The Council of Legal Education (CLE) and the Nigerian Law School have approved and released the results for the November 2023 Bar Final Examinations.

This is as the CLE approved the commencement of law degree programmes in five universities across the country after the universities met the accreditation requirements to offer the Bachelor of Law (LLB) degree programme.

Of the 5,308 Bar applicants that sat for the examination, 251 representing 5 per cent of the candidates bagged a First Class Honours grade while 1,024 or 19 per cent made the Second Class Upper Honours grade.

On the other hand, 2,179 Bar aspirants or 41 per cent bagged the Second Class Lower grade while 967 aspirants or 18 per cent made the Pass grade.

Aside from 283 applicants or five per cent who made the Conditional Pass grade, 604 candidates or 11 per cent failed the examination and would have to resit it at a future date.

The approved universities were Adamawa State University, Mubi, Adamawa State; Mewar International University, Masaka, Nasarawa State; Federal University, Wukari, Taraba State; Taraba State University, Jalingo, Taraba State, and Nigerian Police Academy, Wudil, Kano State.

This was part of the resolutions taken at the quarterly meeting of the Council under its chairmanship of Chief Emeka Ngige, (SAN).

Acting Secretary to the Council and Director of Administration, Ms. Aderonke Osho, said in a statement that the accreditation was based on the reports presented by the Board of Studies chaired by the Director-General, Prof. Isa Hayatu Chiroma (SAN).

The Council of Legal Education is the regulatory body for the Nigerian Law School, which is mandatory for persons willing to practice law in Nigeria.

The council also approved various sanctions in respect of referred admission cases as well as students involved in various forms of examination malpractice and other misconduct.

Also, it approved the report and recommendations of the Appointments, Promotions and Disciplinary Committee (AP&DC) headed by the President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr Yakubu Maikyau (SAN), for the promotion and discipline of some senior academic and non-academic staff of the Nigerian Law School.

Also, the council approved the report of the Management Publication Assessment Committee headed by the Director-General recommending the promotion of some intermediate academic and library staff to various levels based on their satisfactory publication of academic journals locally and internationally in accordance with the requirements of the council’s Handbook.

It approved the appointment of Dr. Olugbemisola Titilayomi Odusote – Lagos Campus; Mr. Polycarp Chibueze Okorie – Augustine Nnamani Campus, Agbani, Enugu; Mr. Mohammed Ibrahim – Kano Campus; Mr. Salmanu Mohammed Rilwanu – Yola Campus, as Deputy Directors-General and heads of campuses of the Nigerian Law School for a five-year tenure.

Other decisions taken by the council include, “the commencement of a Mid-Year Academic Session for 2024/2025 academic calendar in order to clear the backlog of law graduates from various universities in Nigeria arising from COVID-19 pandemic, which adversely affected the 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 academic sessions and the prolonged industrial action by the Academic Staff Union of the Universities (ASUU) in the year 2021-2022. However, the exercise is not open to the universities that willfully exceeded their approved admission quotas by the Council and National University Commission (NUC).

“The council deferred the management memo for the review of penalties for applicants to the Nigerian Law School previously punished by their universities for diverse acts of misconduct to allow for further consultations”.

It also expressed appreciation for the efforts and kind gesture of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister for Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) for attracting interventions for the improvement of facilities at various campuses of the Nigerian Law School.

It also expressed appreciation to the Governor of Enugu State, Mr. Peter Mbah, and the Governor of Ebonyi State, Mr. Francis Nwifuru for undertaking to construct a befitting auditorium at Augustine Nnamani Campus, Agbani, Enugu State, and the reconstruction of hostels, the library, the ICT block and staff quarters and the provision of a solar-powered borehole at the Augustine Nnamani Campus, Agbani, Enugu State, respectively. (THISDAY: Text, Excluding Headline)

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