Senate, NBA Clash Over Bill To Create Six Additional Law Schools

The Nigerian Senate on Tuesday passed a Bill that seeks to increase the number of Law School campuses from six to 12 despite stiff opposition from the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA.

The Bill, titled: “A Bill for an Act to amend the Legal Education (Consolidation, etc) Act by establishing the campuses for the Nigerian Law School, and for other related matters” was sponsored by Kogi West Senator Smart Adeyemi.

The NBA in its opposition posited that the mandate to establish new law schools falls squarely on the Council for Legal Education as empowered by the 1962 Act that set up CLE.

But the Senate defended the bill arguing that it will create accessibility to legal education.

This is as CLE has begun the establishment of a campus in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, based on its constitutional mandate.

The existing Law School campuses are located in Lagos (Southwest); Abuja (North Central); Yola, Adamawa State (Northeast); Kano (Northwest); Enugu (Southeast) and Yenegoa, Bayelsa State (South-South).
The additional campuses approved by the Senate are Kabba Law School Campus, Kogi State (Northcentral); Maiduguri Law School Campus, Borno State (Northeast); and Argungu Law School Campus, Kebbi State (Northwest).

Others are Jos Law School Campus, Plateau State (North Central); Okija Law School Campus, Anambra State (Southeast); Orogun Law School Campus, Delta State (Southsouth) and Ifaki Law School Campus, Ekiti State (Southwest).

The passage of the Bill followed the adoption of the recommendation of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters that considered the Bill.

Chairman of the Committee, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele presented the report.

The NBA, speaking through its President, Mr Olumide Akpata , said the move was unnecessary as the existing six campuses were underfunded.

Akpata said the governor of Rivers State, Mr Nyesom Wike, “at a time, had to intervene and save the Balyesa State campus to the tune of N4bn.”

According to him, “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, said condition of most of the existing campuses was deplorable due to gross underfunding, adding that the action of the Senate through the “bill is more or less subtle usurpation of the functions of the Council for Legal Education.”