Body of Benchers Moves to Curb Charge-and-Bail Practice, Plans Stricter Control of Law Admissions
The Body of Benchers (BoB), the highest regulatory authority for Nigeria’s legal profession, has announced plans to introduce tougher measures aimed at addressing concerns over declining professionalism among lawyers, including the growing practice popularly known as “charge-and-bail”.
The body, responsible for calling law graduates to the Nigerian Bar and regulating legal practice, said it was concerned about maintaining the quality and standard of lawyers admitted into the profession.
The warning came during a three-day Call to Bar ceremony held in Abuja from July 7 to 10, where 6,010 new lawyers were admitted into the Nigerian Bar.
In an address delivered by its Chairman and Life Bencher, HRM Albert Akpomuje, SAN, the BoB blamed the increasing number of law graduates partly on some universities admitting more students than their approved quotas.
The body said it had established a committee to recommend a suitable number of candidates that should be called to the Bar annually, based on the country’s legal service needs and available opportunities.
According to the BoB, the rapid increase in the number of lawyers has contributed to unemployment and forced some young practitioners into desperate situations after graduation.
The body said this has led to situations where some lawyers operate without offices, wait around magistrates’ courts and police stations seeking briefs, earning the unpopular label of “charge-and-bail lawyers”.
> “The Body of Benchers cannot afford to produce lawyers when there are not enough jobs to accommodate them, hence the need to regulate and put a benchmark on those to be called in any given year,” it stated.
The legal regulatory body stressed that becoming a lawyer should not be treated as an “all-comers affair”, adding that those admitted into the profession must meet high standards of character and learning.
It also criticised some universities for exceeding their approved admission quotas, describing the practice as a breach of regulatory guidelines.
The BoB explained that excessive admissions had contributed to overcrowding at the Nigerian Law School, forcing some graduates to wait several years before gaining admission for professional training.
The body noted that the Nigerian Law School had introduced multiple admission streams to accommodate more students, but the arrangement had placed additional pressure on lecturers, facilities and resources.
It warned that universities that continue to exceed their quotas could face serious sanctions, including possible withdrawal of accreditation to produce law graduates.
> “After all these measures have been put in place, and any university still exceeds the prescribed quota, it will not be out of place to wield the big stick or hammer by way of sanctions,” the BoB stated.
NOUN Graduates Protest Exclusion
The BoB’s position comes amid an ongoing dispute involving more than 4,000 law graduates of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), who have protested their continued exclusion from admission into the Nigerian Law School.
The graduates petitioned the Attorney-General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, describing their exclusion as discriminatory and a violation of their constitutional rights.
The group argued that amendments to the NOUN Establishment Act in 2018 recognised their law degrees for professional legal training and allowed earlier graduates to proceed to the Law School.
They said more than 4,150 NOUN law graduates are currently waiting for admission into Bar Part II, with many claiming to have waited for over five years.
The graduates appealed for urgent intervention to create a plan that would accommodate them into the Nigerian Law School.
Calls for Legal Education Reform
The debate over Nigeria’s legal education system has continued, with senior lawyers and academics divided over the future of the Nigerian Law School.
At the 2026 Legal Education Summit organised by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), some stakeholders argued that the system requires major reforms.
The Vice-Chancellor of Imo State University, Prof. Uchefula Chukwumaeze, SAN, suggested that universities should take greater responsibility for training future lawyers, while the Council of Legal Education and Nigerian Law School opposed the proposal.
The NBA President, Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, supported reforms and called for a review of the duration and structure of legal education, arguing that the increasing number of law graduates and limited Law School capacity require urgent attention.
As the Body of Benchers prepares new regulatory measures, it faces the challenge of balancing professional standards with ensuring that qualified law graduates have fair access to becoming members of the Nigerian Bar.
