Steps to Becoming a Lawyer in Nigeria

For over 15 years, Nigerian-based business executive Jay Stephen Ogor has led JandL Oil and Gas in Lagos. He also serves as founding CEO of Raeanna Nigeria Limited, a telecommunications infrastructure company with over 250 employees. Alongside his various professional pursuits, Jay Ogor is working toward a law degree with a set agenda to bridge the divided gap between the poor and the rich in getting justice.

Like other areas of the world, the path to becoming a lawyer in Nigeria begins with earning an undergraduate degree from an accredited university or foreign institution. Prospective law students who pursue their undergraduate studies in Nigeria complete a bachelor of laws (LLB) degree, which comprises a five-year curriculum of mandatory courses in law.

After earning an LLB, individuals must enroll in the Nigerian Law School Bar II program, which focuses on building vocational knowledge and practical skills in the areas of criminal and civil litigation, corporate law, and legal ethics. It’s important to note that prior to starting the Bar II program, those with an undergraduate degree from a school outside Nigeria must complete the Bar I program to learn about the Nigerian legal system.

The final step toward earning a law degree in Nigeria requires that students undertake the bar exam. Those who pass receive their certificate of call to bar and are added to the Supreme Court of Nigeria’s Roll of Legal Practitioners. After a lawyer is added to the roll, he or she can legally practice law anywhere in the country.                           

The Nigerian Oil Industry

The founder of JandL Oil & Gas Limited in Lagos, Nigeria, Jay Ogor is now the company’s CEO. Jay Ogor’s management has transformed the enterprise into a multi-million dollar operation involved in drilling services, procurement, Marine services and management in the extraction of Nigeria's petroleum industry.

After more than five decades of exploration, oil was finally discovered by Shell-BP in Nigeria in 1956. Within two years, the first oil field was generating 5,100 barrels per day (bpd). The country joined OPEC in 1971, and by 2016, the oil and gas sector made up 35 percent of the national economy, and petroleum products composed 90 percent of total export revenues.

Nigeria possesses more than 37 billion barrels of proven crude oil reserves and nearly five and a half trillion cubic meters of natural gas. With a domestic demand for crude oil of only 393.1 thousand bpd, it can export 1.7 million bpd. Exports of other petroleum products result in an additional 17.9 thousand bpd.

An insurgency in the Niger Delta that began in the 1990's has been detrimental to the nation's oil industry, but it continues to remain the lifeline of the economy.