Yesterday during the interactive session between Governor Okezie Ikpeazu and the people of Ikwuano and Umuahia, he informed them that the relocation of the Law Faculty of the Abia State University to the Umuahia campus has been been completed.
The Governor also stated that this relocation is not political but very strategic and in the interest of the students and their training.
I reported this on my wall yesterday and reactions were pouring in.
One of the reactions caught my attention. It came from my Elder brother and someone I consider one of the most brilliant lawyers I have ever come across. His name is Kenneth Ikonne. Profusely brilliant man indeed. I call him the MONSTER OF ERUDITION. It was him that I chose to write the only tribute in my thanksgiving brochure. The only tribute!
His reaction to the relocation issue took me by surprise. He described it as a wrong move. He went further to state that the emphasis now is to get the students to train in a serene classroom environment where they can read and that practical law training doesn’t happen until the law school period. He ended by describing the move as UTTERLY SENSELESS!
Kai! That one really got to me and coming from someone I grovel to his positions, I was taken aback. But in the interest of the truth and in defense of the position of the Abia State Government over the issue, I made what I consider an appropriate response to my eminent senior. I have decided to reproduce my response here for the benefit of public education.
Here is it. Comments are welcome.
Kenneth Ikonne, Eminent Senior, I think you lost the meaning of this post completely, and coming from you, it’s very surprising. Again, your closing sentence is, in my view, extreme and needless. Of course, the comment which I believe was made with noble intentions has provided a platform for the usual suspects- the spineless and avid haters of this government who clicked away even without knowing what the issues are.
First, anyone reading your contribution will think that the law students were moved from a university campus into some market place…from a serene environment into a confused one…from a place where there are books to read to a place where there are nothing but wares to sell.
Abia State University has always had two campuses from inception – Uturu, the main campus and the Umuahia campus. Faculties like Agriculture and some key departments in Education have always been at Umuahia campus from inception. Indeed, there are other faculties there. Are u suggesting that the students who study at Umuahia campus do not qualify to be called students? A campus that has existed for over 25 years as a campus of ABSU?
Let me give you a background since it is obvious that you don’t have the facts. ABSU Umuahia campus used to be the Umuahia campus of the Alvan Ikuku College of Education when we all were in the old Imo State and was ceded to Abia as part of assets sharing when Abia was created. It was quickly made a campus of ABSU and for the past 25 years has been home to students. So, what the state government did was to move the law Faculty from one campus of the university to another campus.
Again, it is obvious Sir that you do not know where the campus is because your comments are suggestive of a rowdy Environment. That is incorrect and with all due respects, misconceived. The Campus is not even in Umuahia town. It is located at Umudike way way off the hassles and noise of Umuahia town. It is just beside the Government College Umuahia and a few minutes drive from the Micheal Okpara University of Agriculture. On that road still and within the same vicinity , you will find the Federal Root Crops Research Institute Umudike. These schools including the famous Government College Umuahia have been in existence for close to 75 years. The sites were not chosen by any Nigerian government but by the colonial administrators as an educational zone. I need not bother you with the names of the products of Government College Umuahia. That zone is the most serene you can imagine. It’s even more serene than Uturu. If Umuahia lacks serenity for law students, what will you say of Aba where medical students of the university are trained? So the serenity argument you posed holds no water and utterly fallacious.
Again, most universities in Nigeria that have more than one campus always cite their law faculties at the campus that is more cosmopolitan. UNN has their Law Faculty in Enugu instead of Nsukka the main campus. Why is that Sir?
ABU has their law Faculty on Zaria instead of the Samaru Campus. Why Sir? Samaru is more serene than Zaria.
When Mbakwe set up the old IMSU with its two campuses at Etiti and Aba, he took the law faculty to Aba, instead of the more serene environment of Etiti. Why?
The answer, Most Eminent Senior, is blowing in the wind.
One last word Sir…one last word. I am a proud product of the law faculty of ABSU. I was at Uturu throughout. I also know the Umuahia campus very well, so I speak from a position of strength, stronger that yours who was trained at Ibadan..or is it the Great Ife?
Unlike when you studied law Sir, the emphasis today has changed from only classroom work to what is known as CLINICAL LEGAL EDUCATION where huge emphasis is placed on work outside the classroom and beyond the law books. Practical work including raw Court ROOM experience is now part of the undergraduate law training. These days Sir, law students no longer have to wait to get to the law school before they start learning the practicals. They start from the university. There is no High Court in Uturu, I don’t even know if there is any court there. I don’t remember any. The closest high court to the university is the Okigwe High Court which is in Imo State. Apart from that, the only facility around there that would interest the law student is the Federal Prisons, Okigwe. Nothing more. During our law week programs then, we used to travel to Umuahia to take part in most of the programs. There is no single law chambers at Uturu. The closest too are in Okigwe and for me, the chambers there are not models that any law student should look up to for inspiration.
In Umuahia, you have the Judiciary Headquarters with the Chief Judge and several other Judges. You have the headquarters of the Customary Court of Appeal. You have the Ministry of Justice headquarters. You have countless courts of several cadres. You have hundreds of Law chambers. Of course, you have Shoprite..hehehehehe.
Which of the two locations is better Sir for the training of law students?
Don’t answer that.
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