By Abubakar Imam

The Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Ilorin, Prof. Nimah Modupe AbdulRaheem, has expressed the readiness of the entire staff and students of the Faculty to play an active role in the forthcoming Golden Jubilee celebration of the University.

Prof. AbdulRaheem, who gave this assurance last Monday (April 27, 2025) while interacting with UNILORIN Bulletin in her office, said that the University is worthy of being celebrated, explaining that five decades of excellent service delivery is a milestone that must be marked glowingly.

The Dean said that her Faculty has every reason to be part of the celebration considering the fact that it had contributed significantly to making the University worthy of being celebrated.

She said that though the Faculty was reestablished about 30 years ago, its achievements are not only many and highly fascinating but also constituted some of those that contributed to the alluring glory of the University.

Prof. AbdulRaheem, who is the first female Dean of the Faculty, explained that the fact that the incumbent Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof. Wahab Olasupo Egbewole, SAN, is a member of her Faculty is stimulating enough for the staff and students to look forward to the anniversary.

The Dean expressed happiness with the exciting quality of products of the Faculty who are making waves at national and international levels, saying that they are among those the University parades as some of its best.

She said that the Faculty has produced several distinguished members of the nation’s judiciary such as the Grand Kadi of Kwara State, Justice Abdulateef Kamaldeen; a Justice of the Court of Appeal, Justice Asma’u Tanwa Akanbi; and several High Court judges such as Justices Fatimah AbdulRazaq, Yusuf Adebayo Dikko and Temitope Osuolale-Ajayi as well as Justice Kareem Adedokun.

Prof. AbdulRaheem also said that apart from Prof. Egbewole, her Faculty also produced the second Vice Chancellor of the Kwara State University (KWASU), Malete, the late Prof. Muhammad Mustapha Akanbi, SAN, and the current Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research, Technology and Innovation), University of Ilorin, Prof. Muhtar Etudaiye; as well as the Registrar of the University, Mr Mansur Adeleke Alfanla.

The Dean added that her Faculty equally boasts of a commanding presence in the committee of the nation’s senior lawyers with no fewer than 13 distinguished Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN) among its lecturers and alumni.

These silks, according to Prof. AbdulRaheem, include the Vice Chancellor of the University, and his late colleague who previously headed KWASU as well as the pioneer Dean of the Faculty, Prof. Mohammed Taofeeq AbdulRazaq. Others are Prof. Joshua Kayode Olatoke, who teaches at the Faculty; Prof. Yemi Oke, who teaches at the University of Lagos; Mr Sharafadeen Adedeji Abdulkadir, Chief Taiye Oniyide and Mr Olaolu Owolabi.

Other silks produced by the Faculty, according to the Dean, are Mr Muyiwa Atoyebi, who was the nation’s youngest SAN at the time of conferment; Mr Lukman Fagbemi, Mr Doyin Awoyale, Mr Rotimi Iseoluwa Oyedepo and Mr Adeola Omotunde.

Prof. AbdulRaheem noted that though the Faculty is yet to produce the President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), it has produced a General Secretary of the Association in Dr Mobolaji Ojibara, who earned his Ph.D. from the University of Ilorin as well as numerous Chairmen of branches of the Association.

She also explained that the Faculty has also been contributing to the nation’s human capital development in the legal profession as many of its products are either teaching at the University or other sister universities in Nigeria and beyond, some of whom are professors in different areas of Law.

Prof. AbdulRaheem, who thanked all the alumni of the Faculty and others who have been supporting the Faculty to accelerate service delivery, also said that many other products of her Faculty branched to other professional callings after picking their degrees in Law from the University such as a leading theatre practitioner, Mr Femi Adebayo, and several others.