Law graduates accuse institutes of training fraud, petition EFCC

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Some law graduates, who passed out from the Nigerian Law School during the 2024/2025 academic session, have petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over an alleged professional training fraud.

In the petition dated September 17 and co-signed by two of them, Mr. Goodluck Enebeli and Mr. Freedom Eje, the graduates asked the anti-graft agency to probe the Mediation Training Institute (MTI) and the Institute of Chartered Mediators and Conciliators (ICMC).

MTI is a private body that provides professional training for lawyers, while the ICMC is a certifying professional body established by law to train law graduates in Alternative Dispute Resolution.

Addressing the petition to the EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede, the graduates accused both institutes of acts “bordering on financial impropriety, misrepresentation, and fraudulent inducement.”

They explained that MTI and ICMC, in collaboration with the International Law Association, a global organisation for lawyers, put together a professional ADR skill accreditation and certification course for them.

About 905 students reportedly registered for the training, paying N130,000 for the course and an additional N30,000 for physical induction into the bodies.

After completing the training, the graduates said they were promised three notable certifications and formal induction as Associate of ICMC, Accredited Mediator of MTI, and Member of ILA.

The induction ceremony was scheduled for Monday, September 22, a day before their Call to Bar.

However, just days before the scheduled induction, the participants said they received a message from the institutes stating that they would only be issued two certifications, while the induction for which they paid N30,000 each to attend physically would now be done virtually.

According to the graduates, they enrolled in the course because of the three certifications, which they considered relevant to their profession.