By George Ozalla
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has intensified efforts to institutionalise anti-corruption education within Nigeria’s legal education system with the convening of a follow-up curriculum development workshop in Kano aimed at producing a draft anti-corruption curriculum for the Nigerian Law School.
The workshop, which builds on an earlier engagement held in Abuja, brought together legal educators, curriculum experts and key institutional stakeholders to develop a framework that will embed anti-corruption values into the training of future legal practitioners.
Declaring the workshop open, former Director-General of the Nigerian Law School, Professor Isa Hayatu Chiroma, SAN, described the exercise as a significant milestone in the Commission’s broader strategy to secure the commitment of Nigeria’s education sector to the fight against corruption.
He stated that introducing anti-corruption education at the foundational stage of legal training would equip future lawyers with the understanding that combating corruption is not only a legal obligation but also a civic and moral responsibility.
“The objective is to draft a curriculum that will be adopted by the Nigerian Law School,” Professor Chiroma stated.
He explained that deliberations at the earlier Abuja workshop identified two possible approaches for integrating anti-corruption studies into legal education. According to him, participants considered either introducing a stand-alone anti-corruption course or incorporating anti-corruption themes into existing courses within the Nigerian Law School curriculum.
Professor Chiroma further stated that the curriculum development process would be rigorous, transparent and subjected to thorough scrutiny by a duly constituted committee of experts to ensure that the final document meets the highest standards of legal education.
He also commended the quality of resource persons assembled for the workshop, expressing confidence that their expertise would produce a credible, practical and implementable curriculum.
Presenting a paper titled “Law Educators, Curriculum Development and Review: Emerging Challenges and the Way Forward,” Professor Garba Saad of Bayero University, Kano, described curriculum development as a continuous process that must respond to changing societal realities.
He stressed that legal education must evolve to address emerging national challenges, particularly corruption, adding that anti-corruption studies could either be introduced as a dedicated course or systematically integrated into existing courses such as Criminal Law and the Law of Evidence.
Professor Saad further stated that any proposed curriculum framework must clearly define the knowledge, competencies and practical skills expected of future legal practitioners. He added that effective curriculum development requires broad stakeholder participation through needs assessment, consultations, implementation, monitoring and evaluation to ensure relevance and sustainability.
Also speaking at the workshop, Deputy Director and Head of the Open and Distance Learning Division of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Dr. Nte Bisong, highlighted the opportunities provided by the Core Curriculum and Minimum Academic Standards (CCMAS) framework for integrating anti-corruption principles into legal education.
He explained that the goal of incorporating anti-corruption content into the CCMAS for Law programmes is to produce lawyers who are intellectually competent, ethically grounded and fully committed to the nation’s anti-corruption drive.
Dr. Bisong traced the evolution of curriculum development in Nigeria and outlined key reforms under the CCMAS framework, including the 70:30 curriculum-sharing formula, under which the NUC develops 70 per cent of programme content while universities are allowed to design the remaining 30 per cent based on their institutional strengths and peculiarities.
He further stated that the CCMAS places strong emphasis on competency-based learning, entrepreneurship, employability, information and communication technology, and the acquisition of 21st-century skills to produce globally competitive graduates.
According to him, the development of the CCMAS adopted the triple-helix model, bringing together academia, industry, professional bodies and government institutions to ensure graduates possess the knowledge, skills and behavioural attributes required by employers and society.
Participants at the workshop reaffirmed that integrating anti-corruption education into legal training represents a long-term investment in systemic change and a strategic approach to strengthening ethical standards within the legal profession.
They agreed that the immediate assignment of the Kano workshop is to produce a substantive draft anti-corruption curriculum for institutional review and possible adoption by the Nigerian Law School.
A dedicated committee is expected to further review and refine the draft curriculum, while additional stakeholder engagements will be held to build consensus and facilitate its eventual adoption.
The Kano workshop is the second in a series of engagements coordinated by the ICPC to develop an anti-corruption curriculum for Nigeria’s legal education sector. While the Abuja workshop laid the conceptual foundation for the initiative, the Kano meeting focused on substantive curriculum development and broader stakeholder collaboration.
The Commission maintained that achieving sustainable anti-corruption outcomes requires not only enforcement but also a deliberate transformation of professional culture through the training of lawyers who will serve as officers of the court and custodians of justice.
