About 28 law graduates from Bayelsa State are at the verge of missing their enrollments into the Nigerian Law School (NLS). They can’t afford the school fees.
Having struggled and pummeled themselves through schools, their dreams of practising law are fast ebbing away. The Ijaw graduates know that without passing through the NLS for the compulsory one-year legal education, they will not be called to the bar and will be debarred from practising law.
But where will they get the N295,000 school fees required from each graduate for enrollment into the school? They are indigent and lack the ability to cough up such amount of money before November 12, 2018 when the school is expected to resume.
Their pathetic situations are further compounded by the flood disaster that displaced most of them. Most of them are still living in Internally-Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps. Their parents and relations are also helpless. The flood destroyed their means of livelihood.
Following their inability to realise their school fees, the graduates are begging their state Governor, Mr. Seriake Dickson to come to their aid. They have confidence that Dickson will restore their dreams. Their governor is a lawyer by profession. Besides, Dickson has attached premium on education.
In fact, their last hope is predicated on Dickson’s giant strides in the sector through capacity building and massive construction of academic infrastructures. They believe that the governor will not hear their genuine cries and ignore them.
One of the indigent graduates, Efiri Charles Williams, graduated from the state-owned Niger Delta University (NDU). He hails from Ekeremor Local Government Area of the state. He said it would take them extra five years to get fresh enrollments into the law school if they missed this opportunity.
He said: “I and so many other law graduates have been plagued by various challenges of which the most pressing of them is the tuition fees for the Nigerian law school which cost N295, 000.
“We all belong to the Bayelsa State Law Graduates Forum (BALAGRAF). It was established to ameliorate our plight. We are begging our governor to come to our rescue. As it is now BALAGRAF has 67 members of which 28 of them may miss out on the programme, I inclusive, as a result of financial constraint.
“We have written to the amiable governor and we believe that he will not abandon us in this time of our need, Inclusive as well as well-meaning Bayelsan. His government has time and again professed its love for education.
“We want to be good ambassadors of our state. We refuse to pick up arms and shun cultism and every other forms of social vices. We want to serve as role models for the younger ones and as well help the government build a prosperous Bayelsa.
“We plead with our talk na do governor to extend the same hand of love and encouragement to us. We beg him to give us a sense of belonging by reassuring us that we are from a state that is responsive and sensitive to the plights of the youths”.
Another graduate of NDU, John Chris, said only the governor would save them. He noted that Dickson is a lover of education and the youths adding that the governor would not look the other way amidst their shattering dreams.
“We are soliciting the financial assistance of the state government. Our governor is a leader, who knows the best way to assist his people. He loves education and we know he won’t allow us miss our slot in law school. Which commences in November”,
Also, Itoko Tonye, a graduate of the Delta State University (DELSU), said: “I am appealing to the Bayelsa State government to help us by giving us subvention because law school operates a quota system with its admission.
“If for any reason one fails to go this year, then that person must wait for five years to go because of the quota system. This can work undue hardship on the individuals”.
In his lamentation, Promise Wayi Friday, a graduate of the University of Benin, said he had done everything possible to realise N295,000 to no avail. He said he was only able to realise N150,000 and appealed to the government to come to its aid.
Also, Orugbani Distinction, who hails from Zarama in Yenagoa Local Government Area said he was sacred of missing his enrollment.
He said: “I am appealing to the state government because I am a widower. I recently gained admission into the Nigerian law school but I’m afraid I might miss out on my admission because I do not have ¦ 295,000 to pay as tuition fee. I have lost so much due to this flood and currently residing at the IDP camp in igbogene”.
Bayelsa State Law Graduates Forum (BSLGF), which brought the plight of the indigent students to the public domain, said only the state government would save its members.
The President of the group, Mr. Aluzu Augustine, said they had written a letter to the State Governor, Dickson, pleading for his urgent intervention to help in offsetting the fees before the November 12, 2018 deadline.
He said: “The Nigerian law school which will resume academic activities on 12 November, 2018 will run a compulsory one year law programme which will qualify successful students to be called into the Nigerian Bar.
“The Bayelsa State Law Graduates Forum is calling on the state government and well-meaning individuals to come to the financial aid of 28 of its indigent members who have been shortlisted for a one year compulsory academic programme at the Nigerian Law School.
“The Forum is home to law graduates from Bayelsa state with 67 of its members being enlisted for admission into the Nigerian Law School.
“Some of our members risk losing out on their admission due to inability to afford the school’s tuition fee this year. The school fee is ¦ 295,000.00 per person.
“We have already written series of letters to the state government appealing for subvention.
“The plea is for the government of Bayelsa state to come to the financial aid of these graduates who have currently lost so much due to the ravaging flood in Bayelsa state by providing them with law school subvention.
“The subvention will also ameliorate the financial difficulties of our parents who are mostly civil servants and pensioners in providing for us throughout our undergraduate days in the university.
“The actual number of those affected by lack of funds was 33. However, it was Niger Delta University Alumni Association which assisted 5 of our members in completing their various tuition fee with a kind donation of ¦ 100,000.00.
“Having raised part of the money, the rest of our members would have taken advantage of the Bayelsa state student’s loan board but to our dismay, the board is yet to be fully inaugurated by His Excellency.”
Also speaking, the President of National Association of Bayelsa State Law Students (NABSLS), Smith Livinus-Agala, said that his group took steps to avoid the situation by writing to appropriate government quarters. He, however, said the efforts had not yielded any positive results.
He described the situation as urgent and appealed to Dickson to show love to the students following his administration’s policies on education.
Livinus-Agala said: “We are earnestly pleading with the state government to provide subvention for law school students of Bayelsa state extraction.
“According to our records, 28 law graduates may miss out on their law school admission if something urgent is not done to provide them with subvention”.
