Baze University barred from admitting law students for 5 years

The Baze University in Abuja has been barred by the Council of Legal Education (CLE) from admitting students into its Law Faculty for the next five years.

This was contained in a statement signed by the Acting Secretary and Director of Administration of the Nigerian Law School, Aderonke Osho, and issued by the CLE on Saturday.

The university is said to be owned by Datti Baba-Ahmed, the running mate of the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi.

The council noted that Baze University was banned for consistently violating its admission quota of 50 students per session as approved by the CLE.

It added that the ban was with immediate effect.

The statement read: “At its quarterly meeting held on November 23, 2023, the Council of Legal Education (CLE) presided over by its Chairman, Chief Emeka Ngige, SAN, OFR, considered the report of the Accreditation Panel to the Faculty of Law, Baze University, Abuja.

“It emerged from the findings by the panel, led by the Director-General, Nigerian Law School, Prof Isa Hayatu Chiroma, SAN, that Baze University consistently and most flagrantly had contravened its admission quota of 50 students per session as approved by the Council of Legal Education with the result that the faculty is currently having a backlog of over 347 law students waiting to be admitted into the Nigerian Law School.

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“Since 2017 the Council of Legal Education has grappled with the excesses of Baze University by admitting over 750 law students which ordinarily would have taken about 15 years of admission based on the quota allotted to the university.

“Under the NUC Minimum Benchmark Academic Standard (BMAS) for law degree programme in Nigerian universities, Law is a five-year programme for UTME candidates and four (4)-year for Direct Entry students.

“The Council of Legal Education, after thorough consideration of these infractions, resolved as follows:

“The imposition of a moratorium on admission of law students to the Faculty of Law, Baze University, Abuja, with immediate effect;

“The moratorium will last in the first instance for a period of five years and may be renewed if no satisfactory action is taken to remedy the situation.

“The Council, in the interest of the innocent students, parents and guardians, will use the five year period to find ways to deal with the backlog of law students admitted by Baze University in excess of its admission quota.

“Follow-up visits will be paid to the university to ascertain the extent of the measures it has taken to remedy the anomalies observed during the accreditation visit.

“The National Universities Commission (NUC), Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), parents, guardians, prospective applicants and members of the public are hereby put on notice on the status of Baze University Abuja and its Faculty of Law.”

The Star