Education
Two years after, Redeemer’s varsity Law graduates face uncertain fate
The former Law students of the Redeemer’s University (RUN), Ede, Osun State have expressed their frustrations over delayed enrollment to the Nigerian Law School after two years of graduation due to an accreditation issue.
Despite the assurance from RUN that they had full accreditation, the first set of Law students, who graduated in 2022 have not gone to Law School.
One of the affected old students, who spoke with our correspondent on condition of anonymity, said the school’s claim of full accreditation was false and that the school only has the NUC provisional accreditation.
“Redeemer’s University commenced the Law program in 2017 with my set being the first and pioneer set to enroll in the law faculty of the school. Upon reasonable research and asking questions, we were given the assurance that they had been accredited to start the course fully. We later found out after we had graduated that the accreditation they had been talking about was the NUC provisional accreditation and not even a full accreditation. They never had the Nigerian Legal Council Accreditation, which is what permits you as a school to teach Law and have your students sent to the Nigerian Law school,” he said.
He further stated that the school gave them a one-week notice to write their final exams while assuring them about going to Law school and preparing them ahead to raise their hopes.
“Moving on to 400 Level, it became clear to us that there was no accreditation at all and that it was just NUC provisional accreditation. We asked again, and the new dean emphasised that he was working on it and that was why he was employed, and that we would definitely get it before we graduate the next year. In 500 level, they even brought lecturers from law school to come and prepare us for law school for a month, which we were made to pay for separately. We were also given a one-week notice to write our final exam because, “Law school is coming and we need to prepare your results for law school mobilisation”, so they said.
“Only for us to start asking what happened and they started with different stories that we will go with the next batch, then the batch after. They said they were waiting for the then Gov. Wike to open the new Law school in Rivers State and we will all go there. It was at this point we found out that RUN started the Faculty of Law program without informing The Nigerian Legal Council, and as of 2017, 2018, and 2019, they had not gotten any approval from the Council of Legal Education, that it was all a rumour that they had gotten it,” he added.
Another former student of the school, who prefers to be anonymous, said all efforts of the old students and their parents to get information about the ongoing issue from the school have been met with threats, intimidation, and insults.
“After graduation, at no point did the school communicate with us concerning the issue. The efforts to reach the school were fruitless and of our own volition, we went for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). In July 2023, we had a meeting with the then Dean of the Faculty of Law, and our parents were in attendance. To our disbelief, the manner in which he spoke to our parents was as though we didn’t pay school fees. He didn’t give a direct answer pertaining to the issue. Instead, he threatened our parents. At the end of the meeting, he told us “Use your connections to help the school,” she stated.
A statement by the former students of the school revealed that, currently, there are over 140 Law graduates hoping to proceed to law school. Aside from these are over 50 students, who are going to graduate this year. Despite all these, the school keeps admitting new students with a higher fee.
“Currently, there are over 140 students out of school hoping that they get to the law school and actualise their dream of being lawyers. Aside from these 140 students, there is also a set of over 50, who are going to graduate this year. Besides those 50 are other sets as well. It will interest you to note that the University keeps admitting students even with much higher fees than it was during our time when it was N832,000/year,” the statement revealed.
The former students further revealed that the ongoing issue has deteriorated their mental health and restricted them from getting jobs, adding that the current fee at the Law School is almost twice the amount it was in 2022.
“This is the dilemma we found ourselves in and why we had to speak up about it. A lot of our mates are in and out of depression and anxiety because of what this issue has caused to our mental health as a result of uncertainty. Mind you, the cost of fees at the law school has also increased.
“In 2022, the price of law school fees was around 300k, right now, it is almost twice the price and only God knows how much it would be by the time we go to Law school. Aside from that, our dreams have been suspended and a lot of us cannot get good employment as a lawyer without going to law school and being called to the bar. Leaving us jobless, suffering from anxiety, and wondering if we will be able to afford the law school when we are finally let off the hook of Redeemer’s,” the statement said.
All efforts to reach the school management were futile as the Dean of the Faculty of Law didn’t pick up his calls, nor did he respond to the text message our correspondent sent to him.
