NOUN Law Graduates Drag NUC to Court Over Law School Admission

Students and graduates of the law programme of the
National Open Universities of Nigeria (NOUN) have dragged the National Universities Commission (NUC) and Council of Legal Education before Justice B. O. Quadri a Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State for refusing to admit them into the Nigerian Law School on graduation from the university.

Also dragged to the court were the National Open University,and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF). Counsel to the council, Emmanuel.C .Ukala (SAN), had published in some national dailies that the LL.B Degree Programme offered by NOUN is not approved and therefore, graduates of such programme are not qualified for admission into the law school.

In the Suit No.FHC/PH/CS/111/2015 May 12, 2015,
the petitioners are praying the court to ‘declare
that the pronouncement made by the Council of Legal
Education through newspaper publications, saying that the law graduates of National Open University are not qualified for admission into the law school is null and void and of no effect.’ They also prayed the court to ‘declare that the graduates of the school of law of the NOUN are entitled to proceed and be admitted into the Nigerian Law School and that the power of the Council of Legal Education is only limited to providing and regulating academic standards for
the admission of graduates of the NOUN, school of law into the Nigerian Law School.

In the originating summons filed before the court by counsel to the aggrieved graduates, Dr A. Amuda-Kaanike (SAN) the court was urged to determine whether the refusal to admit the students into the law school is not an infringement of the provision of African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights which Nigeria has domesticated and whether the pronouncement is justified on the face of the number of
students that graduated from the school.