By Abdulkadir Mohammed
Nigerian Senate has approved the establishment of more six new campuses of the Nigerian Law School across the six geopolitical zones of the country.
The new law schools are in addition to the seven existing ones bringing the total number of law schools in the country to thirteen, excluding that of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The approval of the new law schools was considered after a report by the Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters on the Legal Education Act (Amendment) Bill, 2021.
The Bill was sponsored by Senator Smart Adeyemi (Kogi West.)
The law schools include Jos Law School Campus, Plateau State; and Kabba Law School campus, Kogi state for the North Central geo-political zone.
Others are, Yola Law School Campus, Adamawa State; and Maiduguri Law School Campus, Borno State to serve the North East zone.
In the North West Zone, 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; 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.
The Bwari Law School Campus, Abuja, remains exclusively for the Federal Capital Territory.
According to the lawmaker, “existing campuses are overstretched and the infrastructures are not enough to accommodate thousands of law students graduating from the universities.”
He noted that the United States of America with a population of over 350 million people, has about 237 law schools.
He said, some countries such as Canada and Australia, with far lesser population than Nigeria, have 24 and 38 law schools for a population of about 38 million and 26 million people, respectively
