The House of Representatives, on Thursday expressed worry over the
high cost of fees being collected from students by the Nigerian Law
School.
It, therefore, mandated its Committees on Justice; Tertiary Education
and Services, and Finance to interface with the Director-General of
Nigerian Law School and other stakeholders on the issue.
The move stemmed from the adoption of a motion by Rep. Mark Gbillah
(Benue-APC), who told the chamber that the increase in fees of the
school over the last couple of years was alarming.
“The prevailing economic circumstances in the country and the
insistence by some legal luminaries that the profession is elitist and
the training capital intensive, calls for quick intervention by the
Federal Government.
“It is important the Federal Government and all stockholders stop
paying lip service to the problem and initiate an emergency national
discourse to safeguard the future of this Nobel profession,” he said.
Contributing to the motion, Rep. Abubakar Adamu (Niger-APC) said that
the issue had prevented the poor from going to the Law School, adding
that an average civil servant could not afford the fee.
“From the look of things, we are making education for the rich alone.
How can a child of a poor person afford N400, 000 to attend law
school,” he asked?
Also Rep. Nnamdi Agbo (Enugu-PDP) said that if appropriate action was
not taken, the fee would keep increasing and many law graduates would
not be able to attend the compulsory programme in the law school.
He, therefore, called on the Federal Government to address the issue
on time to enable law students staying at home go to law school.
After the debate and adoption of the motion, the Speaker, Mr Yakubu
Dogara, said that the situation was worrisome and supported the call for
government’s intervention.
No comments: