More than 4,000 law graduates of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) have petitioned the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Olasunkanmi Fagbemi, SAN, seeking urgent intervention over their exclusion from the 2025/2026 Nigerian Law School Bar Part II vocational training admission exercise.
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The petition, signed by the group’s president, Mr. Adefowora Adedeji, and secretary-general, Mr. Samuel Udofia, described the action as “discrimination” against over 4,150 qualified graduates, despite their recognition under the National Open University of Nigeria (Amendment) Act, 2018.
The graduates recalled that former President Muhammadu Buhari signed the amendment into law, which paved the way for NOUN law graduates to be admitted into the Nigerian Law School for the first time. They argued that the latest exclusion violates Section 42 of the 1999 Constitution, which guarantees freedom from discrimination and equal rights.
According to them, many have been waiting for over five years to proceed to Bar Part II, with some already advanced in age, while others have died without fulfilling their aspirations. “This has become a national crisis,” the petition read, stressing that denying them admission while accommodating graduates from other Nigerian universities undermines fairness and justice.
As a practical solution, the petitioners proposed that at least 600 NOUN law graduates be distributed across the seven campuses of the Nigerian Law School to address the backlog. They noted that earlier sets of NOUN graduates admitted into the Law School performed commendably, proving their competence and capacity.
The petition read in part:
“Our rights to equal legal education have been jeopardised in the just-released Nigerian Law School 2025/2026 Bar Part II vocational training admission exercise, which excluded NOUN law graduates from applying. This is against constitutional principles of equality, fairness, and justice. We have equal rights to legal education like other graduates, as enshrined in Section 42 of the 1999 Constitution.”
They further argued that provisions under the Legal Education (Consolidated, etc.) Act (Cap. L10, Laws of the Federation, 2004) establish that LLB holders from Nigerian universities are eligible for admission into the Law School. Denying NOUN graduates the same opportunity given to others, they said, constitutes clear discrimination.
The graduates urged the Attorney General to impress upon the Council for Legal Education and the Nigerian Law School the urgent need to resolve the matter in the interest of fairness, justice, and national development.
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