Nigerian Law School asked to review ‘conditional pass’ grade in 2026 Bar Examination

The Nigerian Law School has been asked to grant ‘unconditional pass’ to students that were awarded ‘conditional pass’ grade in the 2026 Bar Resit Examination.

The call was made by the Nigerian Law Society, NLS, in a petition addressed to the Director-General of the Nigerian Law School. The letter, which was also addressed to the Chairman, Council of Legal Education, Nigerian Law School, is dated 15 August 2026, and signed by NLS President, Ambassador Dahiru Aliyu, SCN.

The request followed the conditional pass grade given to some students who sat for the 2026 resit examination of the Nigerian Law School, including Mr Patrick Chijioke Okwaranoshie. Faulting the development, the NLS pointed out that the conditional pass grade had already been abolished by a previous administration of the Nigerian Law School.

“The Nigerian Law Society has been informed that Mr. Patrick Chijioke Okwaranoshie and other candidates who sat for the 2026 Resit Examination have been graded as having obtained a ‘conditional pass’.

“We respectfully wish to remind the Council of Legal Education and the Nigerian Law School that the ‘conditional pass’ system was abolished in or around 2020 under the then leadership of the Nigerian Law School, following the review and adoption of a new grading system based substantially on cumulative performance,” the NLS stated, adding that the abolition of the conditional-pass system was publicly reported.

The NLS said it is concerned that the application of a classification described as ‘conditional pass’ to candidates who participated in the 2026 Resit Examination may be inconsistent with the grading framework that was reported to have been introduced following the abolition of the conditional-pass regime.

“The NLS therefore respectfully requests the Chairman of the Council of Legal Education and the Director-General of the Nigerian Law School to urgently review the results and grading of candidates who have been classified as having obtained a ‘conditional pass’, with a view to granting them an unconditional pass, where they have otherwise satisfied the applicable requirements for passing the 2026 Resit Examination,” parts of the petition read.

The lawyers’ association in the same vein urged the Council of Legal Education and the Nigerian Law School to clarify the legal and administrative basis upon which the expression ‘conditional pass’ is presently being applied to candidates, particularly after the reported abolition of that system in 2020.

The Nigerian Law Society noted that it considers the matter important, not merely because of the immediate academic consequences for the affected candidates, but also because the grading of Nigerian Law School examinations has significant consequences for the professional future of law graduates and their eligibility to proceed towards Call to the Bar.

The NLS asked the Nigerian Law School to correct the grading system within seven days of receipt of the petition, failing which it will escalate the matter to the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, and Minister of Justice, being the Federal Government authority with supervisory responsibilities in relation to the Nigerian Law School and the Council of Legal Education, for appropriate intervention.

It however urged the Nigerian Law School to take appropriate steps to ensure fairness, consistency and transparency in the treatment of all candidates affected by the 2026 Resit Examination.

Meanwhile, following a formal invitation by the NLS, the Vice President of the Commonwealth Legal Education Association, CLEA, Prof John Hatchard, has promised the organisation’s intervention in the Nigerian Law School grading saga.

In a related development, a motion on the “urgent need to address the erroneous award of ‘conditional pass’ in the 2026 Resit Examination of the Nigerian Law School” is before the House of Representatives.

The motion, sponsored by Mamudu Abdullahi, a lawmaker from Niger State, is also calling for the clearance of the backlog of over 4,000 law graduates, particularly of the National Open University of Nigeria, NOUN, and protection of the autonomy of professional rankings under Nigerian law. It is also seeking to stop the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, from interfering in the conferment of the Blue Silks rank, introduced as an alternative to the Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, title.

The motion expressed concern that the number of lawyers in Nigeria, who have graduated from the Nigerian Law School and are qualified to provide legal representation in courts, estimated to be between 200,000 to 213,000, is grossly inadequate when measured against the internationally recommended ratio of one lawyer to approximately 300 citizens, and against Nigeria’s estimated population of about 240 million.

The motion added that the resultant scarcity of legal practitioners contributes significantly to the denial of access to justice for a substantial portion of the Nigerian population. It noted that the problem is exacerbated by the continued refusal or failure of the authorities of the Nigerian Law School and the Council of Legal Education to grant admission to a backlog of over 4,000 law graduates, predominantly from the National Open University of Nigeria, many of whom have been waiting since around 2020.

The motion equally expressed concern that the continued application of a ‘conditional pass’ grade in 2026 Bar Examination appears inconsistent with the grading framework reported to have been introduced following the 2020 abolition, thereby raising serious questions of fairness, consistency, transparency, and the professional future of the affected candidates.

In the same vein, the motion urged the Nigerian Law School to immediately grant ‘unconditional pass’ to all candidates who wrote the 2026 Resit Examination and were “erroneously graded as conditional pass” after satisfying the applicable requirements.