Baze University, a well-known private university in Nigeria, is up against a big obstacle. The institution's Faculty of Law is not allowed to accept new students for five years, as per the Council of Legal Education (CLE) restriction.
This ruling, which results from several violations, has profound implications for the university, its students, and the legal education in Nigeria.
The recent declaration made by one of Baze University's graduate, Deji Adeyanju, regarding the nature of Nigeria's defamation laws triggered another debate on legal ethics and the rule of law.
Baze University is a private university based in Abuja, Nigeria, and is well-known for providing several kinds of undergraduate and graduate programs, including law.
Baze University’s law department has drawn recognition because it offers students looking for legal education in a modern, private university setting.
Because of serious regulatory violations, recent events have caused uncertainty for its law department.
Baze University’s persistent violations of the authorized admission quota for its law department are the main cause of the prohibition.
There is a backlog of more than 347 applicants waiting to be admitted into the Nigerian Law School because the university was only allowed to admit 50 law students per session, despite this restriction being regularly exceeded as well.
Baze University admitted more than 750 students over the years, according to the ICLE’s accreditation panel, which was chaired by Professor Isa Hayatu Chiroma, SAN. Based on the established quota, it would normally take 15 years to attain that number.
Some candidates for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) are said to have been offered a three-year LL.B program by Baze University without the required clearances from the CLE, JAMB, and National Universities Commission (NUC).
The NUC’s Minimum Benchmark Academic Standard, which mandates that UTME applicants must complete a five-year legal degree and Direct Entry students must complete a four-year program, was broken by this conduct.
This ruling will have very harsh consequences for Baze University and its stakeholders, the five-year embargo has left current and present students worried about their academic and legal careers.
According to the CLE’s statement, the five-year ban period will be utilized to clear the backlog of law students and make sure the university meets all requirements.
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Recent remarks made by well-known Nigerian activist and Baze University alumnus Deji Adeyanju further aggravated the situation.
Adeyanju has maintained that defamation ought to be treated as a civil matter rather than a criminal offense in Nigeria. His position has generated a great deal of discussion among the Nigerian general public and in the legal world.
The accepted opinion on defamation law in Nigeria, where it can result in both civil and criminal penalties, is called into question by Adeyanju’s remarks. Eliminating the penalty for defamation, according to critics, can be a tactic for political subjugation that restricts critique and free speech.
However, supporters of criminal defamation laws contend that their purpose is to prevent people from making false or harmful claims that could endanger people or institutions.
Specific violations that result in a ban are exceeding the admission quota, participating in unauthorized programs, not having permission, and a few more.
The five-year suspension on Baze University’s Faculty of Law imposed by the Council of Legal Education (CLE) has not yet been addressed by an official statement from the university.
The university’s repeated violations of admission quotas and other infractions, such as offering a three-year LL.B program that was not authorized by the relevant regulatory bodies, such as the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board and the National Universities Commission (NUC), are the reason for the ban, which is effective immediately.
