Reviewed Article
This led to the Nigerian draft Legal Aid Bill which had provisions for supporting Legal
Clinics in the universities 47 . Consequently, in 2011, the Legal Aid Act by its Section 17
recognizes law clinics as legal aid providers 48. Also, the National Universities
Commission’s 49 draft benchmarks and minimum academic standards in the law
programme released in August 2004 has identified cognitive and skills competencies
as a learning outcome and also introduced “a community-based course: community
legal assistance to the poor, minority and the under privileged” in the 4th year class.
The Benchmark was reviewed in 2010/2011 and Clinical Legal Education CLE
Curriculum was made compulsory, and it was required for all new faculties of Law
to have law clinic 50
Another notable development is the establishment of the Network of University Legal
Aid Institutions (NULAI), which has been able to develop and institutionalized
Clinical Legal Education through the undertaking of expository and intellectual
seminars and workshops which yielded tremendous results 51. From 2005-2014,
NULAI Nigeria has seen to the establishment of 17 Law Clinics in Nigerian
ibid
Section 17, Legal Aid Act, Cap L9, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004
49 The National Universities Commission (NUC) is a parastatal under the Federal Ministry of
Education (FME), The main functions of the Commission are; Granting approval for all academic
programmes run in Nigerian universities; Granting approval for the establishment of all higher
educational institutions offering degree programmes in Nigerian universities; Ensure quality
assurance of all academic programmes offered in Nigerian universities; and Channel for all external
support to the Nigerian universities. Retrieved from https://nuc.edu.ng/about-us/ last visited 29th
June 2018
50 The Development Of Clinical Legal Education Retrieved from
http://www.nulai.org/index.php/blog/83-cle last visited 26th June 2018
51 ibid
47
48
27