Numerous university graduates interested in studying one of the requirements for becoming an attorney submit applications to the Nigerian Law School (NLS) each year from both Nigeria and abroad.
Although not everyone is accepted into the school, those who are fortunate must pass the necessary courses to become recognised lawyers.
NLS issued a circular this week asking for applications for enrollment in the school for the October 2022/2023 academic session, as is customary.
Law graduates from Nigerian universities and law graduates with international training who have successfully completed and passed the Bar Part 1 Course at the Nigerian Law School are both eligible for admission.
Unfortunately, the ongoing Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike would prevent hundreds of Nigerian university law students who were planned to participate in this set according to the calendar from participating.
Given that the union and the federal government have yet to reach a solution, the current strike, which has been ongoing for five months, appears to have no end in sight.
Some final-year law students, who spoke to the Daily Trust, expressed their dissatisfaction with the system and claimed that if it weren't for the ongoing strikes, they would have already received their degrees.
Over 300 of them would lose out, according to Musa Haruna Bawa, a 500L Law student who was supposed to start at the Nigerian Law School in October but is unable to do so because of the continuing strike.
The number of ABU, UDUS, and other federal or state universities that joined the strike, he added, "may be added to the fact that this is only at BUK."
According to him, seeing the NLS circular for the intended candidates was the "most troubling and unpleasant element of the strike to me" (together with most of my coworkers).
It was brought up in conversation between us. By September 2022, we were scheduled to be in the NLS, but we failed to make it. Even if ASUU ended the strike right away, we wouldn't be able to start the NLS current session until at least 2024, according to him.
The strike began a week before Bawa's first semester examinations, he recalled. According to our school's custom, we won't take a semester off now that the first semester exams are over and will instead continue working on our academic problems. Additionally, we will start the final year exams when the regular students return from their mid-semester vacation in order to comply with the NLS application requirements.
At the start of the two-week warning strike, he declared, "I was pleased with it since throughout the said weeks, all I did was read my books in the hope that the strike could terminate within the said weeks."
He remarked, "Unfortunately, two weeks passed and the ASUU declared additional weeks," adding that as a backup plan, he had to put all academics on hold and concentrate solely on his everyday tasks.
However, Bawa expressed faith in the work being done by ASUU because it is for the benefit of students in Nigeria. When it's cool outside, you can often observe students listening to lectures on the floor without a functioning fan, air conditioner, or heater. Despite having their own interests, they put ours ahead of theirs.
He urged President Muhammadu Buhari to honour his promise to return lecturers to classes and urged the government to accede to ASUU's requests.
The ongoing ASUU strike has put Yusuf Emiola, a final-year law student and the director of the Bayero University Law Clinic, under a great deal of psychological, financial, and emotional hardship.
Emiola began studying law in 2016 with the goal of finishing by 2021; however, the ongoing ASUU strike, which first broke out in 2020, disrupted the academic schedule and made it impossible for him to get his degree that year.
"When this awful strike began in February 2022, I was preparing to begin my first-semester exam. Remember that I need to enrol in the Nigerian Law School for the 2022–2023 academic year, which will begin in October of this year (according to the circular released by the NLS).
This implies that I and my other university colleagues won't be attending the law school this year, he lamented.
He added that because the legal profession is based on seniority, which is defined by the year of graduation from the Nigerian Law School, they have instantly become juniors to their peers from other universities who would be entitled to enrol.
"There is nothing I can do to save my dream of becoming a lawyer before the age of 25, which has completely disappeared before my eyes. I simply ask that everything be done with consideration on all sides. The grass beneath two elephants suffers the most when they fight, and that is what we are currently seeing.
"We wish to regain our life. Emiola advised both parties to keep in mind that whatever choices they make will affect millions of Nigerian lives.
He claims that the Law Clinic he directs often takes on cases of poor pretrial detainees, which they then litigate in court using their pro bono attorneys.
Since the majority of our student legal clinic interns are from different parts of Nigeria, the ASUU strike prevented us from taking on new cases. This strike is hurting a lot of innocent poor people who depend on our services to achieve justice," he continued.
He hoped the strike would end quickly so they could pursue their cases since that is how they would help relieve the congestion in the detention facilities.
Halipa Magaji, a different student, said it is regrettable that education has been degraded to the point that it might demoralise several students, particularly those in tertiary school.
If precautions are not taken, we might miss this academic session due to the indefinite ASUU strike, he said. "We are suffering under the sadness of missing law school admission for 2022/2023."
"Last year, we were meant to be the last group to take the Bar ll final exam. If you recall, we were under lockdown for about 11 months because to the COVID-19 epidemic, necessitating the suspension of academic activity and other daily activities in general.
Magaji scolded the federal administration for neglecting the educational sector and putting political concerns ahead of the needs of the general populace without realising that students were among the voters who elected them.
"We are quite dissatisfied with this government's efforts. We young people are ready and equipped to support candidates who will put our interests ahead of their own, he continued.
He claimed that "Mr. President's words on the ASUU strike plainly demonstrated that he is oblivious of the strike and that he is not prepared to meet their demand while they are entitled to it all or what they have sought as public servants."
He expressed regret that the government only prioritises profitable industries like oil and gas, aviation, and other industries while ignoring the most important industry, education, and he urged both the federal government and ASUU to have mercy on Nigerian students, especially those enrolled in public tertiary institutions, by ending the six-month strike action.
It's a major problem, he continued, as the government spends far more money than ASUU requests on managing its daily operations, political activities, and even the election.
Hauwa Ahmad Muhammad, a different student, remarked: "I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the circular that the Law School recently released. The most terrible part is that even though we should have graduated in 2021, we are now in 2022, and there is still no hope for us.
Welcome to Nigeria, she said, "where our government sets an age limit for employment and your year of graduation will be prolonged while you keep getting older."
She claimed that given the current state of her plans, she had little chance of becoming the type of lawyer she had envisioned.
She stated that neither party should only think about their own interests and that they should both put themselves in our parents' or guardians' position.
ASUU should be realistic about the state of the world economy, and now is not the time for them to demand that all of their wants be satisfied.
She urged students to utilise their free time wisely by reading widely, and she pleaded with law companies to support applications from law students seeking internships.
Nasiru Adamu Aliyu, a professor of law at BUK, responded by stating that Nigerian students who were meant to be enrolled in law school are having a lot of difficulties as a result of the ASUU strike.
The Bar II admittance, according to Prof. Aliyu, who has also taught at the NLS for 15 years, is not a waste because there are many backlogs and Bar 1 students, as well as those who have finished their own studies while studying overseas and perhaps those who failed once before but reapplied.
"The issue is that you cannot tell people who have passed the Bar I and completed the necessary courses to wait because Nigerian students are not prepared. Because the privileged children are the ones studying overseas, the strike is producing issues for the children of the common people, he claimed.
Another implication, he suggested, is that their friends would advance to be their superiors in the field.