ABUJA, Nigeria — Legal practitioners across Nigeria have pushed back against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission following the agency’s renewed threat to prosecute lawyers who charge legal fees in foreign currency.
Update, October 1, 2026: In a September 17 statement, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) said EFCC chairman Ola Olukoyede had clarified, during a September 16 meeting with its delegation in Abuja, that the Lagos official’s remarks should not be treated as the commission’s general policy without clarification from the appropriate authority. According to the NBA’s account, Olukoyede said the comments had been taken out of context and did not accurately convey the EFCC’s position. The statement was signed by Hadiza Nasir Ahmad, the NBA’s national assistant publicity secretary. This update reports the NBA’s account of that meeting.
The EFCC‘s Acting Director of the Lagos Zonal Directorate 2, Ikoyi, Bawa Kaltungo, stated on September 11, 2026, that charging legal fees in foreign currency is unethical and illegal under Nigerian law. Okay News reports that Bawa Kaltungo confirmed the anti-graft agency is currently handling two cases involving legal practitioners who allegedly billed their clients in United States dollars.
Speaking during a visit by a delegation from the Nigerian Bar Association Task Force on Illegal Practice of Law, Bawa Kaltungo said: “We are also worried about the activities of lawyers who are involved in illegal and unethical practices. 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. We usually don’t want to have issues with members of the NBA. However, some lawyers are pushing us. Any lawyer we find culpable of charging clients in foreign currencies will be prosecuted.”
Bawa Kaltungo also warned legal practitioners against using the agency’s name to inflate fee assessments, stating: “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. They should desist from all these unethical practices.”
Responding to the anti-graft agency’s position, the Chairman of the Gwagwalada, FCT, Branch of the NBA, Nurudeen Abdulsalam, argued that the EFCC lacks the legal framework to dictate legal remuneration. Nurudeen Abdulsalam cited Section 15 of the Legal Practitioners Act, Cap. L11, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, which empowers the Legal Practitioners Remuneration Committee to regulate professional fees under the Legal Practitioners Remuneration (For Business, Legal Service and Representation) Order 2023.
Nurudeen Abdulsalam stated: “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. 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.”
The Chairman of the Anaocha branch of the NBA in Anambra State, Dr. Uzoma Dioha, highlighted that the Foreign Exchange (Monitoring and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act recognizes foreign currency derived from professional fees as a valid source of foreign earnings. Dr. Uzoma Dioha added: “No criminal offence can be created by a press statement. The Constitution is unequivocal on criminal liability. Section 36(12) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) embodies the principle that a person cannot be convicted of a criminal offence unless that offence is defined and the penalty prescribed in a written law. Therefore, where prosecution is threatened against a lawyer merely because his professional fee is denominated or received in foreign currency, the fundamental question must be: What specific written law creates the offence, and what provision prescribes the punishment? A regulatory warning cannot substitute for legislation. Neither the EFCC nor any administrative agency can create a criminal offence through a circular, press release, public advisory, or institutional policy.”
An Abuja-based lawyer, Vivian Igbor, noted that billing international clients requires cross-border financial transactions through domiciliary bank accounts, while a senior member of the Bar, Chief Chukwuma Nwachukwu, pointed out that government entities including the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited routinely execute procurement transactions in foreign currency.
