The Senate has approved the establishment of six new campuses of the Nigerian Law School across the six geopolitical zones of the country, in addition to the existing seven.
The 13 schools exclude that of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The lawmaker representing Kogi West Senatorial District, Senator Smart Adeyemi, sponsored the bill.
Approval of the new law schools followed the consideration and adoption of a report by the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters on the Legal Education Act (Amendment) Bill, 2021.
Accordingly, the Senate approved the Jos Law School Campus, Plateau State; and Kabba Law School Campus, Kogi State for the North-Central geopolitical zone.
The chamber also gave the nod for the Yola Law School Campus, Adamawa State; and Maiduguri Law School Campus, Borno State to serve the North-East zone.
In the North-West, the Senate approved the Kano Law School Campus, Kano State; and Argungu Law School Campus, Kebbi State.
In the South-East, the chamber gave approval for the Enugu Law School Campus, Enugu State; and Okija Law School Campus, Anambra State.
The Senate also approved the Yenagoa Law School Campus, Bayelsa State; Port Harcourt Law School Campus, Rivers State; and Orogun Law School Campus, Delta State for the South-South zone.
In the South-West, the chamber approved the Lagos Law School Campus, Lagos State; and Ilawe Law School Campus, Ekiti State.
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele, said creation of the six law schools was a legislative intervention to address “the exponential increase in the number of law graduates from our universities and foreign ones, coupled with the backlog that existed over the years.”
Bamidele added that the “existing campuses are overstretched and the infrastructures are not enough to accommodate thousands of law students graduating from the universities.”
The senator observed that the United States of America, with a population of over 350 million people, has about 237 law schools.
The lawmaker noted that some countries such as Canada and Australia, with far fewer population than Nigeria, have 24 and 38 law schools for a population of about 38 million and 26 million people, respectively
Bamidele explained that the provision for additional campuses in the six geopolitical zones of the federation was appropriate as it does not tamper with the seven existing campuses established by administrative responsibilities of the Council of Legal Education
The lawmaker, therefore, advised the Federal Government to as a matter of priority, provide adequate resources for the funding of the infrastructural needs of the law campuses across the country.
