The Nigerian Senate move to enact a law for the establishment of six new campuses for the Nigerian Law School has been opposed by the National Assembly on Monday.
The Nigeria Bar Association, Council for Legal Education, Body of Benchers and some senators had also opposed the idea saying, the existing campuses had the capacity to accommodate all the law graduates being produced yearly by universities if well-funded
They also claimed that enacting a legislation to establish campuses for NLS would amount to usurping the powers of the Council for Legal Education.
But the proponents of new campuses argued that the current ones were overstretched.
The stakeholders bared their minds at a one-day public hearing organised by the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, chaired by Senator Opeyemi Bamidele.
The proposed legislation is titled, “A bill for an Act to Amend the Legal Education (Consolidation etc.) Act by Establishing Campuses for the Nigerian Law School, and for other related matters,” which was sponsored by Senator Smart Adeyemi.
The bill, seeks six additional campuses in Kogi State, Borno State, Kebbi, Anambra State, Delta State and Ekiti State.
The Council for Legal Education had also obtained approval for the establishment of a campus in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State.
Speaking, Senators Ike Ekweremadu ( PDP Enugu West) and Seriake Dickson ( PDP Bayelsa West) called on their colleagues to be cautious on the proposal .
Ekweremadu said, “The establishment of new campuses or law schools should be left at the discretion of Council for Legal Education as empowered by the Act that set it up in 1962”.
Also, the President of the NBA, Olumide Akpata (SAN), said the move was unnecessary as the existing six campuses were underfunded.
He said the Governor of Rivers State, Nyensom Wike, “at a time, had to intervene and save the Bayelsa State campus to the tune of N4bn.”
He also said Wike had committed huge resources to build and equipped a modern law school campus in Port-Harcourt.
Akpata said, “With the required infrastructure, the existing law schools across the country are enough to accommodate thousands of law students graduating from universities.
“The Council for Legal Education is the institution empowered by law to set up a new campus on the basis of need assessment and not political considerations.
The Chairman of the Council for Legal Education, Emeka Ngige (SAN), said condition of most of the existing campuses was deplorable due to gross underfunding.
He said, “The move by the Senate through this bill is more or less subtle usurpation of the functions of the Council for Legal Education.”
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