Reps Wade Into NOUN Law Graduates’ Law School Admission Stalemate
The House of Representatives has waded into the lingering impasse over the admission of law graduates of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) into the Nigerian Law School for the requisite Bar training and examinations.
The intervention followed a petition by a group of affected NOUN law graduates, under the aegis of the “Backlog of Law Graduates of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN),” who urged the House to intervene in the prolonged situation which, according to them, had denied them the opportunity to proceed to the Nigerian Law School and qualify for Call to Bar.
The petition, jointly signed by the President of the association, Adeniyi Oladele; Vice-President, Nora John; Secretary, Paschal Egerue; and Public Relations Officer, Chibueze Obochi, alleged that NOUN law graduates had consistently been denied admission into the Nigerian Law School, resulting in a growing backlog of affected graduates.
The petitioners put the number of affected graduates at more than 5,000, saying they had been left stranded despite completing their LLB programme, while graduates of law from other universities had proceeded to the Nigerian Law School, completed their Bar training and examinations, and qualified to practise as legal practitioners.
The development prompted the House Committee on Public Petitions to invite NOUN and the Council of Legal Education (CLE), the body responsible for the Nigerian Law School, to appear before it and explain the circumstances surrounding the prolonged dispute.
Speaking with journalists after the investigative hearing conducted by the Committee, officials of the association said they resorted to the National Assembly after exhausting other avenues for resolving the matter.
The Public Relations Officer of the association, Chibueze Obochi, said the affected graduates should not be made victims of disagreements between government institutions.
Obochi cited Section 18(1) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, arguing that the provision places emphasis on equal educational opportunities for Nigerian citizens.
He said, “Section 18, subsection 1 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended, makes it clear that the government shall give directive that equal education of all citizens of Nigeria shall be a core matter to the federal government, and that’s the reason they’ve set up schools and universities here and there.
“So this is our position, that we should not be made victims of inter-agency rivalries. We were not part of any agreements or disagreements between NOUN and CLE and Nigerian Law School. We are Nigerian citizens and we are innocent of whatever that must have transpired.”
Obochi further referred to the list of 1,883 graduates submitted by the university during an earlier engagement with the relevant authorities in 2019, arguing that the description of the figure as graduates produced “so far” suggested that it was not necessarily a complete list of all students who would subsequently graduate.
He said, “Every lawyer, even a layman, understands the express statement when you say ‘so far’. That means it opens a window to some persons left behind.
“As of 2015, when the National Open University was advised to stop admission, we had already started the programme. And every reasonable person knows that when you stop admission, it does not mean that you have chased away those who are already studying.”
He maintained that the affected graduates had evidence, including their matriculation numbers, to establish when they were admitted into the university.
According to him, “So we are of the opinion that justice and fairness shall prevail over this matter. And what was done to our seniors should also be extended to us. So, as we stated earlier, we have done LLB and we are proud of the programme we did and the certification thereupon.”
However, NOUN did not appear before the Committee during the hearing but submitted a letter explaining the absence of its Vice-Chancellor.
The letter, signed by the university’s Registrar, Oladipo Ajayi, acknowledged receipt of the Committee’s summons and explained that the Vice-Chancellor was away from the university on an official assignment and was therefore unable to attend the hearing.
The university consequently requested that it be given another date to appear before the Committee.
In its earlier submission to the Committee, NOUN welcomed the intervention of the House, saying it appreciated the efforts of the Committee towards finding an equitable and lasting resolution to a matter affecting thousands of graduates who had completed the academic requirements for the award of the LLB degree.
The university also provided its account of the events leading to the current situation.
According to NOUN, an accreditation team from the National Universities Commission (NUC), led by Prof. Nsongurua Udombana, visited the university in 2015 as part of the accreditation process for its LLB programme.
The university said that while it was awaiting the accreditation report, the CLE published its position rejecting the admission of NOUN law graduates into the Nigerian Law School.
It said that following the development, it suspended further admission into the LLB programme in 2015 and had not admitted new students into the programme since then.
According to the university, the decision was taken to prevent the number of affected students from increasing while the regulatory issues surrounding the programme remained unresolved.
NOUN said that between 2015 and 2019, its management engaged the CLE and other relevant stakeholders in discussions aimed at resolving the eligibility of its law graduates for admission into the Nigerian Law School.
It added that in 2019, it formally appealed to the CLE for the admission of its law graduates and submitted a list of 1,883 graduates.
The university said it subsequently discovered that 90 graduates had inadvertently been omitted from the list, bringing the actual number of graduates at that time to 1,973.
NOUN further stated that in 2020, the Body of Benchers considered the matter and approved a Special Remedial Programme (SRP) for NOUN law graduates instead of direct admission into Bar Part II, which applies to graduates of other Nigerian universities.
It added that on May 13, 2022, it submitted another batch of 2,226 law graduates who had completed their studies between 2019 and May 2022 for consideration for admission into the Nigerian Law School.
According to the university, the CLE rejected the subsequent submission on grounds including that it had allegedly been led to believe that the 2019 submission represented the total number of NOUN law graduates and that the university had allegedly continued admitting students into the LLB programme after 2015.
NOUN, however, rejected the latter allegation, insisting that it suspended admission into the programme in 2015 and had not resumed admission thereafter.
The university explained that the graduates contained in the subsequent submission were students who had been admitted before the suspension of admissions in 2015 but completed their studies at later dates.
On its part, the Nigerian Law School also failed to appear before the Committee, with its Director-General, Olugbemisola Odusote, sending a letter explaining her absence.
The Nigerian Law School, however, submitted a response to the Committee on the petition by the NOUN law graduates.
In the letter signed by the Director-General, the institution acknowledged the invitation to appear before the Committee on Wednesday, September 16, 2026, but explained that it could not honour the invitation because of an official assignment requiring the attention and participation of relevant officials on the scheduled date.
The Nigerian Law School expressed regret over its inability to attend the hearing and requested that an alternative date be communicated by the Committee.
It also assured the House that it remained committed to cooperating with the Committee and looked forward to appearing on a rescheduled date.
Reacting to the development, the Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Publicity, Akin Rotimi, who laid the petition before the House on July 21, 2026, expressed his commitment to ensuring that the injustice allegedly suffered by the affected law graduates is redressed.
Rotimi stressed the need for a fair and lasting resolution to the impasse, noting that graduates who had successfully completed their academic programmes should not be left in prolonged uncertainty over their admission into the Nigerian Law School.
He assured the affected graduates of his commitment to supporting efforts to resolve the issues surrounding their admission and ensuring that their concerns receive the necessary attention from the relevant authorities.
