*Shehu Saddam Malam Madori* replys A. B Mahmoud and 2.1 saga

*Shehu Saddam Malam Madori* writes on Facebook
A. B Mahmoud and 2.1

I must state without any equivocation that I was more disappointed than surprised at the statement of the President of the Nigerian Bar that there is a need to raise the standard of the legal profession by admitting only students that make a 2.1 into the Nigerian Law School. I think the President has lost touch with the reality of the Nigerian situation and has infact disappointed many that believed his brave new bar agenda just over a year ago.

If that statement is indeed a result of his genuine concerns regarding the decline in the quality of legal profession, then the statement or suggestion as the case may be is out of place. The President should call for a holistic and foundational reforms in legal education, from the point of entry, to the quality of lecturers, to the upliftment of infrastructure in Nigerian Universities, to fighting corruption in the Universities, combating sexual harassment down to the protection of the rights of students against victimisation etc. These and even many more affect the quality of the average Nigerian graduate.

The law as it is does not even require a class of degree. If a graduate is good enough to pass all the requisite Law Courses under a free and decent system, then he is of course good enough to be a lawyer. The class of degree I have come to understand in my legal practice does not define the quality of a lawyer. It does to a large extent quantify his commitment to the academic struggle but not his intelligence.

It may please the President to know that Nigerian Law Students study under a difficult, oppresive and challenging system. A system where some lecturers do not even mark scripts but award grades according to their caprices, a system where some students bribe their ways to the top, a system that victimizes students, a system that accept sex for grades etc. This is the reality of the Nigerian situation.

I am sure the suggestion of the President is borne out of his western elitist orientation. That approach cannot work here in Nigeria. Instead of that suggestion, he should have called for reforms, holistic reforms in legal education in Nigeria.

If the President is afraid that the legal profession is becoming saturated, thus the urgent need to cut down admission into the Law School, I think the President is wrong. As the President of the Nigerian Bar, it is his duty to champion reforms through legislations and regulations that will adequately open up the legal space because the opportunities in legal practice are just limitless. Our population growth is a pointer to the fact that there is need for more and more lawyers.

Again, I graduated alongside over 350 students from the faculty of Law of the great Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Out of this number, only about 23 managed to scale through with a 2.1. Does it mean that the great Faculty of Law of A. B. U should send the names of just 23 and abandon over 350 because there is need to raise the standard of the bar if A.B Mahmoud's suggestion is anything to go by?. No, I think the President got it wrong.