DEAN
Professor Elijah Oluwatoyin Okebukola LL.B (UI), LL.M (UI), BL (NLS-CLE), PhD (Buckingham) is Dean of Faculty of Law, Nasarawa State University, Keffi. Professor Okebukola is an alumnus of the Hague Academy of International Law. His areas of research include international humanitarian law, international criminal law, international law, international human rights law, anti-corruption, international development, drug and narcotic control.
He collaborated with colleagues to provide technical expertise for the UNODC and the Federal High Court in the development of sentencing guidelines in corruption and related cases. He was part of a team that advised the UNODC and Federal Ministry
of Justice on the modification of Nigeria’s Extradition legislation to conform with the Nigerian Constitution and International Law. This work cumulated in the Extradition Modification Order and Federal High Court Procedural Rules for extradition cases. He was part of a team that provided expertise to the UNODC and the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) in the preparation of an “Ethics Guidelines” for staff of the Tribunal in prosecuting cases and administering criminal justice.
He was part of a team of experts that supported the UNODC and the Public Complaints Commission (PCC) to prepare the “Access to Administration of Criminal Justice Regulation” of the PCC. He recently conducted UNODC-supported research on ‘Adjudicatory Control of Narcotic and Psychotropic Drugs in Nigeria’. He was part of a team that conducted baseline assessments of Anti-Corruption Agencies as part of the UNODC implementation of the EU-funded Support to Anti-Corruption (SAC) Project in Nigeria.
He was part of a working group that supplied expertise to the Federal Ministry of Justice Panel on Implementation of Justice Reform. The group’s work was part of the efforts that led to the enactment of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act.
Together with a team of other experts, he supported the British Council to implement the EU-funded projects on developing abridged versions of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act and developing sentencing guidelines for selected States of the federation. He was part of a team that trained judges, prosecutors and defence counsel in the use of plea bargains and sentencing guidelines.
As a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria with more than 20 years practice experience, he has represented national and international clients in very complex matters including questions of human rights, administrative justice, immunities and privileges of international organisations etc. In addition to being a Nigerian lawyer, he is a solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales (non-practising) of more than 15 years standing.
He has participated in several national and international conferences. He has authored several publications including a United Nations reference book on extradition in Nigeria. He is a member of many professional bodies including the Nigerian Association of Law Teachers and Nigerian Society of International Law. He is a former General Secretary of the Nigerian Association of Law Teachers.
He serves as a consultant Senior Research Fellow at the Anti-Corruption Academy of Nigeria (ACAN), Keffi, where he has worked on several projects of national importance, including the Nigeria Corruption Index. Among others he has been working with other experts to implement corruption prevention research and training in the areas of social norms and behaviour change.
The Faculty was amongst the first to be established when the University effectively took off. The Faculty opened its doors to students by commencing academic activities in the 2002/2003 session when it admitted a total of 50 students from all over the country. The idea of establishing the Faculty was so as to meet or, at least bridge the gap, in the increasing demand for legal education in the country.
The Faculty commenced its programme with two departments, viz. the Department of Private and Business Law and the Department of Public and International Law. However, for a smooth and successful take off and in order to immediately consolidate the gains of establishing the Faculty, the Faculty was run as a mono-department Faculty referred to as the Department of Civil Law. It is noteworthy, however, that the Faculty currently has three departments with Heads of Departments appointed to oversee them. The three departments are as follows:
- The Department of Private and Business Law
- The Department of Public and International Law, and
- The Department of Islamic Law and Jurisprudence.
The Faculty at inception, had the following academic staff:
- Professor J. N. Aduba, who served as the pioneer Dean
- Y. I. Isa
- A.A. Kana, and
- J.M. Shishi.
The Faculty also enjoyed the services of Professor Epiphany Azinge, SAN, who rendered those services pro bono.
The numbers of both students and staff have steadily risen from what they were at inception. Staff development has always been a focal point of the Faculty with a number of our academic staff already obtaining their Ph.D, while all the remaining are either pursuing their Ph.D and Masters in various universities across the country.
The Faculty, in its 22 years of existence, has had the following persons as Deans, Acting Deans and Coordinators:
- Professor J N Aduba 2002-2003
- Y. I. Isa (Coordinator) 2003-2004
- Late Professor Ebere Osieke 2005-2006
- Professor R. C. Chhangani 2006-2009
- Professor Onje Gye-Wado 2009-2009
- Professor Maxwell Gidado 2009-2014
- A. A. Kana (Ag. Dean) 2014-2016
- Professor M.S. Abubakar (Ag. Dean) 2016-2018
- S.I. Nchi (Ag. Dean) 2018-2019
- Professor J.O. Adedoyin-Raji 2019-2023
- Professor Elijah Oluwatoyin Okebukola 2023-Date
The Faculty runs a five year degree programme in Law leading to the award of Bachelor of Laws Degree (LL.B). The Faculty has also re-commenced its postgraduate programme leading to awards of both the LL.M and Ph.D in Law Degrees in various disciplines. The programme was started in the 2007 session but had to be suspended in order to address the requirements of regulatory bodies of tertiary and legal education.
The Dean of the Faculty is in charge of general administration. He is assisted by the Deputy Dean and Heads of Department. The Faculty Board is the highest academic body of the Faculty.
The philosophy of the Faculty is to ensure that the graduates of the Faculty will have a clear understanding of the role and importance of law in contemporary Nigeria. In this respect, students of the Faculty are required to undertake the study of a number of courses from other faculties in the process of acquiring legal education. This is carefully designed to ensure that law is taught to students in a comparative and interdisciplinary manner. Accordingly, students of the Faculty are required to take a number of non-Law elective courses from other Faculties, notably, Faculty of Social Sciences and the Faculty of Arts. Furthermore, it is a compulsory requirement that all Law Students register, take and pass examinations in the courses, run by Department of General Studies of the University. With the N.U.C. minimum Guidelines, students are also required to take-courses in computer.
The philosophy of the Faculty is not meant to achieve a strait jacket legal education but to generally prepare the students towards the membership of the legal profession while at the same time providing the student with the right frame of mind to examine the function of the society in which he is a member and to understand human nature and to be able to contribute to the development of society through the skills and knowledge obtained through the legal education imparted to the students.
Thus, the objective is to prepare students, through the provision of the best possible legal education, to meet the challenges of the modern age and contemporary advances in all facets of human endeavour and to also expose the students to the theoretical and practical functioning of the society.
To develop, and remain, a Faculty with the highest standards of legal education and training in Nigeria.
- The training of academic and professional manpower in the legal profession that will compete favourably with the best trained in the world.
- The provision of legal training to, and preparation of, our graduates for eventual admission into the Nigerian Law School for final training as lawyers and admission to the Nigerian Bar.
- The conduct of relevant and meaningful research in Law and related disciplines and the publication of such research in journal/publications and in on-line legal portals for the benefit of the society.
- The incorporation of ICT into teaching, learning and researching the Law.
- The introduction law courses in emerging areas of law with a view to developing legal and institutional frameworks for these emergent areas.
- The periodical re-evaluation of the above objectives and the academic contents of courses taught at different levels of our study chain to ensure that our academic outputs meet with the relevant needs of the society.
- Training of organisations, institutions and members of the public in the practical application of various aspects of law.
- Conducting research for practical application in various facets of the economy, governance and industry.
- Enhance and sustain the welfare of staff and students of the Faculty.
Departments
2023/2024 FIRST SEMESTER LECTURE TIME TABLE
Staff Profile
| Name | Portfolio | |
|---|---|---|
| Professor Elijah Oluwatoyin Okebukola | Dean | elijah.okebukola@nsuk.edu.ng |
| Associate Professor Halima Doma | Deputy Dean | halima.doma@nsuk.edu.ng |
| Mr. Aliyu Hussaini | Faculty Exam Officer | aliyuhussaini@nsuk.edu.ng |
Upcoming Workshop/Conferences
