SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEMS OF LEGAL

EDUCATION IN NIGERIA

BAMIDELE IKUSIKA

Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4161222

1.0. INTRODUCTION

Hon. Justice Onalaja is reputed to have said that lawyers can only be as good
as the system of legal education that produced them.1 Admittedly, legal education
in Nigeria, since its establishment in 1962, has been confronted with a lot of
challenges.2 These challenges have been exacerbated by the fact that the legal
education system in Nigeria is not adequately equipped to produce lawyers that
are able to meet the demands of the profession. As the system responsible for
producing knowledgeable, skilled, and ethical legal practitioners, it is expected
that quality standards and innovation must be maintained, particularly in
equipping lawyers with the technical know-how and values in addressing legal
issues, emerging trends and challenges in a globalised context. Sadly, these
seem farfetched as severe criticisms have trailed the system over its failing
standards. Most employers are frequently dissatisfied with the quality of lawyers
who have been licensed to practice: lawyers who are out of touch with current
economic and legal realities; lawyers who are unable to use basic ICT resources;
lawyers who struggle to speak clearly and write simple drafts, to name a few.
Clearly, this demonstrates that there is a fundamental flaw in the system, which
is the standard of legal education. Against this background, this essay proposes
solutions to the myriad of issues confronting legal education in Nigeria.

2.0. LEGAL EDUCATION IN NIGERIA AND ITS PROBLEMS

The term ‘legal education’ has been defined as:

A system of education that produces skillful and ethical

lawyers who must have, among other things, a technical
competence to analyze legal issues against the

1Hon. Justice M.O. Onalaja, “Problems of Legal Education in Nigeria” (Alimandco, 26 September
2015)
<https://www.alimiandco.com/publications/ACCREDITATION%20AND%20LEGAL%20EDUCA
TION%20IN%20NIGERIA.pdf> accessed 6 June 2022
2 Jonathan Fabunmi and Ademola Popoola, “Legal Education in Nigeria: Problems and

Prospects.” (1990) 23(1) Law and Politics in Africa, Asia and Latin America
<http://www.jstor.org/stable/43109931> accessed 6 June 2022

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 background of existing law, the direction the law is or
should be developing and the key policy considerations.3
Following the recommendations of the Unsworth Committee of 1958,4 law
faculties and the Nigerian law school were established across Nigeria, saddled
with the responsibility of educating and training prospective lawyers in Nigeria.5
Accordingly, the bodies charged with regulating legal education are the Nigerian
Universities Commission (NUC)6 and the Council of Legal Education (CLE).7 Over
the years, scholars have highlighted numerous problems that have plagued the
legal education system in Nigeria.8

The mainstream issues, however, include the lack of uniformity in compliance

with the threshold standard of legal education; conservative curriculum and
teaching method; a deficit in lecturer-to-student ratio; lack of basic educational
infrastructure; inadequate funding; proliferation of law faculties and population
explosion of law students, inexperienced lecturers, to name a few. Without any
doubt, these issues have significantly contributed to the deteriorating standards
of legal education. Resultantly, they have impacted the quality of lawyers being
produced by the system.

3.0. SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEMS OF LEGAL EDUCATION IN NIGERIA

In light of the clamour for legal reforms, the following solutions are proffered:

3 Nnamdi Madubuike-Ekwe, “Challenges and Prospects of Legal Education in Nigeria: An

Overview” (2017) 8(1) Nnamdi Azikiwe University Journal of International Law and
Jurisprudence,p. 128 <https://www.ajol.info/index.php/naujilj/article/view/156726/146333>
accessed 6 June 2022
4 Aare Afe Babalola, "Repositioning legal education for national development (1)" (Vanguard, 14

August 2019) <https://www.vanguardngr.com/2019/08/repositioning-legal-education-for-

national-development/> accessed 6 June 2022
5 Aare Afe Babalola, "Repositioning legal education for national development (2)" (Vanguard, 21

August 2019)<https://www.vanguardngr.com/2019/08/repositioning-legal-education-for-
national-development-2/> accessed 6 June 2022
6 As established by the National Universities Act, cap N81, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004

7 As established by the Legal Education (Consolidated, etc.) Act. Cap L10, Laws of the Federation

of Nigeria 2004.
8 Supra, n.2 and n.3

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1. Revamp the Existing Curricula and Adopt a Skill-based Approach to
Teaching

Over the years, the legal education curricula have remained static and
unchanged. It is extremely restricted and non-futuristic as it does not give room
for emerging fields of study contrary to globally accepted standards.9
Furthermore, there are no courses in the curriculum that will teach students
practical skills like legal research, good business writing, and so on.10 Even the
Clinical Legal Education (CLE) program, which was established in 2004, is poorly
structured and difficult to implement in universities.11

Thus, there is an urgent need to adopt a practical approach to revamping the

curriculum of law faculties across the country. The first step is to combine
elements of the law school curriculum with the program of the law faculties. It
is not enough to teach substantive law if students do not understand how these
principles apply in practice. To help students understand how the law works in
real life, law lecturers should incorporate a procedural approach while teaching
substantive law. Consequently, a skill-based approach to learning is required.
For example, if a tort lecturer is teaching proof of negligence, the lecturer could
make plans for students to attend a real-life court hearing where the applicant
presents evidence to prove the elements of negligence.

9 Elaine McArdle "A Curriculum of New Realities:Harvard Law School proposes new answers to
the question 'What do future lawyers need to know?'" (Harvard Law School, 2 September, 2008)
<https://today.law.harvard.edu/feature/a-curriculum-of-new-realities/ > accessed 6 June
2022
10 Felicia Anyogu, et al, “Appropriate Curriculum for training 21st Century Lawyers” (2020) 7(1)

UNIZIK Law Journal

<https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317092083_APPROPRIATE_CURRICULUM_FOR_T
RAINING_21ST_CENTURY_LAWYERS> accessed 6 June 2022
11 Oludayo Bamgbose, “Clinical Legal Education in Nigeria: Envisioning the Future” (2021) 10(1)

Australian Journal of Clinical Education, <https://ajce.scholasticahq.com/article/22197-

clinical-legal-education-in-nigeria-envisioning-thefuture> accessed 2 October, 2021. See also,
Festus Ukwueze and Beatrice Obianuju Obuka. “Challenges and strategies for sustainable
clinical legal education in Nigeria” (2010) The Law Teacher,
<https://doi.org/10.1080/03069400.2019.1690343> accessed 6 June 2022

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Alternatively, the lecturer can organize a mock trial among the students and give
each student the opportunity to lead evidence to prove the essential aspects of
negligence while also awarding points for performance as an incentive to learn.
This exercise will improve not only students' courtroom advocacy skills, but also
their analytical, legal research and drafting skills which Lawrence Trautman
describes as essential for prospective lawyers.12 Studies show this form of
teaching to possess “advantages of active and experiential learning”.13 The same
approach can be used at the Nigerian Law School to teach substantive aspects
of the law. Although mock trial sessions are available at the law school, they are
not mandatory, and thus, mass participation is not encouraged. Mock trials
should be graded to ensure that students fully participate.

Furthermore, to bring law students up to speed with economic realities, certain

electives should be introduced into the curriculum of law faculties. Most Nigerian
law firms have adapted to corporate and commercial law as the world evolves.
These law firms typically advise national and multinational corporations on
transactions involving mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, and financial
technology. Law firms take the trouble of re-training lawyers in these emerging
areas, for instance by registering them with a course tagged “Shades of Black
and White” organized by Legally Engaged,14 and other paid seminal/workshops.

12 Lawrence Trautman, "The Value of Legal Writing, Law Review and Publication" (2018) 51(3)
Indiana Law Review
<https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329720763_The_Value_of_Legal_Writing_Law_Rev
iew_and_Publication> 10 June 2022
13 Ahmadov Anar, “When Great Minds Don't Think Alike: Using Mock Trials in Teaching Political

Thought” (2011) 44(3) London School of Economics Research Online

<https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1049096511000722> accessed 10 June 2022. Also see: Arthur
Schaefer, "Mock Trials: A Valuable Teaching Tool" (1989) 8 Journal of Legal Studies and
Education<https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/jlse8&div=16&id=
&page=> accessed 10 June 2022; and Daly Yvonne and Noelle Higgins, “Simulating the Law:
Experiential ‘Techniques’ in the Modern Law Curricula” (2010) 84(1) Research in Education
<https://doi.org/10.7227/RIE.84.6.> accessed 10 June 2022
14 Legally Engaged is Nigeria’s foremost law career centre whose mission is to unmask the legal

profession in Nigeria by tackling its unemployment and unemployability problem; and whose
vision is to create lawyers who are able to compete globally, and to support organizations in their

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This is conveniently something that law faculties can handle with dedication and
proper organization.

Accordingly, courses focused on Corporate Law, Financial Technology, and so on

should be infused into the curriculum of law faculties, and a practical approach
to teaching them should be adopted. Law students could be required to handle
hypothetical transactions from beginning to end so that by the time they are
licensed to practice law, they have a solid foundation in these areas. In the
teaching of Corporate Law Practice at the Nigerian Law School, an equal
approach should be taken. While mock trials are held to train bar candidates in
civil and criminal procedure, there are only a few practical sessions on corporate
law. Law school lecturers must act in this regard and deepen practical
approaches in teaching the course like making students visit the Corporate
Affairs Commission and other regulatory agencies; making students incorporate
actual companies and handle aspects of regulatory compliance. These activities
will leave a lasting impression in students and prepare them for actual practice
once they are licensed.

2. Improve Lecturer Recruitment and Student Admission Procedures

Law lecturers' poor work attitude and lack of required qualifications are
devastating as they impact students’ learning and development. The
performance of many lecturers is below par, both in the classroom and at
management levels.15 Some do not know the course well enough and do not
adequately prepare for their lectures, with rote learning, handouts and class
notes – that have been used in years – being the normative teaching methods.16
In this respect, Hutchins Harry rightly suggests that:

bid to maximise the untapped potential in the Nigerian legal workforce

<https://legallyengaged.com.ng/overview/> accessed on 10 June 2022
15 Douglas Anele, "How lecturers underdeveloped the universities (4)" (Vanguard, 9 December

2013) <https://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/12/lecturers-underdeveloped-universities-4-2/>
accessed 10 June 2022
16 Funke Adekoya, “The Problems of Legal Education In Nigeria – Setting The Tone For

Discussion”. Being a presentation at the Summit on the Future of Legal Education, Nigerian

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 …Not only should the law teacher be the master of his
subjects from the point of view of the legal scholar for the
purpose of instruction, but he should be so because it is
his duty, as being clearly within the functions of his
calling to make permanent contributions to the store of
legal knowledge.17
As a result, a recruitment strategy for experienced lecturers who are committed
to advancing student training is required. It is critical to hire lecturers who have
actual legal practice experience and are enthusiastic about teaching. On the
other hand, an excessive number of law students are admitted to law faculties
and the Nigerian Law School. Every year, an average of 4,000 lawyers are
licensed to practice.

The chart above depicts the total number of students who pass the Bar Exam per year
in the last 5 years

Bar Association, Sheraton Hotels and Towers, Abuja 2nd - 3rd, May 2006. Cited by Adegbite,
n.31
17 Hutchins Harry, "The Law Teacher--His Functions and Responsibilities" (1908) 8(5) Columbia

Law Review, p. 369

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Sources: Punch (2021);18 Thenigerialawyer (2019);19 Thenigerialawyer (2018);20
Vanguard (2017);21 and Myschoolgist (2016)22 respectively.

One reason for this is the fact that the cut-off points for admission to various
universities vary. It is unfortunate that students who perform poorly in O-levels
are admitted to study law because they come from less developed educational
states (referred to as ‘catchment area policy’ or ‘quota system’).23

The same compromise for low-performing students occurs at both the University
and Law School. As a result, the Council of Legal Education must develop a
unified admission procedure for law students across the country. Corrupt
lecturers should be sanctioned in order to prevent grade-doctoring and other
unethical practices that allow low-performing students to advance without the
requisite qualifications. This ultimately contributes to the problem of half-baked
lawyers the system produces.24

18 Lesi Nwisagbo, "Law school releases 2021 results, 1,326 fail" (Punch, 8 July 2021)
<https://punchng.com/law-school-releases-2021-results-1326-fail/> accessed 10 June 2022
19 Unini Chioma, "JUST IN: Nigerian Law School Releases August 2019 Bar Final Results, As

147 Students Bag First Class, 894 Fail" (Thenigerialawyer, 6 November 2019)
<https://thenigerialawyer.com/just-in-nigerian-law-school-releases-august-2019-bar-final-
results-as-147-students-bag-first-class-894-fail/> 11 June 2022
20 Unini Chioma, "Nigerian Law School Releases Aug 2018 Results, Sets Dates for Call To Bar,

As 161 Candidates Bag First Class" (Thenigerialawyer, 19 October, 2018)

<https://thenigerialawyer.com/nigerian-law-school-releases-aug-2018-results-sets-dates-for-
call-to-bar-as-161-candidates-bag-first-class/> 11 June 2022
21 "Nigerian Law School releases Bar final exam results" (Vanguard, 21 October 2017)

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/10/nigerian-law-school-releases-bar-final-exam-results/
22 Olusegun, "Nigerian Law School Bar Final Exam Results Statistics – Aug/Sept 2016"

(MySchoolgist, 31 October 2016) <https://www.myschoolgist.com/ng/nigerian-law-school-bar-

final-exam-result-statistics/> accessed 11 June 2022
23 Omeje Chinweike, Ene Egwa, and Victoria Adikwu, “Impact of Quota System and Catchment

Area Policy on the University Admissions in North Central Nigeria.” (2016) SAGE Journals,
<https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244016654951> accessed 11 June 2022
24 Lesi Nwisagbo, "Law teachers raise concerns over ‘half-baked’ lawyers" (Punch, 13 May 2021)

<https://punchng.com/law-teachers-raise-concerns-over-half-baked-lawyers/> accessed 11
June 2022

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3. Train Lawyers to be Employable

Employers have expressed serious concerns that the vast majority of new wigs
are unsuitable for employment. Some lawyers are unable to prepare application
materials and ace job interviews. These lawyers are not, altogether, blameworthy
because they are not adequately trained in this regard. Only a few law faculties
require students to do internships during the summer to gain a practical
understanding of the law and to build networking skills. The training provided
on employability at the Nigerian Law School is shallow and inadequate given the
demands of the current legal industry. Bayo Ojo (SAN) concurs with the fact
that there is a need to reposition the legal profession to meet the unique
challenges of the 21st century.25 Only a handful of ambitious and serious-
minded students attend employability trainings or seminal, for instance, those
offered by Legally Engaged26 on preparing application documents, acing
interviews; thus, increasing their employability prospects.

To address this issue, law faculties should begin preparing students from the
onset on how to prepare job application documents and processes including
interview trainings. They should also receive training in effective business
writing, legal research, legal drafting, and workplace ethics. Business skills
should be integrated into the legal education because it makes prospective
lawyers employable in an increasingly competitive business ecosystem.27
Regulators must enforce internship programmes within undergraduate study,
as an avenue for students to get real-world experience that can help them

25 The Summit was put together following the Statements of Chief Bayo Ojo (SAN) on the 31st
March of that year, that “unless fundamental reforms are introduced, the profession may suffer
more serious decline”. Cited by Adegbite, n.31
26 Supra, n.6

27 David Wilkins, "Educating the 21st Century Lawyer: Integrating business skills with legal

knowledge" (2015) 1(5) Legal Education for the Future

<https://thepractice.law.harvard.edu/article/educating-the-21st-century-lawyer/> accessed
11 June 2022

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advance their careers, according to Harvard Business Review.28 This can be
properly structured through collaborations between law faculties, law firms,
corporate organizations, public institutions in order to give practicality to
learning and prepare them for the labour market.

Further to this, legal education in Nigeria should not only be limited to the four
walls of the university because legal principles are best understood and applied
when they are seen in action. Consequently, law students should be exposed to
legal practice through internships and legal clinics. Internships provide an
opportunity for students to observe how lawyers work, expand their networks,
and understand what it takes to be a lawyer. On the other hand, legal clinics
expose students to actual legal practice by handling real cases under the
supervision of a practising lawyer. This will give students a sense of
responsibility and confidence as well as an opportunity to see how theory is
translated into practice. Students should also be encouraged to take part in
extracurricular activities such as mooting, legal writing, and legal research

4. Improve ICT Skills for Law Students

Law students are required to take computer learning as a course at the university
level. Even though ICT resources for law practice are taught in Nigerian law
schools, lawyers lack basic knowledge of ICT tools such as Microsoft Office, and
online resource sites such as lawpavilion, Lexis Nexis, and others. This problem
can be solved if computer is taught in a practical manner at the university level
and students are exposed to digital tools that aid learning, because ICT now
plays a critical role in legal education and practice.29

28 John Coleman, "6 Ways to Make the Most of Your Internship" (Harvard Business Review, 11
July 2016) <https://hbr.org/2016/07/6-ways-to-make-the-most-of-your-internship> accessed
11 June 2022
29 Ifeoluwa Olubiyi, Ayobami Olaniyan and Ngozi Odiaka "The Role of Technology in the

Advancement of Legal Education and Practice in Nigeria" Being a paper presentation at the
Nigerian Association of Law Teachers [NALT] conference at Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti,
Nigeria in June 2015.

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Law lecturers must also teach students how to conduct legal research using
online legal resources such as the lawpavilion. Law students should be taught
case management and how to use telecommunication tools, i.e., video
conferencing platforms such as Zoom. To accomplish this, it is critical that the
computer lecturer who teaches law students has a background in law so that he
can teach the aspects of the course that are most relevant to law students and
help them improve their skills in this area.

5. Increase Funding of Legal Education and Improve Infrastructure

Many of the suggestions made in this paper will require adequate funding to be
implemented. When there is a lack of fund, infrastructure suffers, and even basic
teaching resources will be deficient. Financially, antecedent has shown that the
current structure of legal education is overwhelming for the government alone to
bear, evidenced by low budgetary allocation for education yearly.30 To
complement allocation for legal education in Nigeria, public-private partnership
should be encouraged in the procurement of facilities, training and funding of
legal education; albeit, the government retains exclusive powers to regulate its
content and standard.31 Alternatively, faculties of law should be allowed to
generate revenue autonomously.32 This can be accomplished by establishing
revenue-generating enterprises such as consulting services, professional
institutes, and fundraising programs.

6. Improve Lawyers Welfare in Nigeria

When there are no incentives in place, it is extremely difficult for students to
learn. Most lawyers in Nigeria are underpaid, which discourages law students

<https://www.researchgate.net/publication/280566346_The_Role_of_Technology_in_the_Adva
ncement_of_Legal_Education_and_Practice_in_Nigeria'> accessed 13 June 2022
30 Romanus Okoye, "Poor funding, teaching methods, bane of legal education in Nigeria –Prof.

Ajogwu" (Sunnewsonline, 15 Ocotober, 2019) <https://www.sunnewsonline.com/poor-funding-

teaching-methods-bane-of-legal-education-in-nigeria-prof-ajogwu/> accessed 13 June 2022
31 Olusola Adegbite, “An Appraisal of the Standard of Nigerian Legal Education” (2014) 3(1) Ife

Juris Review
32 Supra, n.3

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from learning and developing skills for practice.33 The NBA34 and other
stakeholders must step up mechanisms that ensure law firms pay a reasonable
minimum wage for lawyers. Reginald Aziza suggests a ‘market-based solution’
to the remuneration problem where the annual income of a firm determines the
least amount it pays its lawyers.35 The table below gives insight into how this
would operate.

Source: Reginald Aziza36

This way lawyers can earn reasonably to cater for their basic needs and welfare.
Other fundamental provisions, such as health insurance and bonuses, could
also be made available to incentivise aspiring and practicing lawyers.

7. Action Plan: Establish Enforcement Structures

Inadequate enforcement is the bane of most reforms in Nigeria, and legal

education is not an exception. Proper implementation and enforcement

33 Bridget Edokwe, "Nigerian Lawyers underpaid, overworked and Abused by Employers –

Investigative Report Shows" (Barristerng, 25 May 2019) <https://barristerng.com/nigerian-
lawyers-underpaid-overworked-and-abused-by-employers-investigative-report-shows/>
accessed 13 June 2022
34 Nigerian Bar Association

35 Reginald Aziza, "Towards Better Remuneration for Nigerian Legal Practitioners: A Market-

Based Solution" (LinkedIn, 22 June 2020) <https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/towards-better-

remuneration-nigerian-legal-solution-reginald-aziza/> accessed 13 June 2022
36 Ibid.

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mechanisms must be in place to give effect to the recommendations provided in
this essay.

The NUC and CLE are the primary regulators of legal education in Nigeria.37 As
such, there is a need to appoint/elect officials in these bodies who are
progressive, dispassionate and committed to resolving the lingering issues
affecting legal education in Nigeria. These bodies should also establish
governance and internal regulatory mechanisms in law faculties across the
country that can be audited on a regular basis. The established regulatory
mechanisms will then create actionable plans that address recruitment criteria,
admission criteria, curriculum compliance, library facilities, and pedagogical
format. Annual compliance reports in a prescribed format should be required of
law faculties.

In addition, other ways to track compliance will include student feedback and
informal visits for compliance officers to law faculties rather than the usual
accreditation period. Erring faculties may be sanctioned through fines,
suspension of law programmes or in extreme cases, disaccreditation.38 Similarly,
colluding with the NUC and CLE to accredit substandard law faculties should
result in severe disciplinary action from these regulators. Strict regulation will
aid in weeding out substandard law faculties across the country; thus,
addressing the deplorable conditions about the proliferated law faculties in
Nigeria and other related issues.

4.0. CONCLUSION

This paper has explored the solutions to the problems of legal education in
Nigeria. Specifically, it gives workable recommendations to the problems of

37 Bagoni Bukar, "Legal Education and Challenges of Contemporary Developments in Nigeria"

(2013) 20 International Journal of Clinical Legal Education
<https://www.northumbriajournals.co.uk/index.php/ijcle/article/view/24/29> 13 June 2022
38 Disu Damilare, “Current Day Realities of Legal Education in Nigeria: Challenges, Prospects

and Productive Way Forward” (2020). Social Science Research Network

<http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3534848> accessed 1 July 2022

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conservative curriculum and teaching methodology, adoption of ICT as an
integral system of qualitative legal education, improved funding, infrastructure
and welfare, enforcing compliance with acceptable standards of legal education,
inter alia.

In conclusion, predicated on the dynamism and needs of society, the legal

education in Nigeria, more than ever, needs to produce extremely competent
lawyers who are not only ‘fit and proper’ but equally skill-oriented and responsive
to the demands of a 21st century lawyer. The system must reposition itself to
enable prospective lawyers be in tune with the current trends of the legal
marketplace and adequately equipped to compete squarely with their
counterparts globally. In the long run, the quest to significantly improve the
standards of legal education will be intrinsic to foster professionalism, quality
service delivery, advancement of the legal system and national development.
Accordingly, all hands must be on deck!

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