Lawyers who were not paid their law grants while serving at the Nigerian Law Schools has described Governor Godswill Akpabio as an insensitive leader who is playing politics with Education.
The group under the ageis of the Nigerian law school graduates said they have resolved to stage a mass protest against the Governor in the next couple of weeks before he signs off as the Governor of the state.
In a communiqué made available to THE INK, the body said, “That there shall be a mass street protest on Monday 11th day of May, 2015 by members to try to compel the Government of the Day to pay Law School grants to its members. The Law School grant it should be placed on Record was established during the Obong Attah Administration to reduce the heavy burden on the Law School students who are always faced with exorbitant fees to pay outside other very demanding financial requirements of the Law School. Whereas the payment had been very consistent and the value as at that time was a considerable N50, 000 when the Law School fee was N40, 000.00.
This payment was done consistently not minding the amount that came in as the state allocation then. This was genuine love for Education and the promotion of the legal profession. Today, rather than follow in that footstep, the Godswill Akpabio administration is not doing the needful. It has rather abandoned the students to their fate. This is very sad considering the amount of money that comes to the state as her monthly allocation in addition to the internally generated revenue.
That the Government of the day be made to understand the need for increment of the fees from N250,000.00 to at least N500,000.00 in line with the high demands of the Law school today. For example, the Law School fees which had for some time now been below N150, 000.00 is now N300, 000.00. It should also be placed on record that Nasarrawa state Government pays N1, 000,000.00 (one million naira) each to her Law School students, Plateau State pays N750, 000.00 (seven Hundred and Fifty Thousand naira) to its indigenes despite their poor monthly allocation”.
THE aggrieved lawyers also noted that, that the Laptops which have become an integral part of the learning process in Law School and have been budgeted for by the Government of the day but are yet to be received by the students be released to its members who are yet to benefit from it.
That the Government of the day led by Godswill Akpabio be reminded of the very essence and purpose of the law school grant which is to ameliorate the sufferings of the students and that of parents sending their children to the Nigerian Law Schools, hence the need for a timely release of such funds without which the very essence is defeated as in the last three years.
That government be reminded that the 2014 grant that was approved since June 2014 is still to be paid, hence the need for government to stop playing politics with the education and development of the legal profession as just before the second term of this administration education was treated with utmost attention but so soon after the election for its second term, Education in the state is seen to have received little or no attention right from the primary to the tertiary or even beyond.
It stated further that, “the association also observed with great sadness the level of levity with which the funds in the state have been used in things it considers as personal pursuit of greed and self enrichment of some people in the state without minding what happens to the common man and helping as the case may be, the said common man, this in our view defeats the very essence of the government.
With much sadness and regret the association recalls that the few times this money was released on time was when the powers that be had their relatives in the Nigerian law school. Just to mention is when in 2012, the immediate past Accountant General, Mr. Isobara had his son in the Nigerian Law School, and the grant was paid before they could even settle down in school. Our investigations has shown that this same man (Isobara) is one of the reasons for the delay of this payment as he refused to release the funds even when approval was given by seeking personal gain when he made callous demands on the agency responsible for the disbursement of these funds and the said agency (Akwa Ibom Scholarships Board) refused to play ball. He then made away with the funds and this paved way as one of the reasons that made the State security Services to invite and subsequently detain him which led to his dismissal from service.
However, the association wants it on record that the last three batches of students of the Nigerian Law School has not been paid this grant hence our conclusion that this administration has failed them. This, the association concludes is because all that were done with zeal and enthusiasm were politically motivated but not borne out of the genuine desire to serve humanity but rather to score cheap political points”.
The body however called on the Governor to either pay them their grant or be ready to face their wrath.
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