier commitment, we would publish the full list of all the recipients of the palliatives as soon as the distribution is completed. We would also keep all our members updated with such further developments and good tidings as there may be in regard to this assignment. Meanwhile, we look forward to seeing all of you at the upcoming first-ever free NBA Virtual Annual General Conference holding between 26-29 August 2020. Please, stay safe and keep well.