Why we want Law Study as second degree — Council of Legal Education

The Council of Legal Education in Nigeria has stated that it is pushing towards making law study a second degree in Nigeria as a way to deepen the practice and address unemployment among lawyers.

Chairman of the Council, Chief Emeka Ngige (SAN), who stated this in Enugu at the weekend during the 2024 grand reunion of the 1989 law class of Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), Awka, Anambra State, explained that available facts indicated that certain Nigerians who have distinguished themselves in the practice had studied other courses before pursuing law.

The occasion was also to celebrate the pioneer dean of the faculty, Prof. Christian Okeke, who was recently endowed with a professorial chair by the Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT). The class donated N5 million in support of the endowment.

Ngige said: “What we are saying is that we have many lawyers who are unemployed, and part of the reason they are unemployed is because they were forced to study law by their parents. So, we need a situation where people who are not forced by their parents to study law will be the ones who go and study law because they know their mission and vision.

“If you ask a student who is just 19 years old to go and study law, upon graduation, you will see that at the end of the day, they will not practise law. Some of them will go into other businesses. If you look at the people who have distinguished themselves in law practice in Nigeria, most of them studied other courses before law. These include Justices Chukwudifu Oputa, Nnaemeka Agu, Fidelis Nwadialor, among others. They all studied mathematics and other subjects before studying law because they came as mature students and now practice law. So, that is what we are saying, that in Nigeria, there are too many unemployed lawyers. So, let’s get mature minds to study the course and be employable.”

Ngige, who disclosed that the Council was already in talks with the National Universities Commission (NUC) on how best to go about it, stated that it would boost the practice of law in Nigeria.

Ngige, who was chairman of the occasion, identified poor funding, lack of dedicated law faculties, incessant strike actions, and universities studying law without accreditation as some of the challenges plaguing legal education in Nigeria.

He also decried over-admission by universities for law students, adding that the Council had so far barred two private universities from admitting new students for five years for exceeding their admission quota.

Ngige stated that the government should provide deliberate funding for law faculties in public institutions, lamenting that the sharing of classrooms that was the case during their time in 1989 had persisted.

“Poor funding has remained an issue up till today. There is still neglect by the government, and that is why many parents are sending their children to private universities. If you go to private universities, you see moot courts, dedicated classrooms, lecture halls, and apartments and offices. Some public universities don’t have these facilities.

“The next is the course curriculum, which differs from time to time. The curriculum has improved, but the world is changing, and many people will say they want a lawyer who is acquainted with artificial intelligence.

“The lecturers are not motivated, especially in public universities. Our inability to motivate them impacts negatively on the students and legal education in Nigeria,” he stated.

Ngige also lamented the multiplicity of employment among law teachers, stressing that it was affecting their productivity and adequate teaching.

He said that the Council was tackling the trend to contain the rampant movement of law teachers from one institution to another.

While appreciating the pioneer law class of UNIZIK for the honour, Prof. Okeke stated that it was an indication that his efforts in setting up law faculties at UNIZIK, ESUT, Ebonyi State University, and Godfrey Okoye University were not in vain. He urged members of the class to continue to support the growth and development of law practice in Nigeria.

Also speaking, the Dean of the Faculty of Law, Godfrey Okoye University, Enugu, Prof. Gozie Ogbodo, said they decided to celebrate Prof. Okeke as a way of appreciating him for his contributions to the development of legal education in Nigeria.