FG backtracks, says UK lawyers can’t practise in Nigeria

Regarding the legal aspect of the Tuesday-signed Enhanced Trade and Investment Partnership with the United Kingdom, the Federal Government has retract its earlier statement.

This occurred in response to complaints from Nigerians regarding what they saw as the Memorandum of Understanding's partiality towards the UK.

In a thread on X, Nigeria's Minister of Trade and Investment, Doris Uzoka-Anite, withdrew her previous assertion and emphasised that the UK and Nigeria did not have a legal agreement of that kind.

"Nigeria signed a comprehensive Memorandum of Understanding with the United Kingdom for Enhanced Trade and Investment Partnership earlier today," she stated.Unfortunately, our previous report incorrectly stated that Nigeria had signed a Memorandum of Understanding allowing British lawyers to practise law in Nigeria.

"We would like to state emphatically that there is no such provision or agreement in the MpU.”
Reiterating that Nigeria and the UK do not have a Mutual Recognition Agreement, the minister said that Nigeria has neither committed to nor received authority from the UK to admit lawyers licenced to practise there.

As things stand, the Memorandum of Understanding clearly states that foreign-licensed solicitors, including those from the UK, are not permitted to practise law in Nigeria.

The MoU, she continued, "reflected our recognition that cross-jurisdictional practice between Nigeria and the United Kingdom is still an ongoing conversation among relevant stakeholders within the Nigerian legal practitioners community."

Nigeria's Minister of Trade and Investment revealed via a tweet on Tuesday that the country was about to sign an agreement to eliminate obstacles preventing the UK lawyers from practising international law in Nigeria.

The Nigerian Bar Association had also condemned the purported agreement, stating that the statement credited to the minister was “ridiculous, unpatriotic, and uninformed.”