Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has said approval for any new campus of the Nigerian Law School should be based on needs assessment and not on political sentiment.
He said with the paucity of funds being allocated to the Nigerian Law School by the Federal Government, states with capacity to build brand new campus of the institution should be encouraged to do so based on the model provided by the Council of Legal Education.
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Governor Wike stated this when members of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, led by its Chairman, Opeyemi Bamidele, visited him at the Government House, Port Harcourt, yesterday.
The governor observed that due to the current insufficient carrying capacity of the Nigerian Law School, there has been clamour for proliferation of more campuses across the country.
But he cautioned that this must not be done on the basis of political sentiment.
“Most of us attended the Nigerian Law School, Lagos, and even at that time, it was not easy to have accommodation within the law school. But at least, we were able to attend classes. So, it is reasonable for everybody to say there is need to increase the carrying capacity. But, that must be done with objectivity; that must be done with facts, that must not be done by sentiment,” Wike said.
He explained that two years ago when he attended the call to bar ceremony at the Abuja campus, he was appalled by the decrepit infrastructure.
He said this was what spurred the Rivers State government to build 900-bed space hostels and 1,500 capacity auditorium for students in Yenagoa campus, and then, the subsequent construction of a brand new campus in Port Harcourt.
