A few days ago, I asked what the deal was with the Nigerian Bar vs students who failed the bar exam this August. Law students/bar candidates claim 4000 of 6,000 failed the bar exam and that it was an outrageous result. Organizers of the bar exams said “not true.” Over 57% passed the bar. I asked which it was and asked colleagues to circle back.
Here is a response I received.
“Hello Uduak! How have you been?
Just a note on the Nigerian Bar Exams…
I don’t have the exact figures of the pass rate this year but I can confirm that the Nigerian Law School has a notoriously high failure rate.
I was called to bar in May 2002. That year, only 25% of us passed. This was the percentage of first time takers that attended the one-year program at the Nigerian Law School 2001-2002.
The 75% failure rate in 2002 is on record.
I did not expect it to be different this year.” – Nigerian Lawyer
Okay people, there you have it. So, the students/bar candidates are in fact not lying.
What is the Nigerian Bar Association going to do about this massive failure rate? What’s the way forward?
Are the students/bar exam candidates entitled to having their exams reviewed? What’s the grading process and how do they select the graders? Who are the graders, by that I mean the demographic i.e. practicing lawyers, law professors, judges?
-Uduak
