LAW IN A CHANGING WORLD: ADVOCATING NEW PEDAGOGY OF LAW IN NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES*

Abstract

The relevance of the University system is construed through global competitiveness and development. There is equally an emerging trend of development being related to world class manpower trained with the necessary skills through world class institutions. The performance indicators of these institutions emphasize teaching, research, citations, industry income and international outlook. Sadly, Nigerian Universities are not in the top 100 in the world. In the just released 2021 Web Ranking in Africa, the country ranked 27 with University of Lagos. Obviously, the present law students will enter a vastly different legal profession requiring different skill sets and competencies. It is thus imperative for Nigerian Universities to re-align their teaching with these global or even regional trends. This is particularly significant as the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic has further shown the endemic inadequacies of quality higher education in Nigeria. Hence, the focus of this paper is to analyze the pedagogy techniques, strategies and methodologies that can advance legal education in the Nigerian Universities. In addition to the age long lecture method, the paper proposes teaching techniques which promotes active learning like students’ presentations, group work, case methods, class discussions, and assignments. This includes effective teaching strategies through use of technology and digital law libraries. It considers new teaching methodology such as learning theory and learning outcomes. The paper concludes that it is only these changes that can prepare global future lawyers equipped for the 21st century.