The Impact of the Supreme Court of Nigeria’s Judgment in Garba & Others v University of Maiduguri & others on the Disciplinary Powers of Nigerian Universities
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Date
2016
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Faculty of Law Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt, Nigeria,
Abstract
In Garba v University of Maiduguri, the Nigerian Supreme Court was
invited to interpret the provisions of section 33(1)(4) of the 1979 Nigerian
Constitution. Therein the court established the principle of law to the effect
that domestic tribunal of a university lacks the jurisdiction to enforce
discipline on its campus where such an act of misconduct has criminal
elements in it. The paper argues that this decision robs the universities of
their deserved disciplinary autonomy and has the tendency of hampering
the universities’ autonomy relevant to realise their teaching and research
objectives. The paper observes that some other courts consequently adopted
principles of interpretation such as the residual, the liberal, and the
pragmatic rules of interpretation of the Constitution in a bid to restore
disciplinary autonomy of the universities. This article submits that the
application of rules of interpretation other than the literal rule, which the
Court applied in Garba, assures of the desired disciplinary autonomy, which
also assures the realisation of the objectives of the universities.
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Olayinka, O.F. : “The Impact of the Supreme Court of Nigeria’s Judgment in Garba & Others v University of Maiduguri & Others on the Disciplinary Powers of Nigerian Universities” (2016)8(1) The Journal of Jurisprudence and Contemporary Issues (Faculty of Law Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt, Nigeria, ISSN: 1115-5167) 70-87;