The House of Representatives on Wednesday, February 21, has stopped the planned increase of school fees at the Nigerian Law School.
Politics Nigeria reports that the Council of Legal Education had earlier approved a 60% increase in fees of law graduates intending to enroll into the Nigeria Law School.
This means an increase in fees from from ₦296,000 to ₦476,000 for the 2023/2024 Bar Part II academic session.
But adopting a motion by the Minority Leader of the House, Kingsley Chinda and read on his behalf by Ginger Owusibe, lawmakers asked its committees on Justice and Tertiary Education and Services to explore solutions to the issue at hand and report back within two weeks.
Chinda described the Nigerian Law School as the medium through which the Council of Legal Education discharges its function to regulate the legal education of persons seeking to become members of the legal profession as provided for under Section 1(2) of the Legal Education (Consolidation, etc.) Act Cap. L10, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
He said the function of the Council of Legal Education to oversee legal education in Nigeria includes deciding the cost of tuition and other services rendered to students of the Nigerian Law School.
Chinda stressed that Nigeria is currently facing a 27.33% inflation rate, as reported by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
He said further that the 2023–2024 Bar Part II Academic session commenced in January 2024 with no time given to prospective students to raise the balance.
The lawmaker warned that failure to promptly address the need for a balance between the Council’s service quality and students’ affordability could result in a significant drop in Nigerian law school enrollment.
According to him, this would lead to fewer lawyers being called to the Bar, ultimately contributing to a higher national unemployment rate among those unable to pursue legal careers.
