If the poorest of the poor of States in Nigeria could pay their students their Law School Grants, the Cross River State Government has no justification whatsoever to deny Cross River State students their Law School Grant.
It is worrisome and saddens one, the fact that Governor Liyel Imoke of our prestigious Cross River State is a lawyer by calling and as such ordinarily expected to protect the interest and welfare of young/junior lawyers as his was.
All the big wigs and legal kingpins in the State, including Sen. Victor Ndoma-Egba SAN and the Attorney-General of Cross River State, Attah Ochinke have all pretended and feigned ignorance of the situation. What a shame and disappointment that the future leaders of the noble profession are left to their own fate.
Upon completion of an undergraduate (LLB) programme, a law graduate is required to undergo a period of one year mandatory and intensive legal training at the Nigerian Law School. This usually tells a lot of sacrifice and financial burden on the students and their families. A humongous amount of money is paid as law school fees which are usually reviewed astronomically every year religiously unfailingly.
This is in addition to other logistics involved in the purchase of Law School Forms, text materials, and subsequent payment of Call-to-Bar fees, purchase of the glorious wig & gown, etc.
Due to the harsh economic realities of our time, most families always see themselves struggling and even go into borrowing to raise funds in order to sponsor their children and wards for this legal education programme.
After successful completion of the Law School programme and Call to the Nigerian Bar, the young lawyer is, as a matter of practice and convention, expected to undergo a period of at least three years tutelage in a vibrant law firm in order to gain practical knowledge and experience of the rudiments and nitty-gritty of legal practice.
During this period, he/she is usually paid little or nothing for him/her to support self. This is unlike their medical students/doctors counterparts who also spend about the same number of years in school as the law students and undergo a mandatory housemanship/internship, but are paid fat sums of money as salary unrepentantly to support themselves financially which goes along way.
It is in recognition of the above plight of the young Nigerian lawyer and the need to ameliorate this financial burden that State governments throughout the federation have maintained a policy and practice of setting aside some money annually and paying same as grants to their Law School students.
It is on record that most States, especially in the far Northern part of the country, pay as much as a million naira to each of their Law School Students annually, while our sister state of Akwa-Ibom, among other states in the country, pay between N250,000 to N300,000 only.
Although successive administrations in Cross River State, including the immediate past Governor Donald Duke, have all keyed into the noble idea and consistently paid grants to our Law School Students, the present government of Cross River State under the watch of Mr. Liyel Imoke has refused, failed and neglected to pay the Law School grant to students for more than two years now consecutively. This is politics of neglect and irresponsibility taken too far!
It must be noted that payment of grant to Law School students of Cross River State origin, or to any other class of students by the Cross River State Government is not a right. It is however a necessary obligation of the government to show it’s consciousness in building a better future for its’ people not personal gratification.
It is submitted that the whole intent and purpose of the entire provisions of Chapter Two of the Nigerian Constitution is to impose an obligation on the government, be it State or Federal, to ensure social justice, guarantee economic empowerment and promote education/literary programmes, amongst others.
Even more disturbing and worrisome is the fact that Governor Liyel Imoke in time past, and in a manner most antithetical of all that justice, equity and fairness represents, chose to pay Law School Grant to only the 2011/2012 Law School students of his local government area. This is very unfair and totally unacceptable.
We call on the Government of Cross River State captained by Senator Liyel Imoke to do the needful by borrowing a leaf from other state governments across the Federation and immediately pay Law School grants to the entire 2012/2013 Law School students of Cross River State origin, and not just paying his community people alone.
We equally implore the Attorney-General of Cross River State and Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba (SAN) to lend their voices to this solemn call and prevail on the State Government to expedite action in payment of Law School grants to the students for posterity sake.
Anything short of this would be similitude of the politics of neglect and irresponsibility taken too far.
Barrister Eno Iyamba, is a young lawyer from Yakurr in Cross River State and currently working at Basic Rights Counsel, Calabar.
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