Law graduates from the Houdegbe North American University, Cotonou, Benin Republic, has been banned by the Council of Legal Education (CLE), from Nigerian Law School admission.
CLE Secretary, Elizabeth Max-Uba, made this known in a statement on Friday.
Max-Uba revealed that the reason is because the university is domiciled in a Civil Law jurisdiction yet its law faculty was offering Common Law courses only.
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Another notable reason is the language barrier,; here students were 100% Nigerians and the language of instruction was English, whereas French is the lingua franca of Benin Republic.
CLE added that lecturers were Nigerians drawn from faculties of law in the South-West region of Nigeria teaching there on a part-time basis.
It cited “Information” which indicated that “the university had no approval from the regulatory authority in that country to run a law programme until 2016, after the decision was taken by the Council to suspend admission of its graduates to the Nigerian Law School”.
The body pointed out concerns over “substandard tertiary institutions in the West African sub-region, Benin Republic in particular, that target Nigerian students for commercial or monetary gains only”.
The statement said although the council has no control over institutions outside Nigeria, it is vested with powers to determine who is admitted into the Nigerian Law School and under which conditions.
Max-Uba advised parents and students to ensure due diligence in their choice of educational institutions in order to avoid consequent frustration.
