By Erewunmi Peace

More than 4,000 law graduates of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) have petitioned the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), over their exclusion from the 2025/2026 Nigerian Law School admission exercise.

In the petition, the graduates, numbering about 4,150, described their exclusion as “discriminatory” and a violation of their constitutional right to equal educational opportunity. They cited the National Open University of Nigeria (Amendment) Act, 2018 and Section 42 of the 1999 Constitution, which prohibit discrimination on the basis of institution or method of study.

According to the petitioners, the decision to omit NOUN graduates from the list of candidates eligible for admission into the Law School’s Bar Part II vocational training undermines their academic qualifications and years of study.

The group further appealed for an “admission action plan” that would allow at least 600 NOUN graduates to be distributed across the seven campuses of the Nigerian Law School each session, as a way of clearing the backlog and ensuring fairness.

They urged the Attorney General to intervene urgently, warning that continued exclusion could frustrate their professional aspirations and cast doubt on the credibility of the country’s legal education system.

As of the time of this report, the Nigerian Law School and the Office of the Attorney General have yet to issue an official response to the petition.