FUOYE moves to establish law faculty

The Federal University Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE) is establishing the Faculty of Law to further deepen access to the legal profession and remove any danger of exclusiveness people may erroneously have about the programme.

The Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Kayode Soremekun disclosed this while receiving the accreditation team for the programme from the council of legal education led by its Director-General, Prof Isa Hayatu Ciroma (SAN).

Some prominent legal icons have asked me why we want to start law again in Ekiti knowing that Ekiti State University (EKSU) and Afe Babalola University (ABUAD) are already established centre of training in the state.

“We want to serve that poor village boy and girl who cannot access such training in those places and deepen the penetration of legal training not only for Ekiti people but across the federation and increase accessibility to the finest legal training that Nigeria can provide”, the vice-chancellor said noting that we must remove any air of exclusivity in the Nigerian society.

”I don’t take this moment lightly at all. We are meeting with people who will help us midwife the faculty of law at this university.

Already, Prof Soremekun said the Nigeria Universities Commission (NUC) had visited the campus and gave its nod for the school to start its law programme.

“My main concern is that you bring in students and there is an air of uncertainty. NUC has approved, but the council for legal education has not, that was why we have been waiting, praying earnestly for this day.”

Earlier the Director-General had recalled previous efforts to bring him to the campus saying for more than a year now people from FUOYE and the law school had been putting pressure on him to visit the institution and see ongoing preparation for the takeoff of the law programme.

“Now is the right time,” the professor of law said describing the job during the visit basically as resource verification. We will go round, interact, observe and advise as required.

“We want the best for our profession. I have seen these faces {referring to lecturers at the Faculty) somewhere. At the end of the visit, we will tell you our findings. We will look at the offices, the classrooms and the library. There are almost 50 faculties of law in Nigeria each with its own peculiarities; we would not compromise our standards because we want the best for our profession, he stressed again.