Law graduates of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) have appealed to the House of Representatives to intervene in their inability to proceed to the Nigerian Law School despite completing their university law programme. The graduates expressed concern over the rejection of their names for mobilisation to the Nigerian Law School. They made the appeal before the House Committee on Public Petitions.
A representative of the affected graduates, Dr Adeniyi Oladele, presented the petition, stating that they approached the university after graduation to have their names submitted for mobilisation to the Nigerian Law School but were informed that the list containing their names had been rejected. Oladele said repeated efforts by the affected graduates to obtain clarification and resolve the matter had yielded no result.
According to Oladele, the graduates had spent several years pursuing their law education but were unable to proceed to the next stage of professional training because they had not been given a clear explanation for the rejection. The petitioners also told the committee that graduates of NOUN had previously been mobilised to the Nigerian Law School, completed their professional training, passed the requisite examinations and were subsequently called to the Nigerian Bar.
The petitioners argued that the existence of NOUN law graduates who had successfully completed the Nigerian Law School process and were now practising as lawyers raised questions about the status of those affected by the current mobilisation impasse. While acknowledging the regulatory powers of the Council for Legal Education (CLE) over professional legal education and admission to the Nigerian Law School, the petitioners urged the House to investigate the circumstances surrounding the rejection of their names.
Responding on behalf of NOUN, Professor Shio Usman Ademo confirmed that the university had received the petition and submitted its response to the issues raised. Ademo explained that on November 5, 2019, NOUN received a letter from the Council for Legal Education permitting 1,888 students of the university to proceed to the Nigerian Law School.
Ademo said the Council subsequently directed the university to stop admitting new students into its law programme pending the resolution of certain regulatory issues. The university agreed and stopped admitting new law students. However, Ademo noted that the university still had students in the pipeline, with more than 500,000 students across its various programmes at the time and more than 5,000 law students active when the directive was issued.
The committee directed the university representative to provide the list of the affected students, which Ademo said he had in a CD. The committee thereafter directed him to submit the list in soft copy for further examination. The lawmakers also questioned the university representative on the academic performance and progression of NOUN law students who had previously proceeded to the Nigerian Law School.
Key points
- The National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) has over 500,000 students across its various programmes.
- The Council for Legal Education (CLE) directed NOUN to stop admitting new students into its law programme in 2019.
- Over 5,000 NOUN law students were active when the directive to stop fresh admissions was issued.
