Sequel to the approval of the Body of Benchers allowing graduates of Law from the National Open University to be admitted to the Nigerian Law School, six conditions are required to be met.
Legaldeskng recalls that the Body had given the approval on Friday pursuant to a meeting held at the Supreme Court Complex, Abuja.
Meanwhile, the six conditions embedded in the approval are thus:
1. ADMISSION RESTRICTED TO 1,883 STUDENTS
The admission of the NOUN Law graduates have been pegged at 1,883. However, this is not express approval for the institution to reopen its Faculty of Law earlier suspended by the school.
2. ADMISSION TO BAR PART ONE
The NOUN graduates will first be subjected to Bar Part One where they would be exposed to some rudimentary laws where they will be taught, they will undergo another round of teaching on the core Law courses: Law of Evidence, Introduction to Nigerian Law, Land Law” among other courses.
3. FAILURE TO PASS BAR PART 1
The Body of Benchers has stated that their admission is to Bar Part 1 of the Nigerian Law School. Thus, TheNigeriaLawyer confirms that the Chairman of the Council of Legal Education, Chief Emeka Ngige, SAN has stated that “it is not possible for a student who failed, to re-apply to the Nigerian Law School, which means that if you fail, you fail out”, adding that “if you pass part one, then you go to part two, if you don’t pass part one, you go home”.
4. ADMISSION IS NOT AUTOMATIC
It has been stressed that their admission to the Nigerian Law School is not automatic, meaning that there may be stipulated conditions to be set by the Council of Legal Education before being admitted.
5. ADMISSION TO START 2022
TheNigeriaLawyer reports that the admission of NOUN graduates would take effect come 2022.
This was disclosed to TheTheNigeriaLawyer by the Chief Ngige, SAN who said that the approval is not meant to take effect immediately but until 2022 because of the current set who have been caught by the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.
6. GRADUATES MUST BE FIT & PROPER
It is now trite that the rule is that candidates to the Nigerian Law School must be fit and proper before being admitted.
Consequently, this condition is equally applicable to graduates of NOUN.