A Bill seeking to create six additional campuses for the Nigerian Law has scaled second reading at the Senate.
This followed the presentation of the lead debate on the bill by the sponsor, Sen. Smart Adeyemi (APC-Kogi) during plenary on Wednesday.
The bill is entitled: ”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”.
Leading the debate, Adeyemi said the proposed additional campuses included Kabba Law School Campus in Kogi; North Central, Maiduguri Law School Campus, Borno; North East.
He said for North West; Argungu Law School Campus, Kebbi; South East Okija Law School Campus, Anambra, South South; Orogun Law School Campus, Delta and South West; Ifaki Law School Campus, Ekiti.
Adeyemi noted that the Nigerian Law School was established in Lagos under the Legal Education Act 1962, currently Legal Education (Consolidation Etc) Act Cap. L10, Laws of the Federation, 2004.
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“From 1962 up till December 1997, the Law School remained in Lagos but the School was relocated to Bwari in Abuja in December 1997 following a Federal Government directive.
“The Nigerian Law School developed a Multi-Campus structure in 1999 and the original premises in Lagos became the Lagos Campus of the Nigerian Law School.
“The school later established four other campuses to accommodate the increasing number of law students that graduated yearly from Nigerian universities.
“The four additional campuses included Enugu Law School Campus; Bayelsa Law School Campus; Kano Law School Campus and Yola Law School Campus.”
Contributing, Sen. Sandy Onor (PDP-Cross River) said the number of students that graduated from universities that offered law were increasing daily, saying there was need to expand the campuses to create opportunities for other students.
“But we should not begin to propose where the campuses should be established.
“The basic idea is beautiful, but the proposal as to where these campuses should be located should be left to the Council of Legal Education.”
In his remarks, Senate President Ahmad Lawan referred the bill to the Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters for further legislative action to report back in four weeks.
