By Oluwakemi Kindness
The House of Representatives has intervened in the prolonged dispute over the admission of more than 5,000 law graduates of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) into the Nigerian Law School.
The affected graduates, under the aegis of the Backlog of Law Graduates of NOUN, petitioned the House, saying they had completed their LLB programmes but remained unable to proceed for Bar training.
They said the situation had left thousands stranded while law graduates from other universities proceeded to the Nigerian Law School and qualified for Call to Bar.
The House Committee on Public Petitions subsequently invited NOUN and the Council of Legal Education (CLE) to explain the circumstances surrounding the dispute.
Neither institution appeared at Wednesday’s hearing.
NOUN instead sent a letter signed by its Registrar, Oladipo Ajayi, explaining that the Vice-Chancellor was away on official assignment and requesting another date to appear.
The Nigerian Law School also sent a letter signed by its Director-General, Olugbemisola Odusote explaining that an official assignment prevented her from attending.
Speaking after the hearing, the graduates’ Public Relations Officer, Chibueze Obochi, said the affected graduates should not become victims of disagreements between government institutions.
“We should not be made victims of inter-agency rivalries,” Obochi said.
Obochi cited Section 18(1) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, and argued that the provision supports equal educational opportunities for Nigerian citizens.
He also disputed the significance attached to a 2019 list of 1,883 graduates submitted by NOUN, saying the university had described the figure as graduates produced “so far”.
According to Obochi, that wording meant the list could not reasonably be treated as covering graduates who completed the programme later.
NOUN, in its submission to the committee, said it suspended fresh admission into its LLB programme in 2015 after regulatory concerns emerged.
The university said it had not admitted new students into the programme since then and that the affected graduates were students admitted before the suspension who completed their studies later.
NOUN said it submitted 1,883 graduates to the CLE in 2019 but later discovered that 90 graduates had been omitted, bringing the figure to 1,973.
The university said the Body of Benchers approved a Special Remedial Programme for NOUN law graduates in 2020 instead of direct admission into Bar Part II.
NOUN further said it submitted another 2,226 graduates who completed their studies between 2019 and May 2022 for consideration.
According to the university, the CLE rejected the later submission, arguing that it had understood the 2019 list to represent the total number of NOUN law graduates.
NOUN said it rejected the claim that it continued admitting students after 2015, insisting that those in the later submission had been admitted before the suspension.
Meanwhile, House Committee on Media and Publicity Chairman, Akin Rotimi, who presented the petition to the House on July 21, 2026, said he remained committed to helping resolve the dispute.
Rotimi said graduates who had completed their academic programmes should not remain in prolonged uncertainty over their admission into the Nigerian Law School.
