House of Reps bemoans the high cost of law school fees

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 theLaw 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.