A public affairs analyst, Mr. Carl Umegboro has described the
newly approved postgraduate law degree at the National Open
University of Nigeria (NOUN), without clearance of Bachelor of Laws
(LL.B) degree for admission into the Nigerian Law School for
vocational training as a Greek gift.
In a statement in Abuja, Umegboro, who is the Chairman of the
Law Graduates Forum (LGF) of NOUN, appealed to President Muhammadu
Buhari to intervene to ensure under national security that the
trapped innocent citizens do not under any circumstance miss the
forthcoming batch of intakes into the Nigerian Law School,
precisely January 2020 session, as citizens that completed their
undergraduate law programme in an accredited government institution
cannot continue to roam the streets for no just course.
He explained that the approval of postgraduate programme when
the first degree has not been cleared from huddles is seemingly
deceitful, as it cannot solve the problems on ground.
“Emphatically, LLM is merely for specialisation and not a
requirement for admission into the law school. As I speak, there
are hundreds of senior lawyers that rose to the position of Senior
Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) without going for or getting LLM
degree.
“Hence, it is merely a Greek gift to introduce postgraduate
programme when their vocational training which is the most
important programme in the discipline is facing huddles.
“Clearly, what is urgently needed is admission into the law
school first. Of course, masters programme is not a bad idea as
NOUN is suitably proficient for the approval, however it can
commendably be accepted when law graduates are freely allowed to go
for vocational training like their counterparts, hence not a
serious issue at the moment”, he said.
Nonetheless, Umegboro commended the Nigerian Institute of
Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS) for giving approval for the
postgraduate degree; Master of Law (LL.M) and Master of
International Law and Diplomacy (MILD), and called on the Council
of Legal Education (CLE) to urgently remove the victimized innocent
students from the streets since 2013 that the first set
graduated.
He added that the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu has
commendably continued to show statesmanship and commitment in
resolving the crisis in many instances and therefore called on the
Minister of Justice/Attorney General of the Federation, Abubarka
Malami to follow suit as evidences show that all the delays in
resolving the crisis are from his ministry.
“Indeed, the recent memo from the Federal Ministry of Education
dated September 23, 2019 to the Minister of Justice/Attorney
General of the Federation for a stakeholders meeting for the
resolution of the protracted crisis as directed by the presidency
which is still yet to be attended to is commendable and indicative
of selflessness and patriotism of the minister of education,”
Umegboro said.
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