Feb 21, 2024

– By Reporter

The House of Representatives on Wednesday asked the Council of Legal Education to put the 60 per cent increase in Nigerian Law School fees on hold.

The House also mandated its Committee on Tertiary Education and Services to wade into the matter to find solutions to the issue and report back within two weeks for further legislative action.

This followed a motion by the Minority Leader, Kingsley Chinda, which was read on his behalf by Ginger Onwusibe.

Chinda, in his motion, said Nigeria is currently facing a 27.33% inflation rate as reported by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, which is projected by Trade Economics to rise to 30.00% by December 2023.

He said in exercising its functions, the Council of Legal Education has approved a 60% increase in Nigerian Law school fees from ₦296,000 to ₦476,000 for the 2023/2024 Bar Part II academic session.

Chinda said the 2023–2024 Bar Part II academic session commenced in January 2024 with no time given to prospective students to raise the balance of the fee hike.

Daily Trust reported that Chinda expressed concern that unless immediate steps are taken to strike a balance between the council’s need to provide quality services and the prospective students’ abilities to afford an increment, the country will see a high decrease in the number of Nigerian Law School students with a resultant decrease in the number of lawyers in the next Call to Bar Ceremony.

He said such development would lead to a higher national unemployment rate as those unable to attend law school cannot work as legal practitioners.