About Us

History

The study of law and indeed the law programme in the University of Ilorin commenced with the employment of Dr. M.T. Abdulrazaq then as a Lecturer in Law in March 1983 into the Law unit of the Department of Business Administration under the Headship of Professor Eyitayo Lambo. The first sets of students were admitted through the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board in September 1, 1983.

In 1984 the Law Unit was upgraded into a full Department of Law as a component unit of the Faculty of Business and Social Sciences. The head of the then Department of Law was Professor R.W. James, a distinguished academic and acknowledged authority on land Law and Policy in Nigeria, Tanzania and Papua New Guinea who had been previously lecturer at the University of Ife now Obafemi Awolowo University and Professor of Law at the University of Dar-Es-Salaam in Tanzania. He is presently a Professor of Law at the University of Papua New Guinea.

It was under the leadership of Professor James in 1987 that the National University Commission ordered the closure of the law programme. This closure led to the departure of Professor James, and he was succeeded by the then Mr. Olusegun Yerokun who had been previously a Senior Lecturer at the University of Maiduguri and is now a Professor of Law at the Lagos State University. Professor Yerokun left in 1988 and was succeeded by Dr. D.J. Bakinbinga who has also been a lecturer at the then University of Sokoto, now Usman Dan Fodiyo University and the Imo State University. Dr. Bakinbinga left in 1989. Dr. M.T. Abdulrazaq replaced Dr. Bakinbinga in 1989 as the Coordinator of the Department until 1990 when Dr. George Ogunyomi took over.

During the period 1983 – 1987 the University of Ilorin did not graduate any law student, rather in 1987 all the students were transferred to the Obafemi Awolowo University by arrangement for the purposes of the award of the Bachelor of Laws (Hons) Degree in Common Law. In 1994 after a lull of seven years and much persuasion the National Universities Commission restored the law programme to the University of Ilorin to award Bachelor of Laws (Common Law) and (Common and Islamic Law). The Faculty of Law commenced under Professor J.O. Oyebanji as Coordinator of the faculty. It is worthy of note that Professor J.O. Oyebanji was the Dean of the Faculty of Business and Social Sciences at the inception of the Department of Law in 1984. Professor M.T. Abdulrazaq took over as Acting Dean of the Faculty on 8th September 1997. He resigned his appointment from the University in July 2000.

On 1st August 2000 Prof. A. Zubair was appointed the Ag. Dean by the University Authority and served till 6th September 2001. After him, Dr. Z.O. Aje was appointed the Ag. Dean, with effect from   6th September 2001 until 18th July 2005 when Prof. A. Zubair took over as the Dean and left office on the July 31st 2007. Dr. Ali Ahmad succeeded him as Ag. Dean on the 1st August, 2007 until 6th February 2008. Prof. M.M. Akanbi was appointed in acting capacity on 7th February 2008 and served till 25th February 2010. He was succeeded by Prof. W.O. Egbewole, who acted as the Dean until 10^th February 2012, followed by Dr. I. A. Abdulkadir who served between 11^th February 2012 -10^th February 2014, he was succeeded by Dr I. A. Yusuf who acted as Ag. Dean between 11^th February 2014 -9^th February 2016. He was succeeded by Dr. K. I. Adam between 10^th February 2016 -29^th February 2018. Prof. A.A Oba 1^st March 2016 and 31 July 2018. Faculty leadership was handed over Prof. H.O Ijaiya 1^st August 2019 to July 31 2022. The current Dean of the Faculty is Prof. Nimah M Abdulraheem, who is the first female Dean of Law and First Female Professor of Law from Kwara State.

As of today, the faculty’s programmes have FULL accreditation by the National Universities Commission. The Faculty has 71 academic staff, 51 of who hold Ph.D. degree in Law and have acquired necessary experiences, which have tremendously improved their efficiency in all ramifications.

ADMINISTRATION IN GENERAL OF PROGRAMMES

The Dean is the Head of Administration in the Faculty. Policy-decisions are made by the Faculty Board chaired by the Dean. All Academic staff and non-academic are normally under the Dean of the Faculty, although these members of staff, with the exception of those in the Dean’s office, have Heads of Departments from whom they directly take directives and report to. Matters that required Senate attention are prepared and forwarded accordingly.