Nigerian Private Legal Practitioners To Pay N5million For Senior Advocate Rank As Odinkalu Condemns Alarming Fee
Nigerian Private Legal Practitioners To Pay N5million For Senior Advocate Rank As Odinkalu Condemns Alarming Fee
According to a statement released by the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court and Secretary of the LPPC, Kabir Eniola Akanbi, Esq., private legal practitioners seeking the SAN rank are to pay a non-refundable fee of N5 million, while those employed in government service will pay N2.5 million.
The Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee (LPPC) has announced the commencement of applications for the 2026 conferment of the prestigious rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), fixing new non-refundable processing fees for applicants in private and public legal practice.
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According to a statement released by the Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court and Secretary of the LPPC, Kabir Eniola Akanbi, Esq., private legal practitioners seeking the SAN rank are to pay a non-refundable fee of N5 million, while those employed in government service will pay N2.5 million.
The Committee announced that the application portal would be opened on November 1, 2025, for interested applicants.
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The statement, titled “2026 Award of the Rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria: Call for Applications”, read, “By the combined provisions of Section 5 (2) of the Legal Practitioners Act, Cap L11 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 and Paragraph 10 (1)-(4) of the 2022 Guidelines for the Conferment of the Rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (‘the Guidelines’), the Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee (‘the LPPC’ or ‘the Committee’) hereby makes a formal call for applications preparatory to the award of the rank for the year 2026.”
The LPPC stated that all applications must be submitted online through its official portal, www.lppconline.com, which will open to the public at 12:00 a.m. on November 1, 2025.
“Applicants are required to pay a non-refundable processing fee as follows: N5,000,000.00 (Five Million Naira) for Legal Practitioners in private practice; N2,500,000.00 (Two Million Five Hundred Thousand Naira) for Legal Practitioners employed in government service,” the statement said.
Applicants are also expected to upload evidence of payment on the online portal and will subsequently receive a confirmatory email from the LPPC Secretariat to proceed with the online application.
“All applicants, whether Advocates or Academics, must upload clear and legible copies of all mandatory and supporting documents as specified in the Guidelines, via the application portal.
“In accordance with Paragraph 9(2) of the 2022 Guidelines, only clear copies will be accepted by the Secretariat.”
In addition, the Committee directed academic applicants to submit seven photocopies each of their Curriculum Vitae and Impact Statement, along with a flash drive containing their published works.
“After uploading copies of all mandatory or supporting documents online, all applicants shall also submit five (5) flash drives containing a copy of their completed application form (downloaded from the online portal) as well as copies of all the mandatory and supporting documents uploaded on the online platform to the LPPC Secretariat.”
The LPPC warned that any submission made in contravention of its guidelines would be rejected.
All applications and documents must be submitted online before 12:00 noon on January 31, 2026, while the required flash drives must be delivered to the LPPC Secretariat before 4:00 p.m. on February 2, 2026.
“Any submission made after the deadlines stipulated in clause 2.7 above shall be treated as a non-submission,” the statement added.
The SAN rank, regarded as the highest honour for legal practitioners in Nigeria, is awarded annually to distinguished advocates and academics who have demonstrated excellence in the practice or advancement of law.
Reacting to the application fees, the former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Prof Chidi Odinkalu, faulted the huge amount of money required from applicants as application fees, questioning how public service legal practitioners would be able to afford the fees.
In a post on his X (formerly Twitter) account, Odinkalu wrote, “Ok, so, the next round of applications to become #SAN in #Nigeria will cost practitioners N5m non-refundable. Public servants interested will cough up N2.5m.
“Pls, how do they expect an honest #PublicServant to find this? Very soon, they will price SAN into extinction.”
