Charges of examination negligence at the Nigerian Law School were all in the domain of theory until the Director General (DG) of the School, Professor Olanrewaju Onadeko (SAN), affirmed that a few attorneys composed examinations for law understudies, amid the last yearly meeting of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital. In spite of the fact that he was censured by senior attorneys for doing as such transparently, he said he rather merits a few tributes. In this meeting with JOSEPH ONYEKWERE, the DG demanded that there was no better place to make the presentation than the biggest social affair of attorneys in the nation. He likewise talked on other sundry issues including the school.
Law understudies graduated for the current year without the authentication and this is occurring interestingly amid your residency. What do you credit it to?
Understudies who are called to the bar are given two endorsements – one is known as the qualifying authentication, which is issued by the Council of Legal Education in the wake of passing the last bar examinations at the Nigerian Law School. That is the thing that the Body of Benchers considers in deciding your underlying qualification to be called to the Bar. At that point the second endorsement is the Call to the Bar declaration and it is issued by the Body of Benchers. Without being unduly inmodest, the Nigerian Law School framework works extremely well and everyone attempts to keep the foundation running. It is the main organization you get into and you know the date you are graduating. It is additionally the main establishment you leave with every one of your authentications. I am amazed at the charge that understudies were not issued with certifcates. Unquestionably, not qualifying testaments that are issued by the Council of Legal Education. I am mindful however that a few understudies had issues with their Call to the Bar endorsements in spellings and wrong additions of names. Those were the issues we had, not that understudies were not issued with authentications. Out of the around 3000 that were called to the Bar at the service (in July),those influenced would be under 50 applicants set up together. It is not an issue at such.
How has the absence of chamber influenced the running of the school?
We have the chamber set up. At the point when the Council of establishments were broken down, the Council of Legal Education was rejected alongside college gatherings. We got a letter from the legislature in regard of that, barring the Council of Legal Education. What we don't have set up right now is the director, and it is being gone to.
Without the executive, how does the gathering run?
We have an acting director. The NBA president goes about as the director. That is the custom. We have had a meeting led by the quick past president of the NBA, Mr.Austine Alegeh, SAN.
In Port Harcourt, amid the last yearly meeting of the NBA, you declared that a few people composed examinations for law understudies and was censured by some senior legal advisors. What exertion is the school setting up to guarantee that such things don't repeat?
The issue of examination negligence is not a wild issue at the Nigerian Law School and I will explain to you why. The greater part of our understudies are all around acted. I think in the most recent couple of years, the level of determination of our understudies has been noticeable and they have been all around recognized including by their speakers. Understudies are presently more calm, centered and they do what they are requested that do. On the issue of individuals from the lawful specialists coming to compose examination for understudies, the school ought to be complimented for finding this. We can't counteract misbehavior absolutely, yet we can shorten it. What we have done is that the individuals who are influenced have been accounted for to the Police and we are giving them each support, including monetary support to guarantee they can finish up their work. Examination is as yet going on and we are in contact with the Police. We trust that the examination will finish up and the matter experiences the legal framework.
Do you think it was a promising time to make such disclosure at the gathering?
I feel that it was a propitious time. That was the meeting of every Nigerian legal advisor. The center of the experts assemble once consistently to talk about matters important to them and we don't keep anything down in letting ourselves know of the goings on in the calling. Where else would it be able to have been said? I can't think about a superior event. What's more, ought to there be the individuals who might be enticed in future to go into such wander, they would have realized that it is not the proper thing to do in light of the fact that they would be found.
Why wouldn't we be able to make law to be a graduate program?
As I would see it, I feel that the investigation of law is alright at it is. In the event that you take a gander at our legacy, we took this calling from the British where law is not a graduate program. I have heard individuals blending things up, even experienced individuals who ought to know well. In the United States, Canada, South Africa and some other ward, law is a graduate program. Not just law, additionally prescription. You will require some other degree before you enlist for these courses. Fine and dandy, they have their purposes behind making it that way. For us here in Nigeria, law as we have it was never a graduate program and has never been in the UK. In this way, I can't comprehend why a few people need to draw a parallel for two things that are not precisely the same. Americans have done as I noted and I imagine that it works for them. Envision what it resembles to subject a Nigerian to four years in the University and after that an additional four years in the law personnel and another year at the Law School? It would take right around 10 years contemplating law! The issue is for us to fortify things by guaranteeing that benchmarks are kept and that we deliver attorneys that can work viably in the 21st century.
There are accumulations of law graduates holding up to be admitted to the Law School. Would regardless you subscribe to amassing understudies together in grounds for the motivations behind get ready for the bar examinations? Can't resources of Universities run the examination?
The issue as I said is one of custom furthermore of statute. We are not working by the control of the thumb, we are guided by law. I don't feel that it is fitting that we do things the way it is done somewhere else, where the framework works. Why do we have to leave the British framework which functions admirably here for a framework that is outsider to us as far as method of preparing? There is nothing incorrectly in what we are doing. Backpedaling to your question that Universities ought to go up against the occupation of the Nigerian Law School, how well have they fared in what they do? They are attempting their best however we should not overlook that the Unsworth panel of 1959 prescribed the setting up of law resources and the Nigerian Law School. Mr.Unsworth was the Attorney General of the league then. Presently, that method of preparing has met its motivation. I don't surmise that the issue of transforming it truly emerges.
In any case, the Law School can't oblige all the law graduates
Yes, we can! We have six grounds and the current and anticipated limit of the Nigerian Law School can suit every one of the understudies anticipated that would go to the foundation for a long time to come.
In any case, despite everything you have a standard framework. What is the purpose behind the standard?
I trust that what you are alluding to is the amounts attributed to the different law resources by the Council of Legal Education. The quantity is a result of an accreditation visit. The Council of Legal Education does accreditation visit thus does the NUC. The NUC endorses the foundation of law resources in the main example. Furthermore, when they go, they examine the offices in those faculties,including their libraries, their staff and different offices. Toward the end, they decide the number to concede for preparing. That number is a result of what the offices set up can oblige. This is an expert attempt and it is similar to what the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria and Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria do to Medicine and Pharmacy separately.
In the event that there is to be an enactment to enhance the limit of law resources, to run this examination, would you subscribe to that?
It is not just about examinations. Law is a calling that includes states of mind, morals, idiosyncrasies, method of discourse, method of dressing and connections. These are things that are instructed. It is just in the graduate school that we show understudies social graces. We instruct even how to propose a toast. We instruct things that may seem commonplace somewhere else however are exceptionally crucial to our calling. Indeed, even the method of dressing of Lecturers and Students of law stand them out. Embellishment of genuine legal counselors rises above the examinations in classrooms. That is the minimum. We are discussing an aggregate individual, a flawless courteous fellow, an individual from the bar and an upright legal advisor. That is our main event at the graduate school.
Why has it turned out to be extremely troublesome for every one of the bodies in the legitimate calling to comprehend the distinction between the open and separation learning programs that the National Open University of Nigerian runs and the low maintenance programs?
That is a matter for the administrative bodies in any case. The two noteworthy administrative bodies in the lawful calling in Nigeria are the Council of Legal Education and the Body of Benchers. We additionally have the General Council of the Bar. It was the choice of those two bodies that law ought to be considered in the best possible path and in an instructive setting on full-time premise. That was the motivation behind why low maintenance projects were rejected in normal colleges in the 1990's. Administrative bodies control the callings and being manifestations of statutes, their choice ought to be regarded.
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