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From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The House of Representatives has waded into into the lingering impasse over the admission of law graduates from the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) into the Nigerian Law School (NLS).
This followed a petition by some of the NOUN graduates to the House calling for the intervention of the parliament into the impasse, which has denied them the opportunity of proceeding to the Law School.
The affected graduates, in the petition jointly signed by a their President, Adeniyi O. Oladele, Public Relations Officer (PRO), Chibueze Obochi and two others alleged that NOUN law graduates had consistently been denied admission into the Nigerian Law School, resulting in a growing backlog of affected graduates.
According to them, more than 5,000 have been left stranded despite completing their degrees in law, while graduates of law from other universities had proceeded to the Nigerian Law School, completed their Bar training and examinations, and qualified to practise as legal practitioners.
Obochi, while speaking with journalists, said
the 1999 Constitution (as amended) places emphasis on equal educational opportunities for Nigerian citizens, noting that the affected graduates should not be made victims of disagreements between government institutions.
According to him, “Section 18, subsection 1 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended, makes it clear that the government shall give directive that equal education of all citizens of Nigeria shall be a core matter to the federal government, and that’s the reason they’ve set up schools and universities here and there.
“So this is our position, that we should not be made victims of inter-agency rivalries. We were not part of any agreements or disagreements between NOUN and CLE and Nigerian Law School. We are Nigerian citizens and we are innocent of whatever that must have transpired.”
The Chairman, House Committee on Media and Publicity, Akin Rotimi, who laid the petition before the House on July 21, 2026, expressed his commitment to ensuring that the injustice allegedly suffered by the affected law graduates is redressed.
Rotimi stressed the need for a fair and lasting resolution to the impasse, noting that graduates who had successfully completed their academic programmes should not be left in prolonged uncertainty over their admission into the Nigerian Law School.
He assured the affected graduates of his commitment to supporting efforts to resolve the issues surrounding their admission and ensuring that their concerns receive the necessary attention from the relevant authorities.
