The Senate on Tuesday approved the establishment of six new campuses of the Nigerian Law School across the six geo-political zones of the country.

The newly approved law schools is in addition to the seven existing ones, bringing the total number of law schools in the country to 13, excluding that of the Federal Capital Territory.

The approval of the new law campuses followed the consideration and adoption of a report by the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters on the Legal Education Act (Amendment) Bill, 2021.

The bill was sponsored by Smart Adeyemi (APC-Kogi).

Accordingly, the Senate approved the Jos Law School Campus, Plateau and Kabba Law School Campus, Kogi, for the North Central geo-political zone.

The chamber also gave the nod for the Yola Law School Campus, Adamawa and Maiduguri Law School Campus, Borno, to serve the North East zone.

In the North West, the Senate approved the Kano Law School Campus, Kano and the Argungun Law School Campus, Kebbi.

In the South East, the chamber gave approval for the Enugu Law School Campus and Okija Law School Campus, Anambra.

The Senate also approved the Yenegoa Law School Campus, Bayelsa; Port Harcourt Law School Campus, Rivers and Orogun Law School Campus, Delta for the South- South zone.

In the South West, the chamber approved the Lagos Law School Campus, Lagos; and Ilawe Law School Campus, Ekiti.

The Bwari Law School Campus, Abuja, remains exclusively for the Federal Capital Territory.

Chairman of the Committee, Opeyemi Bamidele, said the creation of the new six law schools was a legislative intervention to address “the exponential increase in the number of law graduates from our universities an foreign ones, coupled with the backlog that existed over the years.”

According to the lawmaker, existing campuses are overstretched and the infrastructures are not enough to accommodate thousands of law students graduating from the universities.

(NAN)