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The Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies is
Nigeria
’s apex institution for research and advanced studies in law. It was a brainchild
of the legal academic community established in March 1979. One of the main ideas
in founding the Institute was to establish it as the centre for advanced legal research
for all the Nigerian universities with Faculties of Law, so that all postgraduate
work could be undertaken there under the joint auspices of the most experienced
and learned academic lawyers available in the country, whether indigenous or foreign.
The Library would be the best equipped collection of law books and publications.
This would, no doubt, assist in resolving the difficulties hampering the organisation
of postgraduate studies needed to fill in the gaps in the training of Nigerian lawyers
at the time.
At inception, the Institute was funded with generous financial and
academic support from external agencies such as the Ford Foundation and the Commonwealth
Secretariat. Such assistance, however, declined over time. The National Universities
Commission also funded the Institute through the
University of Lagos
until 1984 when by virtue of Decree No. 18 of June 27, the Institute became autonomous
under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Justice. This development greatly
enhanced the mandate and institutional capacity of the Institute to discharge its
functions.
Additionally, in 1995 the
enabling law of the Institute, now fully incorporated into the Laws of the Federation
2004 as section 4(c), Cap. N112, was amended to mandate the Institute to run post-graduate
courses in legislative drafting. Consequently, the Institute’s Post-graduate School
(PGS) was established in 1997 as the Post-graduate Studies Unit with the sole aim
of running a Post-graduate Diploma in Legislative Drafting (PGDLD) and Masters Degree
in Legislative Drafting (LLM.). This was the first of its kind, not only in
Nigeria
but in
Africa
. The Institute has also recently commenced a Ph.D Programme in Legislative Drafting.
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