…As NOUN, CLE fail to appear, send letters, submissions
…Over 5,000 graduates petition NASS, await resolution

The House of Representatives has intervened in the lingering impasse over the admission of law graduates of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) into the Nigerian Law School for Bar training and examinations.

The intervention followed a petition by 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 resolve the prolonged dispute which has prevented them from proceeding to the Nigerian Law School and qualifying for Call to Bar.

The petition, signed by the association’s President, Dr. Adeniyi O. Oladele; Vice-President, Mrs. Nora John; Secretary, Mr. Paschal Emeka Egerue; and Public Relations Officer, Chibueze Kenneth Obochi, put the number of affected graduates at more than 5,000.

The petitioners said they had completed the LLB programme but remained unable to proceed to the Nigerian Law School, unlike law graduates of other universities who had undergone 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), which oversees the Nigerian Law School, to explain the circumstances surrounding the impasse.

Speaking with journalists after the Committee’s investigative hearing on Wednesday, Obochi said the graduates were compelled to approach the National Assembly after other avenues for resolving the matter had failed.

He argued that the affected graduates should not be made victims of disagreements between government institutions, citing Section 18(1) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, on equal educational opportunities for Nigerian citizens.

Obochi said, “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.”

He also referred to a list of 1,883 graduates submitted by NOUN during an earlier engagement in 2019, arguing that the description of the figure as graduates produced “so far” indicated that it was not necessarily the final number of students who would graduate from the programme.

He said students who had enrolled before NOUN suspended fresh admissions into its LLB programme in 2015 were entitled to complete their studies, adding that the affected graduates had matriculation records to establish their dates of admission.

NOUN, however, did not appear before the Committee on Wednesday. Instead, its Registrar, Oladipo A. Ajayi, submitted a letter explaining that the Vice-Chancellor was away on an official assignment and requested another date for the university to appear.

In an earlier submission to the Committee, the university welcomed the intervention of the House and said it appreciated the efforts to find an equitable and lasting resolution to the matter.

NOUN said a National Universities Commission (NUC) accreditation team visited the university in 2015 to assess its LLB programme, but while the university was awaiting the accreditation report, the CLE published its position rejecting admission of NOUN law graduates into the Nigerian Law School.

According to the university, it consequently suspended fresh admission into the LLB programme in 2015 and had not admitted new students since then, in order to prevent the number of affected graduates from increasing.

NOUN said that between 2015 and 2019, it engaged the CLE and other stakeholders in efforts to resolve the eligibility of its graduates for admission into the Nigerian Law School.

It said that in 2019, it appealed to the CLE and submitted a list of 1,883 graduates, but later discovered that 90 graduates had inadvertently been omitted, bringing the actual number at the time to 1,973.

The university added that the Body of Benchers considered the matter in 2020 and approved a Special Remedial Programme for NOUN law graduates instead of direct admission into Bar Part II.

NOUN further said that on May 13, 2022, it submitted another batch of 2,226 graduates who had completed their studies between 2019 and May 2022 for consideration for admission into the Nigerian Law School.

It said the CLE rejected the submission, alleging that it had been led to believe that the 2019 list represented the total number of NOUN law graduates and that NOUN had continued admitting students after 2015.

NOUN rejected the latter allegation, maintaining that the students in the 2022 submission were admitted before the 2015 suspension of fresh admissions but completed their studies later.

The Nigerian Law School also failed to appear before the Committee, with its Director-General, Dr. Olugbemisola Odusote, submitting a letter explaining her absence.

The institution said it could not honour the September 16, 2026 invitation because of an official assignment requiring the participation of relevant officials. It expressed regret and requested an alternative date, assuring the Committee of its readiness to cooperate with the investigation.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Publicity, Hon. Akin Rotimi, who laid the petition before the House on July 21, 2026, pledged to support efforts to resolve the matter.

Rotimi said graduates who had completed their academic programmes should not be left in prolonged uncertainty over their eligibility for admission into the Nigerian Law School.

He assured the affected graduates that their concerns would receive the necessary attention as the relevant authorities work towards a fair and lasting resolution of the issue.