By Gibson Ogbeiniama
The continued tussle between the duo
may present Nigeria as a stagnant and resistant nation to new educational innovations
(ICT based studies) globally practiced with huge benefits.
Since the 4th October, 2017
judgement of the Federal High Court Port-Harcourt, no progressive step has been
taken by the government to address the issue to a logical conclusion. The only
prominent comments on the viral and dailies have been commendations and
negative criticism about the judgement which cannot proffer solution to the
problem at hand.
The government took a queue from other
developed nations and established the National Open University of Nigeria to
make education flexible, affordable and accessible to all aspiring people to
boost the literacy level of the nation.
Regrettably, the adamant position of
the CLE under the guise of setting standard is at the verge of ruining
Nigeria’s fastest growing university if urgent measures are not taken by the
government to resolve the issue.
I view the stance of CLE as beyond “setting
standard” because four years is enough to have resolved the long lingering
issue with NOUN if it so wish.
CLE as a noble body should know that
attaining standard is not an overnight task but a gradual process considering
the fact that the country is recovering from economic recession and faced with financial
challenges to provide the needed. Even the NLS did not attain its present
standard over night. It still requires continuous improvement to attain an
optimal level like others in the West.
The NOUN law graduates have already
obtained their LL.B degrees since 2013. The burning questions are “should they wait until NOUN meets with the
requirement of CLE before being admitted into NLS?” and how long will this take? And Even
in the face of the recent amendment that accorded it with the status of
Conventional Universities?
With respect, this is one aspect the court
would have considered before arriving at its decision rather than declaring
that...
“CLE
does not share its powers with any other body” and that “let issue of academics
be handled by academia”
This clearly encourages tyranny in the
educational sector and against the doctrine of natural justice “Nemo judex in causa sua” a man cannot be
a judge over his own case.
This singular act perhaps made Kayode
Bello to shun the panel’s invitation for fear of biasness and injustice when
his co alleged fighter was not queried nor invited as second party. Sadly, the
expelled student has written Amnesty International for intervention as NLS
defied the court interim order.
NOUN VS CLE should not be too
different from other related cases where judges were bold to rule in:
1.
Segun Ali v National
Universities Commission, FHC/IB/CS/50/2009 over Law School admission. Lead City
University Ibadan law graduates case.
2.
Professor Stephen
Kwaku Asare v Ghana Law School, where the Supreme Court ‘quashed’ Ghana School
of Law admission process. The plaintiff filed the suit as a patriotic Ghanaian
to correct the injustices suffered by admission seekers into Law School. https://www.myjoyonline.com/news/2017/June-22nd/supreme-court-quashes-ghana-law-school-admission-processes.
NOUN law graduates did not start with
the legal option approach. It was after series of futile attempts to resolve
the issue with CLE that compelled them to approach the court for legal
intervention in 2016. The case was heard and fixed for judgement on 27/01/17
but was stalled for no obvious reason. The case was further reassigned to
another judge for denovo, 15 July and
eventually delivered on the 4/10/17. What a delayed tactics?
It is worthy to correct peoples’ wrong
impression about NOUN. It should be supported as one of the nation’s pride and
that was why Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Africa’s most populous living
ex-presidents chose to study in NOUN among other prominent universities.
If NOUN
fails, then the government has failed the law graduates, therefore, it should not
fold its hands and leave this struggle for the sympathetic students alone. A
stitch in time saves nine!
Ogbeiniama, writes
from Otukpo via gibsogbe@yahoo.com
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