Alogba traced the downward trend to the manner some students acquire their Ordinary Level General Certificate in Education results by patronising ‘miracle centres’ where they are helped to pass their examinations.
He said, “The standard has fallen terribly such that some lawyers cannot even speak good English. Some do not understand when judges are giving them hints about errors in the papers they have filed before the court.
A judge who does not want a miscarriage of justice because of some flaws in papers filed before him can tell a lawyer to please look at paragraph so and so in his brief, still some lawyers would still not get the gist.
“It is a shame. Students must be ready to work and read hard. There is no short cut to success. Students need to read more than a book on a subject. I am happy to hear that your library is well stocked and up to date. I am ready to contribute my own quota, at personal and official levels, to assist the College of Law, Caleb University.”
The chief judge commended the management of the university for seeking and getting the approvals of all relevant bodies before kicking off the programme.
Earlier in his speech, the Dean/Provost, College of Law, Caleb University, Prof. Bello Orubebe, said apart from the approval from the National Universities Commission, NUC, the college also sought and got approval from the Council of Legal Education before starting.
Orubebe said: “We opted to follow due process by submitting ourselves to the NUC for approval. We again sought and got the approval of the Council of Legal Education and we were given interim accreditation status. Private universities are not supposed to jump some basic steps. We recruited good hands from within and outside Nigeria as teachers.
“We have over 10,800 books in our law library. English Law Report from 1578 to 2019, the Nigerian Weekly Law Report three sets up to last week, the Federation Law Report up to the latest edition.”
He said judgements from high courts are under reported and that his college had the capacity to bridge that gap.
The law professor added that while the college was given 50 admission slots, 35 had so far been filled and that it would never overshoot its quota.
So that no student would be left behind, Orubebe stated that special consideration would be given the handicapped and other disadvantaged groups.
Explaining what the role of the CJ would be as the chair of the board, Orubebe said it would afford the CJ the opportunity to help mentor staff and students and that no financial compensation is attached to it.
