The President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Afam Osigwe (SAN), has raised the alarm over the disregard for admission quotas by many law faculties, warning that it has worsened congestion at the Nigerian Law School and overstretched the system.
Osigwe, in an interview with The PUNCH on Sunday, said many universities were admitting law students far in excess of their approved quotas, thereby producing a flood of graduates that the Law School could no longer cope with.
“We should look at the proliferation of universities, the increasing demand for admission to study law, and the pressure on the Law School.
Too many universities are offering law, and many are abusing the admission quota system.
People can’t even get into the Law School, and this has created serious problems,” he said.
According to him, the backlog of graduates entitled to proceed to the Law School has forced the institution to increase yearly admissions, which in turn has significantly raised the number of lawyers being called to the Bar.
While stressing that it would be unfair to deny graduates access to the Law School, the NBA president urged urgent reforms to align university intakes with the institution’s limited capacity.
Osigwe also spoke on the restriction that allows each graduate only one invitation card for the Call to Bar ceremonies. He explained that the measure was due to safety, space, and crowd control concerns.
At the last Call to Bar in July, about 5,728 students were admitted to the Bar over three days — roughly 1,900 per day. Another 4,429 were called between September 23 and 25.
“The reality is that the hall has limited capacity. With the rising number of graduates, safety and crowd control become major concerns. If each student brought two guests, the hall would be overwhelmed. The facilities simply cannot cope,” Osigwe said.
He recalled that during his own Call to Bar in 1999, each graduate was allowed two guests, but argued that today’s numbers made such a system impractical.
Although acknowledging the inconvenience for families, he insisted that the restriction was a necessary compromise to ensure order and safety at the ceremonies.
The Call to Bar is the official ceremony conducted by the Body of Benchers to admit successful candidates into the legal profession as barristers and solicitors. To qualify, graduates must complete vocational training at the Nigerian Law School, pass the Council of Legal Education’s examinations, and be deemed fit and proper by the screening committee.
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