LAWSAN Appeals To CLE On NOUN Law Graduates

An appeal has been made to the Council of Legal Education, (CLE), to consider the law graduates of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), for admission into the Bar Part II of the Nigerian Law School.

The appeal was made by the Abuja chapter President of the Law Students Association of Nigeria (LAWSAN) of NOUN, Mr. Moses Danladi Dairo, during the law week celebration of the body.

Dairo equally appealed to the various stakeholders such as the National Assembly, Body of Benchers, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) as well as President Muhammadu Buhari, to intervene in the administrative conflict between the Council of Legal Education and the National Open University of Nigeria/National Universities Commission over the non-recognition of the NOUN law graduates for admission into the Bar Part II of the Nigerian Law School.

He assured that the authorities of the CLE that the law graduates of NOUN would not constitute a preponderance of students of the Nigerian Law School, who would fail their Bar Part II final examination, if given the opportunity, stressing that the taste of the pudding was in the eating.

The media should assist the LAWSAN of NOUN “to disseminate our plight and get the authorities to our side”.
Dairo pointed out that the Open University Educational system had been embraced all over the world, as in the United Kingdom, India, China, South Africa, and Australia, stating that Nigeria cannot shut itself out and refuse to be dynamic, especially in this era of change.

His words, “Nigeria should not remain an isolated island in this emerging global best practices, especially given the resolve that with the Vision 2020 policy drive, Nigeria is expected to eliminate all forms of illiteracy and provide education for all by the year 2020.

“Law programme, certainly, should not be the prerogative of a few privileged”, he insisted.

Dairo pointed out the NOUN was adjudged to be amongst the best universities in Nigeria offering law degree programme by the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mahmud Muhammad, when he spoke, recently, at a public lecture organised by NOUN at a lecture entitled: “Law as an Instrument of Excellence and Integrity”.

The lecture, he said, was delivered by a legal luminary and former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Senator Kanu G. Agabi, SAN, CON.