Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice has commended Chief Emeka Ngige SAN on his reappointment as Chairman of the Council of Legal Education (CLE).
Speaking at the inauguration of the council in Abuja, Malami also warned against whittling down the powers of the council in forging a roadmap for legal education in Nigeria.
He urged council members to sustain the Nigerian Law School Initiative (NLSI) which has led to a massive infrastructure revamp of the campuses, adding that Ngige’s reappointment by President Muhammadu Buhari “Is a testament of his commendable service whilst being in the saddle in the past four years from 2019-2023.”
He observed that “The Nigerian Law School Initiative, which he conceived, is a noble idea that needs to be sustained for the development of the bastion of legal education in Nigeria.”
On the powers of the council, Malami warned against attempts to whittle down such powers, saying: “For the sake of sanity and uniformity, I wish to reiterate my position that the powers of the Council of Legal Education should not be whittled down in terms of determining the direction of legal education or establishment of Campuses of the Nigerian Law School.” It is recalled that the Senate had made attempts to create new campuses for the Nigerian Law School.
He commended the council “for its modest achievements in the past four years especially in the areas of creating a window for the admission of graduates from the National Open University of Nigeria, clearing of a backlog of over 10,000 students arising from the violation of admission quota by some of our Universities, enhancement of curriculum and adoption of interactive teaching methods, administrative reforms, establishment of Quality Assurance Unit to ensure uniform delivery of academic programs and facilities, infrastructural upgrade across its campuses, among others.”
