Go to AfricaBib home

Go to AfricaBib home AfricaBib Go to database home

bibliographic database
Line
Previous page New search

The free AfricaBib App for Android is available here

Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Legal Education and Training in Nigeria
Author:Oko, Okechukwu
Year:1994
Periodical:African Journal of International and Comparative Law
Volume:6
Issue:2
Period:June
Pages:271-292
Language:English
Geographic term:Nigeria
Subjects:legal education
Law, Human Rights and Violence
Education and Oral Traditions
External link:http://www.heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/afjincol6&id=283&collection=journals&index=journals/afjincol
Abstract:Formal legal education programmes were introduced in Nigeria by the Legal Education Act of 1962. The Nigerian legal education system consists of a two-tier system of training: a law degree from a university and practical training at the Nigerian Law School. This article first discusses legal education in Nigerian universities. It examines the goals of legal education, admission requirements, the curriculum and methods of instruction. Then it examines the practical training programme at the Nigerian Law School. It outlines the inadequacies of the present programme and makes a case for the abolition of this school. The author argues that Nigeria has yet to establish a functional system of legal education that reflects the unique realities of Nigeria. There exists a lack of congruence between the model of legal services implicit in legal education (one dictated by tradition and imported from England) and the tasks actually performed by lawyers in Nigerian society. Furthermore, the dichotomy between 'academic' and 'practical' training encouraged by the two-tier system reinforces the artificial idea that a distinction exists between theoretical and practical issues in legal practice and robs the universities of the opportunity to introduce programmes which enable students to develop competence in practical skills. Notes, ref.
Views