NBA faults NASS creation of six new law school campuses

The President of the Nigerian Bar Association, (NBA), Mr Olumide Akpata, has faulted the moves by the National Assembly to create additional six campuses of the law school, saying the country can’t afford to effectively finance the campuses.

He advised the lawmakers not to perceive the establishment of Law School as a constituency project, by arbitrarily embarking on further decentralisation of the training grounds for law graduates.

Akpata while reacting to the latest creation of six law school campuses by the senate thereby increasing the campuses to 12 in the country, said the Senate should bear in mind that the existing campuses were grossly underfunded and that it would be wrong to establish more under this context.

The NBA President also appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to broker truce with the striking members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, so that they can return to work and save the country’s ivory towers from total collapse.

He spoke in Ado- Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, on Monday, at a press conference heralding a two-day NBA Legal Education Summit held in ABUAD with the theme, ‘Reimagining Legal Education in Nigeria.’

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Condemning how the National Assembly had allegedly politicised the establishment of law school campuses, the NBA boss posited that, “the law schools are grossly underfunded. It has one of the worst budgetary provisions.

“At present, the School has six campuses. It is pitiable seeing the conditions of the six campuses. It is like somebody trying to play the game while trying to set up another six when the existing ones are underfunded with some lawmakers trying to locate in their constituencies.

“It is wrong for anyone to politicise the establishment of law school because legal education is too important to be seen as a constituency project. We don’t have the resources and we can’t afford it, let’s be sincere with ourselves.”

Akpata said the summit was conceptualised to intervene in legal education and fashion out policies that can inject sound legal education into the country.

On the choice of ABUAD for the venue of the summit, the NBA president said the university had in the last twelve years set the pace for tertiary education, describing the institution’s law faculty as the best in the country.

“In this Summit, we are going to be looking at our curriculum. The curriculum that I encountered over 30 years ago is still the one in operation. We will also look at technology. Technology has taken over the law practice. We are also looking at our teaching methodology, quality assurance, and the issue of the decentralisation of the Nigerian Law School.

“I laugh when people say there are too many lawyers in the country, that is not correct. There are not enough lawyers for a population of over 200,000 million. There are too many lawyers doing the same thing, so there is a need to diversify and train the lawyers, hence the summit, ” he said.

The Chairman, 2022 Planning Summit and ABUAD Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Prof Damilola Olawuyi, stated that the summit is geared towards resetting the system since policymakers in Nigeria have come to the realization that the legal education system has declined geometrically.

Discussants at the event will include Vice President Yemi. Osinbajo, SAN; Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN; Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu; the Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission, Professor Abubakar Adamu Rasheed and Aare Afe Babalola, SAN.

Others are; the Chairman, Nigerian Council of Legal Education, Chief Emeka Ngige, Director General, Nigeria Law School, Professor Isa Hayatu Ciroma and heads of various universities across the country.

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NBA faults NASS creation of six new law school campuses

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NBA faults NASS creation of six new law school campuses

'Yomi Ayeleso