AN interesting drama is about to unfold between the Lead City University, Ibadan, Oyo State and the duo of the National Universities Commission (NUC) and the Nigerian Law School. This is sequel to the advertorial placed in The Guardian last Monday by the latter, enumerating the guidelines and conditions for the establishment of Faculties of Law in Nigeria. About 14 conditions were listed, accompanied by the sanctions awaiting any institution that disregards the laid down rules.
Besides, some 15 federal, 16 state and four private universities were listed as those having full or partially approved Law programmes. The four private Universities include Babcock, Madonna, Benson Idahosa and Igbinedion Universities.
N.B Visit www.campusflava.com for updates and information related to other schools.
However, the management of Lead City University is not finding this funny. Officials of the institution told The Guardia last Tuesday that they are convinced that the Executive Secretary of the NUC, Prof. Julius Okojie has personal grudges against the institution, had erected several barriers against it in the past, with the latest advertorial being a continuation of that assault. An official, who didn't want his name mentioned because he was not authorized to speak, alleged that Okojie only co-opted Dr Tahir Mamman, the Director General of the Nigerian Law School for the continued attack on the institution.
The matter in dispute is the Law Faculty of the University, which the NUC and the Law School say is unapproved. But the Dean of the institution's Faculty of Law, Prof. Oluyemi Kayode - Adedeji, a former attorney general of Osun State during the Bisi Akande administration, told The Guardian in an interview that the NUC had been economical with the truth over the matter. "How can the same NUC which granted us approval to run Law as an academic programme, now turn around to say that the programme is unapproved? He queried.
Kayode- Adeniji insisted that the Faculty of Law of the university, and the facilities it presently has, in spite of its young age, compares favourably with any Law Faculty anywhere in the country. On how the university received the advertorial, he said: "I must say that the advertisement was quite an embarrassment to the University authorities, because not only have the people from the National Universities Commission visited our Law Faculty from time to time, NUC is also aware of the existence of the Law Faculty. Even the Council of Legal Education, the custodians of the Law School, because there had been communication between the council and us on a number of occasions. Of course, there had been several correspondences between us and the NUC, including even personal visits.
"In 2007, we received a joint letter, signed by the Director General of the Nigerian Law School, and the Executive Secretary of the NUC, saying they were embarking on a census of existing Law Faculties in Nigeria, both approved and unapproved. In the course of those visits, the team visited the Lead City Faculty of Law, with representatives from both the NUC and Council. They rummaged through our Law Faculty, looked at our libraries, facilities, saw and talked to the lecturers, interviewed the students. They just wanted to be sure that there was what could be called a Law Faculty in place.
"About three months or so later, the University got a letter, conveying the approval of our Law programme. Thereafter, NUC sent an accreditation team. The team came and spent two days. The members looked at all they could look at. Then they wrote a report, which the University management read and was satisfied with and countersigned. That was in May.
We didn't get any feedback from them on this until sometime in September, when they then wrote a letter to say that, during that accreditation visit, they came to see two programmes; Biochemistry and Law, two different teams. They gave Biochemistry full accreditation, they now said they voided the accreditation visit to the Faculty of Law, and they gave a reason. They said because there was still a moratorium by the Council of Legal Education on the accreditation of new Faculties of Law.
"Well, the University was not convinced by this reason, so we wrote a protest to the NUC. Of course we didn't get a reply. We also wrote to the Minister, we also didn't get any reply. We then decided that let's bring this up with NUC, on the basis of which I then made some visits to the NUC to clarify the matter. But apparently, something must be amiss somewhere, because if, based on the facts on the ground, I don't see why this problem should arise. I have also made visits to the Director General of the Nigerian Law School, and I made it clear to him that from my own understanding of the way things work, accreditation of an academic programme is the function of the NUC and that the NUC had approved our Law programme. To say that the Council of Legal Education was not informed before we started the law programme, I told him, was not tenable, because nothing stops our graduates from stopping with their LL.B, and not going to Law School. But if at any time we had some of them express the desire to go to the Law School, we would contact the Council for Legal Education, and say please, can you come and look at our facilities and see if they are enough for the proper training of persons who desire to become legal practitioners? And I said the two are different.
"And in any case, at a point when the University felt that some of the students were already expressing the interest to go to the Law school, that was in 2007, the then Chairman, Board of Trustees, Prof. Gabriel Ogunmola wrote a letter to the Law School, inviting them to come and see our Faculty of Law. It was a very copious letter. We included the list of staff, photographs of our library, structure, our Moot Court and so on. The Law School replied and said that there was a moratorium on the accreditation of new Law Faculties, but that as soon as the moratorium was lifted, then we would see what we could do about the matter.
"Now, in April this year, when I knew that the five year moratorium was going to end, I advised the vice chancellor to renew our request to the Council to send a team for accreditation visit. And he wrote a letter. In fact, I personally delivered the letter to the Secretary of Council (of Legal Education) in Abuja. That was in April. We got a reply, I think, in June or early July to say that, well, the Council is not aware of the existence of your Faculty because you didn't get our approval before you started, therefore, we cannot send our accreditation team, but that in any case, Council is already working on guidelines for the establishment and approval of Faculties of Law. When these guidelines are out, you will see, and then we know where you belong.
"But the University promptly replied that letter, expressing utter surprise that the council of Legal education would say that it didn't know of our existence, when their representatives had visited this university at least twice that I remember. The council was part of the delegation that came to see our Faculty of Law, arising from which NUC gave us approval. And when, in any case, somebody from the Law School visited our Faulty, and in fact wrote something in our visitor's book, commending the Faculty, how could you now say you didn't know that we existed?
"The Vice Chancellor wrote back and said we do not believe that we needed your approval to start our Law programme. We only needed the approval of the NUC, because Law was on the academic brief that this University filed with government before it got a license. And we thought that with that, we could run a Law programme, and that in any case, NUC has given us approval."
However, when The Guardian called Okojie last Tuesday for comments, he declined. "I won't say anything on Lead City University. No. If they are aggrieved, they know what to do." Several phone calls made to Mamman were not picked. A text message sent to his cell phone asking for comments over the matter was also not responded to.
Next week - Full text of our interview with Prof. Kayode - Adedeji plue what the Law says about the functions of both the NUC and Law School.
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