A move for the establishment of six more law schools in the six geopolitical zone in the country met with stiff opposition from senators and major stakeholders in Nigeria judicial system who warned against politicization of legal education.
The lawmakers, Nigeria Bar Association (NBA); Council of Legal Education, amongst the stakeholders, in a public hearing, yesterday, at the National Assembly, warned against politicisation of legal education as this would only lead to deteriorated system but urged states governments who wants one to take a cue from Rivers State.
Specifically, they noted that the function of establishing law schools was vested in the Council of Legal Education, adding that such power should not be usurped by the National Assembly.
These came from a two-day public hearing on a bill seeking for its establishment of six more law schools sponsored by Senator Smart Adeyemi and two others by the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters.
The Senate committee, chaired by Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, had at the public hearing, sought for inputs from critical stakeholders on the legislative proposal titled: “Legal Education (Consolidated etc, Amendment) Bill 2021” but got unfavourable submissions from them.
First to pick holes in the bill were Senators Ike Ekweremadu and Seriake Dickson who called on their colleagues to be cautious on the proposal.
Ekweremadu, in particular, warned against politicising legal education, saying “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 opposing the proposed piece of legislation, the National President of NBA, Olumide Akpata, said the move was unnecessary as the existing six Law schools are grossly underfunded before the intervention of Rivers State Government with a well-equipped campus in Port Harcourt.
“With required infrastructure, the existing law schools across the country are enough to accommodate thousands of law students graduating from the various 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 driving the move for establishment of additional six across the six geo-political zones.
“Besides, resources of the Federal Government which are wearing out cannot help in putting in place such campuses let alone, sustaining them.
“What is required from the Senate and by extension the National Assembly is to by way of appropriation, team up with the executive for adequate finding of the existing law schools,” he said.
Speaking in the same vein, Chairman of the Council for Legal Education, Emeka Ngige, SAN, said the council is 100% opposed to it.
The position of the council, he lamented, arose from deplorable condition of most of the existing ones now due to gross underfunding.
“For instance, the deplorable condition in which students at the Yenagoa law campus are studying, is worse than what prisoners in Ikoyi Prison are experiencing,” he said.
He pointedly told the lawmakers that they will shed tears if they visit some of the existing campuses and see the deplorable conditions in which students and lecturers are living.
“The move by the Senate through this bill is more or less subtle usurpation of the functions of the Council for Legal Education.
“Any need for establishment of a new law school campus are by law, be routed through the Council for Legal Education as exemplified by the Rivers model,” he stressed.
However, the sponsor of the bill, Senator Smart Adeyemi, Senator Abiodun Olujimi, Kashim Shettima, Femi Falana, John Bayeshes, both Senior Advocates of Nigeria, SAN, argued for establishment of the proposed law schools for accessibility of legal education by concerned knowledge seekers.
Earlier, chairman of the committee explained that the bill seeks to amend the extant Act in order to make provision for increase in the number of the Nigerian Law School campuses from the current six to 12 with one additional campus in each of the geo-political zone.
According to Bamidele, many students struggle to secure admission into the law school for them to qualify as legal practitioners in the country, adding that the bill seeks to provide more opportunities for the applicants.
Earlier on Monday, the Senate had acknowledged the approval by the Council of Legal Education for the establishment of the Nabo Graham-Douglas Campus of the Nigerian Law School in Port Harcourt.
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele said they would visit the Port Harcourt Campus of the Nigerian Law School to assess ongoing construction work.
Bamidele stated this in his opening remark at a public hearing on Legal Education (Consolidation, etc.) Act L.10, LFN 2004 (Amendment) Bill 2021 (SB 820) at the Senate, last Monday.
He said the intent and purpose of the bill was to enhance the justice sector was in time with trends and practice as obtainable in other jurisdictions.
“It is instructive to note that during debate on the general principles of the bill at various sittings of the Senate, divergent views were canvassed by distinguished senators, thereafter, myriad of reaction was stimulated from relevant stakeholders and member of the public on the rationale of enacting the bills as act of the National Assembly.
“Consequently the committee resolved to adopt the legislative mechanism of conducting this public hearing in order to gauge and aggregate the view point and opinion of relevant stakeholders in our bid to further strengthen and enrich the legislative process.”
Senator Smart Adeyemi, who sponsored the Bill that is intended to create, at least, two campuses of the Nigerian Law School in each geopolitical zone, said Port Harcourt campus would not be affected by the amendment.
“There is already approval for a law school in Port Harcourt, and that will be accommodated.”
The Rivers State Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice, Prof. Zacchaeus Adangor, SAN, in a memorandum submitted to the committee, urged the National Assembly to reject the Bill 2021 as presently constituted, because it is oppressive and discriminatory against the government and people of the state.
He recalled that during the flag-off ceremony for the construction of modern facilities at the Yenagoa Campus of the Nigerian Law School by Rivers State Government, Governor Nyesom Wike, had offered to build, furnish and handover a brand new campus of the Nigerian Law School in Port Harcourt, if given the approval.
According to him, President Muhammadu Buhari, through the Attorney General and Minister of Justice of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, SAN, had consented to the request and work has reached advance stage.
“In any event, a law is not required to establish new campuses of the Nigerian Law School as that exercise is purely administrative and the Council of Legal Education has already exercised that power with respect to the establishment of the Port Harcourt Campus of the Nigerian Law School.”
Speaking on the proposed establishment the bill, Senator Kashim Shettima said Wike has further demonstrated that he believes in the Nigerian project by investing in the construction of a brand new campus of Nigerian Law School in Port Harcourt.
“If someone can singularly build a law school, he who comes to equity as you lawyers say, must come with not only clean hands, but the ability to add value and he (Wike) has added value by giving a law school, and justice and equity demand Law School should be established in Port Harcourt.”
The Chairman of Council of Legal Education, Chief Emeka Ngige, SAN, observed that there was an erroneous conception that by creating Port Harcourt Campus, the council had created a new law school.
He explained that Wike during a visit to the Yenagoa Campus with the Director General of the Law School, had been appalled by the decrepit infrastructure on the campus, and offered to build two hostels and one auditorium, valued at N5billion.
Ngige said during the flag-off of the two hostels and auditorium at the Yenagoa campus, Wike had offered to build a brand new campus in Port Harcourt, if the Council of Legal Education gives approval.
“We didn’t agree there. We had to follow due process. We went back to the supervising ministry, the Ministry of Justice to table the offer by His Excellency, the governor. The minister in turn took it to Mr. President (Muhammadu Buhari) and Mr. President gave his approval. That was how Port Harcourt campus came.”
He declared that the establishment of the Port Harcourt campus was devoid of sentiment or politics.
According to him, the Rivers State Government was presently constructing two hotels that would accommodate 1,500 people, an administrative block, medical centre, and lecturers’ quarters, among others.
Impressed by the infrastructure being provided by the Rivers State Government, he said the Council now has a guideline, tagged the ‘Rivers’ model’, that will be used as a yardstick to accept or reject any proposal for the establishment of any additional campus.
Former Nigerian Bar Association President, Onueze C.J. Okocha, said extant law empowers only the Council of Legal Education to establish campuses of the law school.
According to him, approval for the Port Harcourt followed through all the mechanism set for such approval.

By: Nneka Amaechi-Nnadi, Abuja