The quality of legal education in Nigeria
Anytime this topic is subject of a conversation, focus is always placed on the Nigerian Law School {NLS}, we hear complains that NLS is not doing the required to raise the standard of legal education in Nigeria. I beg to disagree. The burden of producing world class lawyers in Nigeria is not solely the responsibility […]
Anytime this topic is subject of a conversation, focus is always placed on the Nigerian Law School {NLS}, we hear complains that NLS is not doing the required to raise the standard of legal education in Nigeria. I beg to disagree. The burden of producing world class lawyers in Nigeria is not solely the responsibility of law school because how well a law student would do in NLS begins from how well he/she is groomed in the university.
The focus of this article is the ‘third mainland bridge gap’ between the law curriculum as taught in the Nigerian Law School (NLS) and that of some Nigerian universities, bearing in mind that the university spends five or more years training a law student while NLS has nine {9} months to make do with what the universities produce.
In the words of L.E Ben-Wazieh Esq, “The Law School modus of teaching is more procedural and practical compared with university modus of teaching substantive law.” There are few universities that adopt the teaching technique of NLS in grooming their students and these students, when they get into the NLS, tend to pick up fast unlike those who would be facing the NLS technique for the first time and find it tasking at the onset.
“Different people react to change differently”, those who are used to been dictated notes most of the time in university, when they gain entrance into the NLS and find things different from the norm, stress, strong dissatisfaction, confusion et al, come into play and disorient them, by the time such student begins to fit into the system, the first three months of the programme are already gone; then fear creeps in.
The standard placed on Law School students is higher than that placed on university undergrads. Undergrads are most often than not concerned about reading to pass exams; overhead one saying to his class mates, “Let me just get my grades and leave this place, that’s all that matters now”. On the other hand, law students at NLS are examined on how well one has understanding of the law as it applies with real life scenarios.
We have seen the likes of Danjuma Chibgege Esq (God rest his soul) graduating with a second class upper from a university and then graduating with first class from law school. As a matter of fact he finished as the best graduating student of his set. And then there are those who left university with first class results only to graduate with second class lower or pass from law school.
Without condemning the efforts of our universities, emphasis must be placed on upgrading courses of law taught in universities to be up to date as it applies in NLS.
I saw a student, recently, still using the same handout I used back in university days, this is not healthy for the profession. Students shouldn’t be allowed to reach NLS before finding out developed aspects of the law; undergraduates are expected to be educated as laws are being modified and principles of law updated.
Koko Olisa Esq believes “our lecturers in the universities use notes from 1990, meanwhile in Law School our lecturers are up to date and we challenge them… if a student is used to using hand-down notes from lecturers in university, cram and graduate with any result, it will be difficult to make it in Law school without proper adjustment.”
In my view, it is not enough for a university offering LLB “to equip those studying law with both legal and moral skills necessary for the practice of law” they must strive to lecture the students in manners compatible with that of NLS. Undergraduate students of Law should be familiar with class presentation, group task, interactive lectures et al and not the usual dictation of notes and individual assignments that obtain in some universities.
This would make the task easier for students when they get to Law School; improve the results obtainable at Law School and in turn develop the quality of the legal profession in Nigeria.
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The quality of legal education in Nigeria