Need for review of legal education -By Adewale Kupoluyi

The recent mass failure recorded at the last Final Bar Examination of the Nigerian Law School has remained a source of worry for two reasons. Firstly, it shows a serious decline in our legal education.

Secondly, it symptomatic of the rot in the nation’s educational system.

Startling figures by the NLS indicate that 6,883 students sat for the Bar examinations out of which only four students had First Class, nine passed in the Second Class (Upper Division) while only 487 passed in the ‘average’ Second Class (Lower Division).

Other 1,500 candidates were awarded the ‘below average’ Ordinary Pass while the remaining 4,883 students failed outright. In summary, 57 per cent passed while 33 per cent failed meaning that the students would have to attend at least eight weeks of compulsory revision classes, to make up for the poor performance.

No doubt, the results have generated controversy in the sense that many of the students believe that they were deliberately scored low by the school authorities while the NLS on its part had insisted that the poor outing actually reflected the performance of the students.

To some of the students, the school’s Director-General, Dr. Olanrewaju Onadeko-led management had failed them en masse, as they called for a review of the entire results. Many legal practitioners are also divided on the issue.

Majority of observers, however, were of the opinion that the result was a manifestation that the NLS was making real progress in carrying out its mandate of producing sound lawyers for the country; hence the failure recorded was a reflection of the declining standard, which the school was trying to revamp.

Since 1963, a year after NLS was founded; anyone who has obtained a university degree in law (LL.B) and is desirous of legal practice would attend the school while the Council of Legal Education issues certificates, having passed the examinations before being called to the Bar by the Body of Benchers.

Already, the Nigerian Bar Association has indicated its willingness to carry out an investigation into the matter. Without prejudice to the outcome of such an effort, it is useful to examine a few factors that could be responsible and justify why legal education should be accorded priority and revamped.

To begin with, the unfortunate development is a reflection of the quality of graduates being churned-out by our universities caused by the persistent problems of poor funding, inadequate manpower and non-adherence to extant admission and academic guidelines. Apart from these, enrolling students that are not passionate about the course could be a big problem.

In this part of the world, a lot of young students are hoodwinked into studying some preferred courses by their parents and guardians – because of the prestige and chances of getting employed – they believe lucrative courses include medicine, pharmacy, accounting and engineering, among others. Again, universities without the necessary human resources, capacity and strategic goal needed to run such courses began to offer law programme lately for pure commercial reasons.

It is based on this premise that universities of science and technology have been argued not to have any business offering law degrees. The rapid growth in the number of law graduates produced by law faculties has not been matched with the available facilities at the NLS.

Hence, with the limited facilities, students find it extremely difficult to undergo the rigorous academic tutelage, which critics feel could explain why half-baked lawyers and graduates are being produced. Another factor could be the students’ addiction to the use of the social media.

This technology has so much been abused in Nigeria to the extent that people spend too much time chatting, texting, browsing and pinging when serious attention and decorum are required of them.

This point was affirmed by the Chairman of Council for Legal Education (CLE) and a former National President of the NBA, OCJ Okocha (SAN), who blamed the dismal performance to social media abuse by the law students. As a way forward, there is need for wholistic review of legal training in the country.

Both the National Universities Commission (NUC) and the CLE should monitor universities more closely to ensure that they adhere strictly to stipulated academic standards. As suggested by some lawyers, integral courses being taught in the law school be transferred to law faculties.

For now, what is being taught in the university is just the substantive law like the law of torts, labour law, family law, criminal law, customary and non-customary law and so on, while the law school curriculum is designed for the procedural law.

No doubt, a good knowledge in courses like the criminal procedure codes and acts, and law of evidence would be useful to law faculties.

Secondly, there is the need to review the existing admission policy. As obtainable in developed countries, only graduates of other disciplines are allowed to enroll for LL.B.

While we may not have a complete shift to this policy, we could settle for an arrangement such that a certain number of admitted students should basically be mature candidates.

In the United Kingdom, law is studied as a first degree while in the United States of America; an intending lawyer needs to have a first degree in any discipline before going for a three-year programme, as stipulated by the American Bar Association.

There is also the need to get more experienced and practicing lawyers to teach students.

This would be of immense help because law – being academic and professional in nature – should strike a good balance of the two in imparting the requisite knowledge.

While most academic staff in law faculties are mostly engaged in teaching, research and writing of papers for publication, legal practitioners engage more in the actual legal practice.

Therefore, the senate of universities offering law should relax the stringent conditions in appointing academic staff such that brilliant lawyers can be allowed to teach various aspects of law programme.

This could be on a part-time basis while local branches of NBA should assist in this regard with special emphasis placed on the sound teaching of substantive law courses like the Nigerian legal system, constitutional law, legal methods and law of contract.

This will ground the students well in the basic and foundational knowledge in law. Law faculties should continue to discipline erring students that fail to conform to the discipline expected of future lawyers.