We list 9 fully Funded Law Scholarships for Nigerian Students, with the deadline, study level and eligibility of each one taken from the award's own terms. Most are held in China (3), the United States (2) and Australia (1). 8 state eligibility that includes Nigerian applicants. Awards with a known closing date are listed soonest first.
These awards do not restrict the field of study, so law applicants can apply too.
Written from the 9 awards on this page — every figure below is counted from what the awards themselves state. 5 min read.
This page collects 9 fully funded law scholarships open to Nigerian students. Every award here is tagged Fully Funded, and every one is tagged Law. That is the whole of the list: nothing on this page is partially funded, and nothing on it sits outside law.
The awards are spread across 6 countries. China carries the largest share with 3, followed by the United States with 2, then Australia, Japan, the Netherlands and Switzerland with 1 each. Providers named on the list include Stanford University, Harvard University, the University of Tasmania, the University of Groningen, Shanghai universities and Beijing universities.
The list leans towards postgraduate study. Masters is the largest group with 8 awards, and PhD follows closely with 7. Bachelors appears on 3 awards, and Postdoctoral on 1. Because several awards are open at more than one level, these counts overlap; an award that takes both Masters and PhD candidates is counted in both.
For a Nigerian reader this matters in a practical way. If you hold an LL.B and are looking to convert it into an LL.M abroad, the Masters group is where most of your options sit. If you already hold an LL.M and want to move into doctoral work, the PhD group is nearly as wide. If you are coming straight from secondary school with WAEC or NECO results and want to read law abroad, the Bachelors group is small, at 3 awards, but it exists.
Of the 9 awards on this page, 8 are open to Nigerian applicants. Within that group of 8, none names Nigeria or the West African region as a condition of eligibility, and all 8 carry no nationality restriction at all. The remaining award on the page does not state its eligibility in the text we hold, so treat that one as unconfirmed until you read the award page itself.
The practical reading is straightforward. You are not chasing awards that reserve places for a particular bloc. You are applying to awards that are open on merit, which means your file has to stand on its own: your degree, your references, your statement, and where required, your test scores.
Fully funded does not mean the same thing at every institution. The figures below are what the awards say in their own text, so treat them as what each award commits to in writing rather than as a promise that every line is covered.
Where an award names a stipend rate, that rate is stated on the award page itself, and you should read it there rather than assume a figure. One award on the list states that its rate is indexed annually, which means the number you see now is the number for the current cycle, not a fixed amount for the life of your programme.
Duration also varies. One award on the page runs for 2 years. Another states a bachelor's programme of 4 to 5 years. A doctoral award on the list runs for 3.5 years with no extension available, which is worth noting before you plan a fieldwork timeline around it.
The requirements below are counted from what the awards state. They tell you what to prepare, not what will get you in.
The recommendation letters are the item most Nigerian applicants underestimate. Five awards ask for them, and referees at Nigerian faculties are often handling requests from several students at once. Ask early, give your referee your CV, your transcript and a short note on what you are applying for, and follow up politely rather than repeatedly.
The English test is asked for by 3 awards. If your LL.B or LL.M was taught and examined in English, check the individual award page before you pay for a test, because waiver rules sit with the institution and not with this list. Where a test is required, budget for it alongside the other costs you are already carrying.
Two awards ask for a research proposal. That is a doctoral-level document in most cases, and it needs a clear question, a method and a reason the work belongs at that institution. One award asks for a minimum degree class, so read the wording on the award page carefully against your own classification. One award requires you to hold an admission offer before you apply for the funding, which reverses the usual order and changes your timeline completely.
Four awards on this page carry a stated date, and 4 are still open. Five are undated in the text we hold, and 4 recur on an annual cycle rather than closing once.
The busiest months are October with 2 deadlines, then September with 1 and December with 1.
The awards closing soonest are:
Two of the Chinese awards on the list work differently. The Shanghai Government Scholarship (SGS) Fully Funded 2026 - 2027 runs its window between January and June of each year, and the Beijing Government Scholarship 2026-2027 (Fully Funded) points you to its own details for the deadline. Both take applicants at undergraduate, Masters and PhD level, which makes them the broadest entry points on this page for a Nigerian student at any stage.
Start with the four awards that carry dates, because those are the ones where a missed deadline costs you a full cycle. Read each award page in full before you begin drafting anything. Confirm the level you qualify for, the documents the award names, and whether an admission offer has to come first.
Then work backwards from the deadline. Transcripts from Nigerian universities take time to process and courier, and referees need notice. If an English test is required, book it early enough that the result reaches the institution before the closing date, not after.
If you are applying at doctoral level, the research proposal is the piece that will take the longest. Give it more time than the form itself. If you are applying at Masters level, your statement and your references carry most of the weight, so make sure both are specific to the institution and the programme rather than generic.
Finally, use the level and country counts on this page to narrow the list rather than to rank it. With 8 awards open to Masters candidates and 7 to PhD candidates across 6 countries, you have enough room to apply to more than one, and applying to more than one is the sensible approach when deadlines fall in different months.
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