‘NOUN’s Newly Approved Postgraduate Law Programme is a Greek Gift’

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.