Impressed by the spate of infrastructural development and the quality of Faculty at Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD’s) College of Law, the Council of Legal Education has increased the College’s admission quota from 80 to 180 students per session.
In its November 6, 2013 letter titled “Report of Accreditation Visit to the College on June 18, 2013” signed by Mrs. Elizabeth Max-Uba, the Secretary to Council and Director of Administration, the Council commended ABUAD for what it described as “its commitment for developing a world class College of Law and in consequence, increased the admission quota (of the College of Law from 80) to 180”.
The Council’s commendation for ABUAD’s College of Law is a further confirmation of NUC’s position about the College after its initial visit to the College when its Executive Secretary, Prof. Julius Okojie, said: “The University’s Law College is certainly the best in West Africa”.
Rationalising the increase in the admission quota, Max-Uba noted that staff population of the College had doubled since the last visit by the Council’s Accreditation Visitation Panel and observed what she described as “a deliberate and concerted effort by the College to strengthen staffing at the senior level, especially by hiring Professors and Senior Lecturers” which she noted “would definitely provide academic leadership for the Faculty”.
The Council observed with delight the diverse background of the staff of the College as the diversity has the advantage of bringing on board a unique and cosmopolitan culture to the College and therefore encouraged the culture to continue in this direction.
It commended the College’s robust academic programme and the introduction of the Students’ Work Programme which it said will give the students a very good start in knowing court and chamber processes as well as sharpen their advocacy skills early.
The Council however advised the university to strengthen the integration of the country’s customary laws in its curriculum in order to project Nigeria’s diverse legal system and increase the number of key materials like international journals.
Speaking on the salutary development, the Founder and Chancellor of the University, Aare Afe Babalola, SAN, was particularly happy about the increase in the admission quota as it will enable the university to put more of its massive investment in infrastructure and human capital into use, with a lot more room left to accommodate more students.
Babalola said the University’s College of Law is entitled to at least an admission quota of 250 students in tandem with the quantum of infrastructure and the quality and quantity of human capital which both the NUC and the Nigeria Law School admit the College has in excess. He then urged the Council to look into this in the nearest future.
He noted the observations made by the Council with a promise to address them expeditiously and in a way that will impress the Council the next time it comes visiting.
His words: “Our University was set up to effect a change in the educational landscape of the country and by the grace of God we are living up to that billing. This may have informed UNESCO’s invitation to us to collaborate with it on issues related to education, particularly on the Flagship Programme 2 of Operational Strategy for Priority Africa (2014-2021) titled “Strengthening Education Systems for Sustainable Development in Africa: Improving Equity, Quality and Relevance”.
He added: “UNESCO is equally ready “to publicize UNESCO-ABUAD initiatives on its website”, thereby ‘portraying our university as one of the shining beacon of excellence in its endeavour to be one of the best universities in African and the world’.
According to him, the university’s modest achievements and success story thus far is as result of the grace of God, the love, the kindly words of advice and the unalloyed cooperation of all stakeholders. He promised to continue to strive to do more to keep the flag of quality education flying.
(Ends)
Signed
Tunde Olofintila
Head, Public Relations.