FEDERAL GOVERNMENT’S COMMITTEE ON THE REFORM OF LEGAL EDUCATION IN NIGERIA 2006-2007 RECOMMENDED LIBERALIZATION OF THE BAR EXAMINATION AND AUTHORIZATION OF PRIVATE BAR SCHOOLS AND PERSONAL STUDY
By Prof Ernest Ojukwu, SAN
In 2006, Chief Bayo Ojo, SAN, the then Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice inaugurated the National Committee on the Reform of Legal Education in Nigeria. The Committee was chaired by Prof M.I. Jegede, SAN. Prof Amos Utuama, SAN was a member.
In a 160 pages report submitted in 2007, the Committee reviewed the historical antecedents to legal education in Nigeria, the genesis of the present order, the contemporary challenges (highlighting the various proposals and views that have been expressed with respect to the future of legal education in Nigeria, pre and post inauguration of the present committee), observations vis-à-vis, systems of legal education in other, jurisdictions, remedial action plan and made far reaching recommendations. Part of the report reads as follows:
“The problem, as we noted, was that legal education was still unduly elitist and restricted. The result was the needless exclusion of many who are desirous of becoming lawyers or making a career in the judiciary. We had therefore recommended the liberalization of the bar examination in the same way as those of professional bodies like the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) which are not necessarily intra-mural. That way it would be possible for those seeking to become barristers to obtain syllabus-specific learning from outside the NLS.
Under this arrangement, the Council of Legal Education is to simply accredit learning centres where those aspiring to obtain license to practice as barristers and advocates can obtain lectures and thereafter sit for a unified qualifying examination set and graded by the appropriate examining body.
It is heart-warming that these recommendations cut some ice with the government, going by recent statements by the Minister of Justice. In acknowledging the problems of the legal education in the country, the government appears set to tackle it once and for all. According to the minister, the Law School is to give way for a system in which all universities will proceed from just awarding the Bachelor’s Degree (LL.B) in law to awarding the Barrister at Law (B.L) honour. The implication of this is that universities and individuals who can afford it may now establish their own law schools and admit qualified law students within guidelines to be spelt out by the Council of Legal Education. In the context on the new arrangement, the Council of Legal Education will ensure that all the operating schools adhere to its standards.
We agree with the minister that this pragmatic approach will open legal education to all those who are genuinely interested in becoming lawyers. It is the sort of deregulation that is needed to solve the perennial admission problem facing legal education in the country. To ensure that standards are not compromised, the Council of Legal Education must ensure that all bar schools meet certain minimum requirements. At any rate, it is to be expected that in a market driven economy only bar schools that produce good lawyers will continue to attract students.
To all this, we are not unmindful of criticisms that private law schools would be expensive and out of reach of poor students. The argument is plausible. But it can also be argued that with good books and learning materials, hardworking students ought to also be able to pass the bar exams through personal study or with little, and therefore personal assistance, from effort centres. We don’t agree that only the Law School as currently constituted is good enough to produce barristers-at-law or that private study by whatever means is either incapable or too expensive to produce them. If nothing else competition among tuition providers will ultimately force down prices.”
