RETHINKING THE FUTURE OF LEGAL EDUCATION IN NIGERIA IN A COVID-19 PANDEMIC ERA

Abstract

The paper examined the future of legal education in Nigeria against the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic that ravaged the globe and reordered the way things are done including imposition of complete or partial lockdown and ban or restrictions on mass gatherings to stop its spread. The myriads of problems and challenges that confront legal education in Nigeria were identified including the fundamental fact that education is presently not a justiciable right under the Nigerian constitutional order in contradistinction to what a comparative study of the constitutions of other African countries like Uganda, South Africa, Kenya and Ghana reveal. Using the doctrinal method of analysis of the comparative constitutional, statutory and case law authorities on the subject matter, the paper viewed among other things that there must be a paradigm shift via constitutional amendment on how the right to education is protected in Nigeria and further recommended hands-on solutions to legal education in Nigeria including adoption of online learning and examination techniques to reduce physical contact, avoid community spread and maintenance of social distancing consistent with COVID-19 protocols.