The Director General of the Nigerian Law School, Professor Isa Chiroma, has disclosed that examination malpractices remain a grave offense for anyone caught during the examination period. Professor Chiroma stated this in Abuja during an investigative hearing into a motion concerning the alleged withholding of Bar results and backlog of students awaiting call to the Bar, held at the instance of the House Committee on Justice, chaired by Hon. Olumide Osoba.
Chiroma dismissed the petition on withheld results initiated by hundreds of law graduates who staged a peaceful protest at the entrance of the National Assembly complex in Abuja recently. He disclosed that CCTV cameras have been installed in various examination halls at the Law School in Abuja. While noting that it is the statutory responsibility of the Body of Benchers to determine those who are qualified for Call to Bar, Professor Chiroma argued that those who failed the examinations cannot be called to Bar.
The Law School helmsman presented some visual evidence of female students who wrote on their laps and sensitive parts of their bodies during exams. While relaying the due process being followed by the Law School to ensure transparency, he said, “When somebody is apprehended in the examination hall, there’s a process. First and foremost, whether it’s called copying, or coming in with extraneous materials, or coming in with a telephone, these are strict liability offenses. Whether you use the phone or not, it’s a strict liability offense.”
He further explained that when a student is caught, they are brought before a Committee of Management, which determines whether the person is guilty or not. The students are given the opportunity to defend themselves, and most of them claim it was a mistake or the work of the devil. Professor Chiroma emphasized that the Law School follows a calendar, and whatever they do is based on this calendar. At the beginning of every session, they advertise for admissions, and there are timelines for lectures, internship programs, trial examinations, and result processing.
Professor Chiroma also explained that once the Council approves the results, they are released on the portal, and there is no issue of withholding results. Any result withheld in the Law School has to do with examination malpractice. Responding to the House resolution on ‘Call to Bar,’ he stated that the call to bar is not an activity of the Council regarding the Law School but rather the activity of the Body of Benchers by regulation.
The Body of Benchers has its own calendar, and the Call to Bar ceremonies are scheduled for July and November. Those who passed the examination will be called to the Bar specifically on July 8th to 10th this year, and another group will be called from November 18th to 20th.
In response to the presentation, the chairman of the committee, Rep. Olumide Osoba, expressed the Committee’s satisfaction with the installation of CCTV in the Law School, Abuja. He underscored the need for additional budgetary provision for the installation of CCTV in other Law Schools across the country. He also gave the Law School management a clean bill for providing various pictorial evidence of victims involved in exam malpractices. However, he noted that the Committee will embark on an oversight function of all the Law Schools across the country in the next few weeks to have first-hand knowledge of the existing infrastructure in place.
