Prof. Nnamdi Obiaraeri Cautions Against Mediocrity in Academics, Professionalism & Technical Engagement
Makes Case For Meticulousness
… THAT “B.Sc LAW DEGREE” GAFFE OR HOWLER AND BASIC THINGS AN UNDERGRADUATE OR GRADUATE SHOULD KNOW!
Chigozie Marquis
The social media has among other things helped to make Nigeria an active comedy scene. No day passes without one funny development that will trend or go viral on the internet in Nigeria. The times are hard. Comedy has become a coping strategy in Nigeria for which reason Nigerians now make a huge joke out of everything including very serious things.
The one under focus in this intervention is the drama that played out last week during the testimony of a female law graduate in Dunamis Gospel Centre, Abuja. During the church programme, a certain lady testified that she spent ten years to earn a law degree. In an elated manner, she further testified in answer to a question posed to her by the officiating cleric that she was awarded “B.Sc” Degree in Law from a Nigerian University. The presiding Pastor of the Church was not persuaded and he abruptly terminated that testimony on the ground that lawyers are not awarded “B.Sc” Degree after graduation in Nigeria.
Trust Nigerians, the faux pas, gaffe or blunder involving this lady made her to become an instant internet sensation. Public opinion about this incident was sharply divided. Some online commentators argued that the Pastor was right in disbelieving the church member who from her account spent 10 years to earn a “B.Sc” degree in law which was a doubtful qualification for law graduates in Nigeria.
On the flip side, some others contended that the Pastor was impulsive for stopping her from continuing with the testimony as he should have ignored what he considered her grammatical blunders by treating that awkward occasion as a mere slip or mistake.
Some others have also argued that against the rampant experiences of Nigerians using religious platforms to propagate what is called “arrange miracles and healings”, that it may well be that the officiant was guarding against “fake” or “arrangee” testimony or prophecy from his altar and its associated backlash.
Social media has done enough of these sentimental “for” and “against” discussions. Public sentiments do not always reflect the true realities on ground and this particular incident is no exception.
For the purpose of this enlightenment, we choose to call this the “B.Sc Law Degree Gaffe.” It was a big embarrassment for the testifier, the officiating Priest, the denomination (including the institution where she graduated from and those who earned their Law Degrees in Nigeria). Of a truth, no Nigerian University recognised by the National Universities Commission and duly accredited by the Council of Legal Education awards a “B.Sc Degree” in Law. Nigerian Universities award Bachelor of Laws (otherwise called LL.B) degree at the undergraduate level.
There is no doubt that adversity has turned the lady involved in this drama into an internet sensation but beyond that, what are the real issues in this incident and what lessons does it teach? Whether that incident was a slip or a product of lack of presence of mind or stage fright, it is a reflection of the deficiencies or shortcomings begging for crucial attention in the Nigerian educational system.
Without fear of being accused of being judgmental, that “B.Sc Law Degree” church drama is a sad reflection of the sharp drop in the quality of education in Nigeria. It also calls to question the quality of foundation that was laid in the primary and secondary levels and how the post-secondary education system is producing first degree and postgraduate degree holders. For clarity sake and out of abundant caution, this concern extends to the national certificate in education, national diploma and higher national diploma certificate holders.
No one is infallible or above slips or making mistakes but certain threshold of knowledge is presumed especially for lawyers and or law graduates who are yet to be admitted to the Bar (like the testifier in this episode).
The hard truth is that oral communication is one of the most important skills for the success of a lawyer. It is possible to outsource or delegate every other skill but it is impossible to farm out effective oral communication. It can not be outsourced or delegated. Every graduate is expected to creditably defend his academic certificate or degree. In so doing, he becomes a good ambassador and public image maker of his Alma Mater.
A lawyer is not and should not be all knowing but there are basic things a lawyer should have at his fingertips. A lawyer, properly called, should be able to differentiate “offences” from “defences” as they do not mean one and the same thing. Thus, a lawyer who submits that his client is charged with “offence of insanity” is talking intolerable trash or gibberish. Insanity is a defence in law.
This rule against mediocre performance is also applicable to artisans or other skilled workers. For example, a car mechanic who does not know the exact button to press in order to unlatch the bonnet of the he came to repair car can only contribute to the anxiety of the stranded car owner. The inability to know this basic or elementary part of the car will raise great suspicion in the mind of the car owner whether in fact the mechanic can truly help with fixing the faulty car.
Some time ago, an impersonator who claimed to be a lawyer was detected because he gave himself away too quickly without knowing it. It happened that the fake lawyer went to a Police station to attempt to secure the bail of a supposed detained client. The Investigating Police (popularly called “IPO”) was not cooperating. A shouting match between the “lawyer” and the IPO attracted the attention of the Divisional Police Officer (otherwise called “DPO”). When the enraged “lawyer” was asked to narrate what happened, he was insistent in his claim that the IPO “indecently assaulted” him in the course of discharging his professional duty towards his client. The DPO was not a lawyer but he knew the gravamen or ingredients of the offence of “indecent assault”. Simply stated, “indecent assault” is sexual assault that does not involve rape. This raised the DPO’s suspicion whether indeed the fellow he was dealing with was a lawyer. How a lawyer cannot know this, the DPO wondered. Hence, the DPO invited the Chairman of the local Branch of the Nigerian Bar Association into the matter. Subsequent investigation revealed that the fake lawyer was an undergraduate law dropout who had forged his first degree in Law, Qualifying and Call to Bar Certificates including a Master of Laws Degree. The audacious impersonator was charged to Court, convicted and sent to prison without option of fine.
The point that is being made here is that there are telltale signs for detecting a quack, fraud, impersonator or pretender in any professional area. One cheap one is inability to know common usages or things in the profession or area of expertise claimed. It is an early warning sign that one is dealing with a possible counterfeit if a person who asserts that he read law in Nigeria claims that he graduated with a “B.Sc Degree” in law.
A person who claims to be a Medical Doctor who does not know the full meaning of “MBBS” or that the initialism “NMA” means “Nigeria Medical Association” gives himself away as potential quack or run of the mill medical doctor even if it is later found out that he indeed studied Medicine in the University and earned a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery Degree.
Mediocrity has made many graduates not to know the appropriate classifications of Degrees and Certificates they parade. Not a few will be quick to say they graduated with “2:1 (two one)” when in fact this means Second Class (Upper Division) or with “2:2 (two two)” which means Second Class (Lower Division) in classification of degrees. Many graduates will easily say their educational qualification is “ND” or “HND” as they do not know that these mean “National Diploma” and “Higher National Diploma” respectively.
Many past and present graduates do not know that the full meaning of the initialism “NYSC” is “National Youth Service Corps”. Many serving Youth Corpers do not know the full meaning of the initialism “PPA” (meaning “Place of Primary Assignment”). It is that bad!
How do you excuse an undergraduate student in a Nigerian University who does not know the full meaning of acronyms like “JAMB”, “TETFUND”, “ASUU”, “NASU”, “SSANU”, “COESU” and or initialisms like “CBT”, “NUC”, and “FGN”?
It is unacceptable for an undergraduate student in Nigeria not to know the full name of the institution where he or she is studying or graduated from rather than ignorantly saying that it is from “IMSU”, “FUTOW”, “UNAB”, “UNIZIK”, “UNILAG”, “UNIMAID”, “ABSU”, “UNICAL”, “NAU”, “IMT”, “ABU”, “ABUAD”, “UNILORIN” to mention a few.
Many graduates and students do not know the full meaning of the courses they studied or are studying. They will rather tell you they are studying courses like “GPD”, “PUBADMIN”, “EDU/ECONS”, “EDU/MATHS”, “MEDLAB”, “RADIO” “MECHENG”, “URP”, and “HOMEECONS”. If challenged to provide the full meaning of any of the above abbreviations or acronyms, it will end in total disappointment.
Will you be surprised to see that many graduates do not know the correct spelling of words like “pharmacy”, “surveying”, “optometry”, “architecture”, “quantity surveying”, “surgery”, “tourism”, “hospitality” or “psychology” that represent the courses or discipline they claim to have studied? Visit the social media and see more blunders and embarrassing spectacles where matriculating or graduating students were asked to spell words like “matriculation”, “convocation” “university”, “polytechnic “professor” and or “bursary” to no avail. Many undergraduate students do not care to know the full meaning of the courses they are studying and their respective course codes reflecting the respective years of study. They only know short course codes like “GST 101”, “ENG 222”, “LAW 101”, “PHIL 401”, “MGT 444”, “BUS 321”, “CHEM 444”. Many undergraduates do not know the name of the head of the Institution (Vice-Chancellor, Rector or Provost) where they are currently studying not to talk about the name of the Dean or Head of Department or lecturers who teach or taught them their respective courses.
Sometime ago, a supposed law graduate on the BBN reality show did not know the arm of government responsible for law making in Nigeria. Was it funny? Absentee students everywhere, unfortunate graduates everywhere! How about a supposed journalist who does not know the meaning of the initialism “NUJ” (Nigeria Union of Journalists)? That is how to know a “KONJA” (fake or untrained journalist)!
It must be enlightened and accentuated strongly that the argument that English language is a foreign language and that a Nigerian should not be blamed if he or she is not proficient in it does not apply to lawyers. The dramatic development in the Dunamis Church testimony under review drew attention to the irreducible minimum level of proficiency in written and spoken English language required of a lawyer in Nigeria. Succinctly stated, as a minister in the temple of justice, a Nigerian lawyer must have very good command of written and spoken English language for three strong reasons amongst many others. One is that English language is the orthodox or official language of the Superior Court as held in a long line of cases like ORUWARI v OSLER (2012) LPELR-19764(SC) (Pp. 34-35 paras. G), AKEKEJA v OLUBA (1986) 2 NWLR (Pt. 22) 257 at 258, 261; OGUNYE v THE STATE (1999) LPELR-2356 (SC), ORUWARI v OSLER (2012) LPELR-19764 (Sc), ASINOLA v FATODU (2009) 6 NWLR (Pt. 1136) 184 and AJIDAHUN v OJO (2014) LPELR-41108(CA) (Pp. 52-59 paras. F). lawyers conduct cases in the superior Courts in English language. How will a lawyer who can barely get his tenses correct cope in his advocacy the superior Court that has English as its official language? How will such a lawyer that is deficient in written English settle appellate briefs? He can only file a bad brief that is irksome to the Judge and make the Judge’s difficult job a Herculean one as held by the Court of Appeal, per Ubaezonu, JCA, in ENUGWU v OKEFI & ORS (2000) LPELR-6847(CA) (Pp. 8 paras. C).
Secondly, English language is the official language of communication (lingua franca) in Nigeria. The Supreme Court, per Onnoghen JSC, (as he then was) held in ONYIA v STATE (2008) LPELR-2743(SC) (Pp. 28-29 paras. F) that “It is not disputed and it is in fact settled law that the language of the superior Courts of record in Nigeria is English. Also not disputed is the fact that in Nigeria we have very many languages and dialects, which languages and dialects though may be the language of the relevant Customary or Area Courts, do not qualify as the language(s) of the superior Courts of record in this country.” Earlier, in OGUNYE & ORS v STATE (1999) LPELR-2356(SC) (Pp. 25 paras. B), the same Supreme Court, per Iguh JSC (as he then was) relied on their earlier decision in DAMINA v THE STATE to hold that “I cannot over-emphasize the fact and it is a matter of common knowledge and notoriety of which judicial notice ought now to be taken that the lingua franca in this country is English and that this is the official language employed in all proceedings before the superior courts of record throughout Nigeria.
The third reason is that a lawyer who becomes a Judge is expected to interpret words and phrases used in statutes and laws. The Nigerian Constitution, statutes, laws and subsidiary legislations are couched or drafted in English language. In the case of UGWU V ARARAUME (2007) 12 NWLR (Pt. 1048) 367, 438 the Supreme Court held among other things that “a Judge must be meticulous about the grammar or syntax which underscores the construction of the enactment. This rule is not intended to convert every Judge into a Professor Chinua Achebe or Professor Wole Soyinka. No! However, against the background of his/her rigorous training in the arcane art of legal ratiocination, and the constancy of the utilization of that training to the explication of the letters and intendment of the statute, he becomes an expert. Above all, it is a well-known fact that words are the tools which a Judge utilizes in the application of his professional expertise. Hence, nobody can justifiably impugn his ability to construe the grammar and syntax in a statute. In effect, every Judge is an expert in the grammar and syntax of the language of statutes”.
Enough said! In view of the foregoing, a law graduate who cannot speak English language fluently is a total misfit in the legal profession. In the same wise, a law graduate who does not readily and easily remember that on graduation, a lawyer earns Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) Degree and not a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc) Degree has some serious catching up to do. It is no use defending the manifestly indefensible.
A new normal is possible!
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Prof Obiaraeri, N.O.
