Snapshot (1963–2025)

Timeline: key milestones (1963–2025)

• 1962–1963: Nigerian Law School (NLS) opens; first Nigeria-based Calls to the Bar.
• 1970s: Post-war consolidation; Legal Practitioners Act framework entrenches the “Roll” and the Body of Benchers’ role in Call to Bar.
• 1980s: More university law faculties; NLS throughput grows.
• 1990s: Abuja/Bwari established as HQ; multi-campus model begins to emerge to handle demand.
• 2000s: Profession scales with population and tertiary-education growth; LFN 2004 consolidates legal texts (incl. the LPA).
• 2010s: Greater emphasis on ethics, skills training, and professional identity (e.g., stamp & seal era); Calls increase in size.
• 2020: COVID-19 disruption depresses cohort size (1,785 called in Sept 2020).
• 2022–2025: Rebound and records—4,711 (Dec 2022), 4,412 (Mar 2024), and 5,734 (Jul 2025).

Who counts as a lawyer in Nigeria?

Rule. A person may practise as a barrister & solicitor only if their name is on the Roll of Legal Practitioners kept by the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

Institutions. The Council of Legal Education/Nigerian Law School trains candidates (Bar Finals). The Body of Benchers conducts the Call to Bar. The NBA manages professional membership and annual practising requirements.

Active vs ever-called. Only lawyers on the annual practising list (e.g., APF paid, regulatory compliance) are “active” in a given year—always fewer than the historical total “ever called”.

Totals & method (1963–2025)

What we can say with confidence:

• Cumulative lawyers ever called were reported as 197,015 by July 2021.
• Subsequent major cohorts include 4,711 (Dec 2022), 4,412 (Mar 2024), and 5,734 (Jul 2025).

Conservative floor: 197,015 + 4,711 + 4,412 + 5,734 = **~211,872**; with other smaller 2022–2024 sessions and resits, a rounded **~213,000+** is a reasonable, conservative floor as of July 2025.

Selected recent Calls (for scale)

• July 2025: 5,734 called (largest single session to date).
• March 2024: 4,412 called (≈5,300 sat; 251 First Class; 888 failed).
• December 2022: 4,711 called.
• September 2020: 1,785 called (pandemic effect).

Law firms by state (beyond the top 10)

As of 5 May 2025, a large directory aggregation listed 2,894 Nigerian law firms. The distribution below goes beyond the top 10 states:

Do we have “too many” lawyers?

Question

Given Calls since 1963 and growing cohorts in the 2020s, does Nigeria have more lawyers than the market can absorb?

Rule

Only those whose names are on the Supreme Court Roll may practise. Eligibility follows Nigerian Law School training (Council of Legal Education) and Call to Bar by the Body of Benchers. “Active” practice requires annual compliance (e.g., APF).

Application

The headline “ever-called” pool (conservative floor ~213k+ by mid-2025) must be read against:

• Active list: smaller than ever-called, fluctuates with annual compliance.
• Geography: firms cluster in Lagos/FCT; many states remain underserved (see distribution).
• Demand: 220m+ population, expanding economy, and regulatory complexity sustain demand for advocacy, transactions, compliance, ADR, and tech-enabled services.
• Quality & ethics: throughput growth raises the importance of training quality, discipline, and continuous professional development.

Conclusion

Nigeria’s growth in new lawyers since 1963 is significant but not, by itself, evidence of oversupply. The priority is better distribution (beyond Lagos/FCT), quality assurance, and innovation in delivery—rather than restricting entry.

Caveats & downloads

• Totals method: Start from the published cumulative figure (197,015 by Jul 2021), then add known large cohorts through 2025; round conservatively to avoid double-counting resits.
• Firms by state: Directory-based, not a statutory register; treat as indicative.
• Older records: Pre-2000 digitization is sparse; we emphasize defensible floors and trends over precise yearly tallies.

Downloads: Data workbook (XLSX) · media.csv