PRE-DEGREE/CERTIFICATE REGISTRATION/SCHOOL FEES

Legal Council Gives UniPort Final Approval To Admit Pioneer LL.B Students By Otikor Samuel

Cheering news came the way of the University of Port Harcourt as the Council of Legal Education (CLE), finally published the list of universities accredited to teach law in Nigeria under its current accreditation regime. The eagerly-awaited approval came in a publication in some national dailies by Secretary to the Council and Director of Administration, Mrs. Elizabeth Max-Uba, last Wednesday.
Although the University had received approval in principle from the National Universities Commission and the CLE to commence its law programme, the latest announcement by the Council means that the Faculty of Law now has statutory backing to admit pioneer students into its LL.B programme.   
The statement, a copy of which was obtained by UniPort News, revealed that a total of 53 out of over 160 recognised universities in the country secured varying levels of accreditation ranging from full, interim, provisional and approval to continue or commence legal education. In the Federal category, the accreditation given to the University of Abuja was surprisingly withdrawn by the Council for reasons that were not contained in the publication.  
A breakdown of the figure released by the Council showed that only 16 Federal universities received approval to continue teaching law, while the University of Port Harcourt got approval to admit the first batch of students into its emergent LL.B programme. Thirteen Federal universities secured provisional accreditation. 
The publication also showed that 20 out of the over 50 State-owned universities obtained varying approval status, while Lagos State University and Benue State University had their accreditation status suspended for reasons that may not be unconnected with observed lapses in their programmes. Meanwhile, 19 private universities secured various levels of accreditation for their effort.
The University of Port Harcourt secured approval to commence the LL.B programme with an initial intake of 50 students. By this development, the coast is now clear for the University to formally admit students into its law programme for the 2017/2018 academic session, a cheering development that would enthuse the founding fathers.
The approval by the CLE to the University to commence the law programme came barely a year after a team from the National Universities Commission (NUC) gave provisional approval or the commencement of the course after final Resource Verification by a high-powered team that meticulously scrutinised the University's claims.
It would be recalled that Senate at its 337th Extra-ordinary Meeting approved the establishment of the Faculty of Law in the University in February, 2008. Following several false starts, the Senate had at its 395th Meeting on Wednesday, January 29, 2014, again approved the commencement of the law programme in response to an application by the pioneer Dean of the Faculty of Law, Professor Kaniye Ebeku to commence the legal education programme which paved way for the commencement of a pilot Diploma programme domiciled in the College of Continuing Education (CCE) in 2014.
The final approval for the University to commence admission of students into the LL.B programme came after a final Resource Verification visit by a crack Council delegation led by the Director-General of the Nigerian Law School, Mr. Olarenwaju Onadeko on Tuesday, March 21, 2017 to ascertain the University's readiness to commence the LLB programme. 
Other members of the high-powered delegation included the Attorney-General of Katsina State, Ahmed Emarzuq, Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Ibadan, Professor Adeniyi Olatunbosun, Secretary to the Council and Director of Administration, Mrs. Elizabeth Max-Uba, Deputy Director-General of the Nigerian Law School, Kano Campus, Dr. Yusuf Dadem, Law Librarian of the Nigerian Law School, Mrs. Olayinka Tuyo and Secretary to the Panel, Ms. Stella-Maris Idele.
With this exciting development, it is now expected that the Faculty of Law building which is in its final completion stages would be speedily completed to create an enabling environment for serious academic activities in line with the Unique UniPort drive.

 

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