Law graduates of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) stormed the doorstep of the attorney-general of the federation, protesting what they called the continued exclusion of over 4,000 qualified graduates from the Nigerian Law School since 2020.
The demonstrators, operating under the platform ‘Backlog of NOUN Law Graduates’, gathered at the AGF’s office in Abuja to press the federal government for urgent intervention, describing the situation as a prolonged injustice against otherwise qualified law graduates.
The action followed a similar protest at the National Assembly earlier, signaling an escalation in the group’s campaign for admission into the mandatory professional law programme.
Thousands left in limbo, association says
Adefowora Adedeji, the group’s national president, disclosed that the National Universities Commission (NUC) had accredited NOUN’s law programme and that earlier cohorts of graduates were successfully admitted into the Nigerian Law School under a special arrangement.
He said that arrangement, however, has not been extended to more recent graduates, leaving over 4,000 of them locked out of the professional training required to practise law in Nigeria.
Adedeji emphasised that the exclusion has inflicted financial strain, emotional distress and stalled careers on affected graduates, many of whom have been unable to proceed professionally despite meeting academic requirements.
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He argued that the impasse breaches constitutional protections around human dignity, fair hearing and freedom from discrimination, adding that a 2018 amendment to the National Open University Act had already addressed the legal questions once raised over the institution’s law programme.
“There is no longer any legal justification for keeping qualified graduates out of law school,” he said.
The protesters directed their appeal at the Council of Legal Education (CLE), the Nigerian Law School management, the Federal Ministry of Education, Lateef Fagbemi, attorney-general, and President Bola Tinubu, urging them to guarantee that all backlog graduates are enrolled for the 2026/2027 Law School session.
“We want the relevant authorities to ensure that the 2026/2027 academic session does not leave us and the remaining backlog of qualified NOUN law graduates behind,” Adedeji said.
The renewed push comes even as newly qualified lawyers are being called to the Nigerian Bar in Abuja as part of the ongoing 2026 Call to Bar ceremonies, a milestone the protesting graduates say remains out of reach for them.
Adedeji disclosed that the association has filed close to 50 petitions with the National Assembly, the Federal Ministry of Education, the NUC, the Nigerian Bar Association, the body of benchers and other relevant institutions, without any resolution.
Besides, he further disclosed that the toll of the standoff has extended beyond finances, noting that some affected graduates have developed health complications. The association’s treasurer, he said, died after developing hypertension he linked directly to the unresolved crisis.
“We have exhausted dialogue and administrative processes. What we want now is a definite timeline for resolving this issue,” he said, warning that the group would escalate protests across all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory should the authorities fail to act.
He attributed the prolonged deadlock to an unresolved disagreement between NOUN and the CLE, stressing that graduates were bearing the brunt of an institutional dispute rather than any deficiency in their qualifications.
“Not because our certificates have any defect,” he said, describing the affected graduates as casualties of a conflict between government agencies.
Adedeji also accused Emeka Ngege, the CLE chairman of blocking the admission of more than 4,000 qualified NOUN law graduates spanning the 2019 to 2024 sets.
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