11th December, 2023
By Joan Nwagwu
Some graduate and undergraduate law students of Baze University have expressed their anxiety over the recent action on the institution by the Council of Legal Education and its impact on the future of law programme in the university.
The students and graduates of law spoke in Abuja on Monday while urging the management of the institution to urgently find solution to five year ban placed on admission of Baze University graduates law graduates into Nigeria Law School.
The Council of Legal Education recently imposed a five-year moratorium ban on law admissions at BAZE University Abuja for consistently violating approved quota.
The Council of Legal Education said that BAZE University had admitted over 750 students into its law faculty since 2017.
This meant the university exceeded its allotted quota of 50 students per academic session that ordinarily should take 15 years to fill.
Vanessa Adeh, who graduated from the law faculty, and waiting for Law School admission, said she had been feeling so frustrated.
“I graduated in 2022 and have been waiting to attend law school. The school said they are working to resolve the situation but it’s taking longer.
“I am already having regrets but I hope they will resolve the issues fast.
“It really saddens my heart that I went to a private university to avoid stories like this, but unfortunately what I hoped not to encounter is now what I am facing,” she said.
She said that many of her course mates were really troubled by the situation and wondered why the school management would allow the issue to escalate to the point of being banned.
Hadiza Umar, a law student at the university, while expressing worry that the situation may affect her and other students, urged the school management to urgently resolve the issues before it cause more problems.
Another student, who pleaded anonymity, said her greatest concern was that the university management has not told its side of the story and what it is doing e actually doing about the issue.
She urged the school to come forward with information that would calm the nerves of many graduates and students who are worried that the situation may have affected them.
Usman Aliyu, also a graduate from the school’s law faculty urged the school authorities to put out information on the concrete actions they are taking to remedy the situation.
A statement released by the Nigerian Law School, said that is investigations showed that BAZE University has a backlog of no fewer than 347 law graduates awaiting Law School admission.
It also said that BAZE also runs a 3-year law degree for some students of the institution in contradiction to the five-year national benchmark curriculum.
It said these culminated to the five-year ban on the institution from admitting students in its law faculty.
NAN reports that attempt to get the reaction of the management of Baze University owned by Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, the vice presidential candidate of Labour Party in the 2023 election were unsuccessful.
(NAN)
JAN/KUA
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