Despite Akwa Ibom State Governor, Umo Eno’s boast that his switch to the All Progressives Congress (APC) fast-tracked Law Faculty approval for Akwa Ibom State University (AKSU), the school was omitted from a recent Council of Legal Education’s list of approved law programmes.
In a public notice issued on 12 March, the council listed 114 universities authorised to admit students for the Bachelor of Laws programme in Nigeria.
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AKSU, owned by the Akwa Ibom State Government, was not among them.
The council, in the notice, emphasised that only universities accredited by it are authorised to admit students into law programmes in Nigeria, warning that institutions running law programmes without its approval would be acting in violation of the regulations governing legal education.
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It also warned that students admitted for unapproved law programmes would not be eligible for admission into the Nigerian Law School, a mandatory stage for qualification as a legal practitioner in the country.
Eno’s claim
Mr Eno claimed in November last year that federal approvals for key projects in Akwa Ibom were granted due to his defection from the Peoples Democratic Party to the APC.
At an emergency meeting with 783 of his aides on 19 November last year in Uyo, Mr Eno reportedly cited the National Universities Commission (NUC)’s approval of AKSU’s law faculty as a part of the benefits that had accrued to Akwa Ibom because of his defection to the APC.
Excerpts from the meeting were published on Facebook by Anietie Usen, a journalist and media aide to the governor.
According to Mr Usen, the governor told the meeting that political alignment with the APC-led central government had helped to attract key projects to the state, including a federal housing scheme, known as Renewed Hope Estate, and the approval for AKSU’s law faculty.
“What just happened takes a lot of relationship building and relationship management to get those things into our state,” Mr Usen quoted the governor as saying, regarding the federal housing project and the approval for the university’s law faculty.
“I say this to say that we cannot continue to sit down in an opposition political party because there are too many things we cannot do for ourselves. Too many things.”
NUC approval and regulatory process
The NUC had approved the commencement of a full-time LL.B programme at AKSU, beginning in the 2025/2026 academic session.
In a statement on its website last year, AKSU said the approval followed a resource verification visit by the commission, which confirmed its readiness in terms of staffing and facilities.
The university said the proposed faculty would include three departments: Private and Property Law, Jurisprudence and International Law, and Commercial and Industrial Law.
However, while the NUC approves academic programmes in Nigerian universities, graduates of law programmes must attend the Nigerian Law School, which falls under the regulatory oversight of the Council of Legal Education.
PREMIUM TIMES reported last year that Franca Chukwuonwo, the NUC spokesperson, said the commission’s approval process strictly depends on institutions meeting stipulated requirements.
“Every university receives the commission’s approval for its academic programmes once it fulfils the requirements,” she said, adding that political connections are not part of the criteria.
Students already admitted to law in AKSU
PREMIUM TIMES learnt that AKSU had already admitted students into its law programme for the 2025/2026 academic session, but that the lack of approval from the Council of Legal Education raises uncertainty about the status of those admissions.
For now, only two universities in Akwa Ibom – the University of Uyo and Topfaith University, Mkpatak, Essien Udim Local Government Area – have the council’s approval to run law programmes.
AKSU’s Vice-Chancellor, Otoabasi Akpan, did not respond to calls and text messages seeking his comment.
The Commissioner for Information in Akwa Ibom, Aniekan Umanah, and the spokesperson to Governor Eno, Ekerete Udoh, did not respond to calls and messages seeking their comment.
Governor Eno had similarly claimed that he defected to the APC so that President Bola Tinubu’s administration could help build the Ibom Deep Seaport in Akwa Ibom.
Conceived by then-Governor Victor Attah about two decades ago, the Ibom Deep Seaport, covering 2,565 hectares of land, has remained stalled at the paperwork and federal approval stage.
Successive administrations in the state, including Mr Akpabio’s between 2007 and 2015, have repeatedly promised to actualise the project, which is expected to boost trade and industrialisation in the Niger Delta.
In June last year, Mr Eno used the Ibom Seaport as campaign rhetoric, framing his defection to the APC as a move to secure the project’s long-awaited take-off.
“We are not afraid of joining APC, for we know that with the APC we would realise our Ibom Deep Seaport. That is our plea.
“For over 30 years, Akwa Ibom has struggled to have a seaport, but today we are reassured that the federal government will help us realise the seaport,” Mr Eno said in June last year at his official reception into the APC — an event attended by Vice-President Kashim Shettima and over seven APC governors.
Underscoring the project’s importance to his administration, Mr Eno presented it as a single demand to the Tinubu-led federal government, insisting that even a partial realisation would justify his political move.
In March this year, Mr Eno said Mr Tinubu had reassured him that the federal government would support the realisation of the Ibom Deep Seaport.
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“Thank you, Mr President, for the expectation of the Ibom Deep Seaport, because many times when I discuss with him, he tells me ‘I will give you the Ibom Deep Seaport’”, the governor said during the 2026 International Women’s Day celebration held at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo, according to a statement on the Akwa Ibom State Government website.
“I hold on to that promise, and I know it shall come to pass.”
Mr Eno has continued to face criticism from Akwa Ibom people, especially as the 2027 elections draw closer, for the non-commencement of work at the seaport.
The PDP had criticised the governor for his recent trip to London with President Tinubu, during which a deal to develop the Lagos port was signed. The party questioned the absence of progress on the Ibom Deep Seaport project.
