NOUN Law Graduates Seek Reps’ Intervention Over Nigerian Law School Mobilisation
By Gloria Ikibah
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 made the appeal before the House Committee on Public Petitions, where they expressed concern over the rejection of their names for mobilisation to the Nigerian Law School.
Presenting the petition, a representative of the affected graduates, Dr Adeniyi O. Oladele, said 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, leaving many of them uncertain about their professional future.
“Upon graduation from National Open University as a backlog of law graduates of the same school, we approached the university for mobilisation to be given admission into the Nigerian Law School. We were informed that the list containing our names was rejected,” he told the committee.
According to him, 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.
“We spent a lot of years in pain and confusion, yet no answer to the reason of our rejection was given to us,” he added.
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.
They 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 and facilitate a resolution.
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.
“Yes, Mr Chairman, we received the petition and we have filed our response,” Ademo told the committee.
He 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.
According to him, 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, even if we do not admit new ones, Mr Chairman, we still have students in the pipeline,” he said.
The committee subsequently sought clarification on the number of law students who were already enrolled and active when the directive to stop fresh admissions was issued.
Ademo said NOUN had more than 500,000 students across its various programmes at the time, while more than 5,000 law students were active when the directive was issued.
The committee directed the university representative to provide the list of the affected students.
When asked whether he had the list available, Ademo replied: “Yes, I have the CD here, with the list.”
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.
Responding to a question on whether NOUN students had sat for Nigerian Law School examinations, Ademo said they had participated in the examinations and recorded successful performances.
He explained that NOUN students who participated in the examinations were sampled and that a significant percentage performed successfully, with some subsequently called to the Nigerian Bar and now practising as lawyers.
The committee further sought clarification on the duration of NOUN’s law programme.
Ademo said the minimum duration was five years, explaining that the institution’s open and distance-learning structure allowed students to defer their studies and return later to complete their programmes.
He said the flexibility was designed to accommodate students who might have legitimate or urgent reasons to interrupt their studies before resuming.
The hearing also touched on the case of a NOUN law student who travelled to Canada and was admitted into a Canadian law school. The university representative indicated that the Council for Legal Education subsequently raised an objection concerning the student’s status.
The exchanges formed part of the committee’s effort to establish the regulatory history of NOUN’s law programme and understand the circumstances surrounding the inability of some graduates to proceed to the Nigerian Law School.
The committee’s demand for the list of affected students is expected to assist its further consideration of the petition and establish the number of graduates potentially caught up in the mobilisation impasse.
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