Abuja central law school for Nigeria archaic (4)

Afe On Thursday
By Tribune Online
Security of life and property: Foremost duty of government (8), Security of life and property: Foremost duty of government (6), Security of life and property: Foremost duty of government (4), Security of life and property, Security of life and property: Foremost duty of government , Education without character: Main cause of Nigeria’s problem , ​Women’s involvement in politics, Challenges in the administration of justice, Concession of NCS, Importation of wheat from Russia, medical education in Nigeri, ASUU strike, 2023 general election: Lie telling by politicians, Are UN and EU toothless bulldogs?, Are UN and EU toothless bulldogs? , Establishment of Law School campuses, Proliferation of varsities despite government’s poor funding of existing universities (2), Nigeria’s high debt, Invitation to recolonisation and slavery, Poor policing and insecurity, Challenges to true democracy: Poverty and poor education (2), Invasion of Justice Odili’s residence, Challenges to true democracy: Moneybags and godfatherism (1), Nigeria’s high debt profile: Payroll is not the only cause, Deplorable condition of the Nigerian roads,Credibility and inconsistent political statements, Addressing the menace of fake varsities in Nigeria, Recent controversy on VAT collection, Outstanding salaries, entitlements of doctors prior to strike must be paid, Conflicting ex-parte orders in political cases, Govt’s call for self defence, failure to secure lives, Kyari can be lawfully extradited, Establishment of more public universities, raid on Sunday Igboho’s residence, Approval by NUC, Creation of new tertiary institutions, Creation of new tertiary institutions , NASS can enact a new constitution (2) , NASS can enact a new constitution (1), Appointment, promotion and remuneration of judges , Food blockade, political , edo election, Nigerian political, amotekun, foreign loans, 2023 election, , Nigeria, court of appeal, supreme court, lawyers, judge, court, on, powerretired judges, paradigm shift, retired judges, Judiciary, legal practitioners, legal practice, false publications, breach of the peace, public interest, criminal, misleading information, Insecurity, polling unit, environmental sanitation, george floyd, ikpeme, ikpeme's, 1999 constitution, National Conference, impeachment, private tertiary institutions, Public University, confidence in police,, 1999 Constitution, famine in 2021, tertiary institutions, Strong political institutions, Private institutions, National minimum wage, Kidnapping and closure of schools, Hon. Justice Bode Rhodes-Vivour,, Politics, morals and law, Politics, morals and law (3), How to prevent Nigeria’s collapse (1)

           The way forward

IN the past few weeks, I have surveyed the process of Bar Licensing from frontline common law jurisdiction in England, Canada, United States, Australia, India, and Kenya. It is clear from this survey that Legal Education has moved beyond the obsolete system of having a centralised Law School. The society is not static, so the process of legal education in Nigeria cannot afford to be static and must evolve with international best practices and contemporary realities. Today, the legal education system in Nigeria faces existential challenges that cannot be addressed simply by opening many branch campuses of the Nigerian Law School.

To address the current challenges that impact the quality and relevance of legal education in Nigeria, our bar licensing process will need to be wholly reformed to provide new entrants into the profession with world-class practical skills and technological competencies required to take on the challenges of the 21st century and beyond. The survey of the process of bar licensing processes in frontier common law jurisdictions such as England, Canada, United States, Australia, India and Kenya clearly indicate that legal education has moved beyond the obsolete system of having a central law school that administers vocational bar training programs in its branch campuses in large auditoriums. Other common law countries have seen the value in opening the bar training process to accredited private service providers with the required facilities, ICT infrastructure and resources to conduct personalized and practice-oriented training that enable learners to absorb practical legal skills in a self-paced manner.

As efforts continue to update and reform the Legal Education (Consolidation Etc) Act, what is required is that like the Bar Standards Board (BSB) in England, the Council of Legal Education in Nigeria should play the role of a regulator that sets the standard for the provision of legal education in Nigeria. In addition to its current role in accrediting and supervising Universities and law faculties that provide LL.B. education, the Council of Legal Education should also have the authority to license and accredit private service providers to provide vocational training for bar aspirants beyond the exclusive preserve of the Nigerian Law School. Such service providers, especially universities which have reputable Law Colleges and advanced ICT infrastructure, should be licensed to train law graduates for 12 months after which they will take a Joint Bar Examination moderated by the Council. In addition to accrediting the service providers and administering the Joint Bar Examination, the Council of Legal Education will set the criteria for the curricula and mode of instruction for the bar course; set standards for the infusion of practice-oriented courses and examinations by service providers; and the continuous monitoring evaluation and renewal of licenses of the service providers.

With this proposed arrangement, law graduates from Nigerian universities will be able to select reputable Colleges/Faculties of Law of their choice with up-to-date facilities and Faculty members of international repute for their post-LL. B bar training course, and then write their Call to Bar Examinations without having to be residential students in any Law School as is currently the case. This way, the problem of paucity of funding, poor facilities and inadequate accommodation space would have been solved. It is common knowledge today that there is not a single one of the existing campuses of the Nigerian Law School that has modern equipment, libraries internet facilities, E-libraries and modern ICT infrastructure needed to deliver practical and experiential vocational training for all Nigerian law graduates every year. This situation has resulted in some law graduates having to wait for years to be admitted to the Nigerian Law School, and even when admitted, the inadequate infrastructure and facilities at the campuses reduce the opportunities for practice-oriented skills acquisition.

It therefore makes absolutely no sense to create more mushroom campuses, not least for political expediency. The training of lawyers in Nigeria needs to be immediately decentralised in line with international best practices. Universities and institutions with world class faculty, training facilities and ICT infrastructure should be licensed to provide the hands-on opportunities for practice-oriented skills acquisition. Furthermore, joint bar examinations can then be conducted in line with the current testing arrangements for JAMB, WAEC, NECO, ICAN and CIB examinations. By so doing, the perennial challenges of inadequate quality of legal education and infrastructure, and lack of relevant skills training to meet with the ever-changing demands of the modern world, will be comprehensively dismantled in a holistic manner through competitive legal training that benefits from private sector innovation and efficient service delivery.

AARE AFE BABALOLA, OFR, CON, SAN, LL.D (Lond.)

You might also like
Latest News

Bauchi NSCDC assures of protection of INEC facilities, assets, warns against bush…

Afe On Thursday

Abuja central law school for Nigeria archaic

Afe On Thursday

Replies to reactions to ‘The race to eradicate man from planet earth…” (2)

Afe On Thursday

The race to eradicate man from planet earth through nuclear and chemical weapons (2)

Comments

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Accept Read More