Law and The UNIBEN Hostel 'Craze'

    One of the thorniest issues, permeating the faculty right now is the question of whether or not it's the duty of the school to provide shelter/accommodation for its students! Unfortunately, this has turned out to be quite a mind bogging debacle, because on one hand we have the students whom are of the opinion that like lecture theatres and classrooms, provision of hostels for students, falls under the purview of the university, however, the school administration on the other hand has sternly insisted that the hostel accommodation is "not a right but a privilege".

It is on this template that many have had to ask - is the school trying to insinuate that those who didn't get hostel accommodation after application, are not "privileged" students? Besides is accommodation not suppose to be for the "less privileged" students instead of the "privileged"?

     That been an issue for another day, right now, we are focusing on the hardship suffered by a lot of law students! Unlike most faculties, Faculty of Law did not release sessional results on time, despite the fact that (according to the school calendar) Senate was supposed to be done with reviewing the results by 6th of November 2015. Consequently, this lack of results, has resulted in a situation were a lot of Law students are without hostel spaces. For our report (at date of this publication) shows that save for those in 100level and 500level, more than 90% of law students have been unable to secure hostel accommodation this session.

     The question being are asked is: What is supposed to be the fate of these ones without hostel spaces?

What are they supposed to do now?

For the females - "live with their "boyfriends" off campus? 

Or for the males - Live under bridges? Or in this case, live in classrooms or lecture theatres? There are confirmed rumours that some students spend the night in the lecture theatres and then go to the hostel in the morning to prepare for classes.

    

     The question is pertinent, all the more so, taking into consideration the fact that the school population has sky rocketed by more than 30% since the commencement of pre-degree programs in the school, so that even now, the price for a hostel space (according to sources) on the "black market" is now unbelievably stupendous. Our findings show that - male hostels (let's not even talk about females) that formerly went for 14 to 20 thousand naira depending on the hall of residence, has now jumped to between 18 to 25 thousand naira, talk about massive inflation!

Also the dire scarcity of accommodation in the suburbs of the school environ - junior staff quarters(JSQ), senior staff quarters (SSQ), dentistry, block of flats, etc, is also very alarming, for information reaching us says that a one room apartment in JSQ goes for 75 thousand naira now!

     The out cry is loud, a lot of students are frustrated and confused, they are haggled, they are in a race against despondency, they are tired and they don't know were to start from, and understandably so!

Here are some of the comments we got from a few of these law students

Jennifer, in 200l said she applied when there was news that their level had changed (from 100 to 200l online) on Friday, 27th Nov yet she and other applicants had not given space yet. She said. "what the school is doing is bad, they are taking money and not giving people hostels, making life hard for students. If nothing can be done they should let us know so we can weigh our options, the whole thing is stressful".
 She also profers a long term solution, "if medical students can have a hostel then why can't we? Law is also a noble profession, we should have our own so we won't have to suffer from this hardship, maybe the alumni can help out.

Nosa and Bamisaye, both in 400l come from long distances everyday and understandably, are not happy about the situation. Nosa in his words, "I spend nothing less than 500naira everyday because of this. Calculate it from when school resumed and see how much I have spent. My own view on the accommodation issue isn't much different from what others have been saying. I think if the authorities knew they won't be able to maintain the online registration they shouldn't have started same. If at this time of the semester student ain't sure of where to stay and lecturers are talking about test already I mean it is bad."
 He also added that "manual registration would have been better judging from precedence. Now I'm not trying to be ungrateful cos if the online actually worked out it would have been better off but the fact remains that it did not work out and it turned out to be the worst so far.. Its quite pathetic that accommodation is still a very big problem in UNIBEN this ought not to be so. Looking at other universities and how they actually conduct accommodation process is very impressive and I think it won't be bad if Uniben copy from them."

Daniel Odigwe also in 400l

"Although I don't stay in the hostel so I may not be able to experience the pain the way they do but I do feel their pain, I have had to accommodate those with accommodation issues and I can boldly say it is not fair and it has not been easy for them at all especially in their academics. We are students, and I must say the school authorities are here for us. What we can do right now is to cry out against this injustice against the students. Its really a stressful and painful thing and its affecting students academically, and when students begin to fail they begin to say all sorts of things. I'm appealing to the SUG to take up this matter for the students with the school authorities and come up with a solution that will be beneficial to the students".

A Female 300l student who declined her name to be mentioned, lamented the deplorable situation, "I'm temporarily in the room I stayed in last session. Now that everyone is clearing and taking possession of their allotted spaces, where will I stay when every space owner arrives? I don't know what to do, I just pray this issue is solved asap."

     When contacted, representatives of the Law Students Association (LAWSA) said the association has met with some of the officials in charge of the process and they have been promised and assured that Law students are top priorities for them. With regards to cases of leftover spaces or those that would not clear their spaces on time (within four days) for one reason or the other, such spaces would be reallocated to them.

      Law students have been implored to be patient, keep their fingers crossed and "hope for the best while praying against the worst!". Some say that its not like the worst has not passed already. Still the question is, will majority of Law students who have applied (with the fee of course), get their hostel spaces?

THE SUPREME LAWSA CONGRESS HOLDS INAUGURAL SITTING

• Congress members take oath of office
• ...elect principal officers
• Nna Victor emerges as Speaker

     Political duties in the Faculty of Law Students Association (LAWSA) UNIBEN seem to have kicked into full gear as the Supreme LAWSA Congress on Friday 27th of November, 2015 held its inaugural sitting. In the inaugural session presided over by the President of LAWSA, Garrick Nosa John, the Congress members were sworn into congress officially by the President. The Parliamentarians also elected Principal Officers of Congress into the positions of Chief Whip, Clerk, Deputy Speaker and Speaker.

     Having being given the go-ahead of the Faculty via the Student Adviser, Dr N. Ojukwu-Ogba, to proceed with Executive duties despite not being sworn in (ceremoniously), President Garrick issued a public notification invitation to the elected members of Congress. The statement issued on the 24th day of November, 2015 and signed by the President and Secretary General of LAWSA Okeleke Ugochukwu Victor, informed the Congress honourables of the inaugural sitting to hold on the 27th of November. According the statement, the Agenda of the sitting was to consist of Election of Principal officers and the Ratification of Presidential appointments, in order to "hasten work of all arms of government as time is far spent".

     The session scheduled for 4:00pm however didn't start till 4:15 when Congress members and Observers entered into the house. The Eleco chairman proceeded to state the sitting arrangements for Congress members, LAWSA Executives and for observers. At 4:20 the President of LAWSA, Garrick Nosa entered the house and delivered his opening address, after which oath of office forms were shared to the 36 Congress members present (out of 40) and they were sworn into office by the President.

     The Eleco took centre stage as next on the Agenda was the nomination (and election if need be) of Whips of each constituency and Election of Principal Officers of Parliament. The Eleco Chairman explained that the modus operandi of voting was going to be via secret ballot, in other to avoid "vendetta and hate" after the elections.  According to the LAWSA Constitution, the Speaker of the house must come from the 500 level constituency, the Chief Whip also from the 500 level, the Deputy speaker from the 400 level and the Clerk from 200 level constituency. The whips from each constituency were nominated and unopposed. 200 level - Honourable Kenneth, 300 level - Honourable Wahi Friday, and from 400 level constituency - Eke Martins.

     For the position of Chief Whip, who must come from the 500 level constituency Honourable Freeman Ameh and Honourable Philip Okwichime were nominated. Freeman Ameh won by a landslide with 29 votes to 7 votes scored by Philip. For the offices of Clerk and Deputy Speaker which constitutionally is to be occupied by a member of the 200 and 400 level constituencies respectively, there were sole nominations and no opposition. Honourable Efosa Okpamen emerged as Clerk, and Honourable Franklin Ikechukwu emerged as the speaker.
   
The sitting was not without some drama as in addition to the two rumoured contenders for the position of Speaker, Honourable Nna Victor and Honourable Nwachukwu Patrick, Honourable Etiosa Ejomon was also nominated. The drama took another twist when during his turn to give his manifesto he declined nomination and stepped down for the other two candidates. In what was indeed a close tie between Nna Victor and Nwachukwu Patrick, it was Nna Victor who emerged "Victorious" as Speaker with 20 votes, while Honourable Patrick scored 16 votes.

     The President then addressed and swore into office the principal officers. There was the 1st marching in of the Speaker, in which everyone stood at the cry of "Mr Speaker!", along with principal officers. The new Speaker in giving his welcome address thanked the House for the confidence reposed in him and promised that it would never be abused. Noting however that time was far spent and it was getting late, the Speaker suggested an adjournment of sitting till further notice, in which the Office of the Speaker would notify them. The Law makers nodded in approval and the motion was moved and seconded. The first sitting of Parliament for the session ended at about 6:13pm when Mr Speaker stepped out in company of his executives.

200level Constituency Congress Members

LAWSA CONGRESS MEMBERS 2015/2016

200 Level Constituency

- Joy Joseph
- Kenneth Nwino
- Tony Geku
- Collins Momoh
- Adewale Mosuro
- Uwaifokun Osagie
- Ifedun Grace
- Ogbomo Osamuede Moses
- Oboh Lawrence Christopher
- Ojeaburu Orumen Ifidon

300level Congress Members

300 Level Constituency

- Dekina Joseph Lebari
- David Victor Akpeji
- Godswill Ikpuri
- Henry Uzezi Amata
- Abolagba Joshua
- Efosa Okpamen
- Promise Wayi Friday
- Caleb Eghosa Ibizugbe
- Irene Ralphael Efe

400 Level Constituency

400level Congress Members

- Precious Edafe Onodiama
- Franklin Ikechukwu
- Martins Eziukwu Eke
- Yor Yor Borviga
- Chisom Kewvis
- Courage Osabuohien
- Enoma "Gafar" Precious
- Regina Nwolokoh Awele
- Daniel Eromosele Eiwanlan
- Peter Abada

500 Level Constituency

500level Congress Members

- Nna Victor
- Akpor Andrew
- Ojomo Etiosa Emmanuel
- Ameh Freeman
- Atsegbua Divine
- Okwechime Philip
- Joseph Okon
- Patrick Nwachukwu

"I NEVER ACTED UNCONSTITUTIONALLY" - President Garrick Nosa

• Swears in Members of Congress 

• Sheds light on operation of office without being sworn in

 • Says that Congress and the Presidency are not enemies

 • Issues warning to mischief makers

President Garrick

The President of the Law Students Association (LAWSA) UNIBEN, has debunked rumours linking himself to acting unconstitutionally and away from his Executive powers by conducting and interfering with elections within Parliament. Speaking to Congress members and observers at the Inaugural Congress sitting on Friday 27th November, 2015 the President read from Section 17 of the LAWSA constitution and drew attention to its provisions

 "The President conducting elections within Congress is not a new thing, it didn't start today. If you have noticed there is a lacuna in Section 17 of the LAWSA Constitution. While it gives the duty of presiding over the inaugural sitting of congress to the president, it doesn't say who to conduct elections, thus the President over time has always conducted congress executive elections. It is in recognising this that I decided to invite an independent body which is the LAWSA Eleco to conduct the elections."

     The President while making this statement expressed hope that this will be corrected when the time comes as they must have made such promises when they declared their manifestos to their various constituencies. He also shed light on elected excos assuming executive functions without being sworn in. According to Garrick, the Dean of the Faculty, Professor Richard Idubor has been really busy for the last 2 months and as such has had no time to swear in the elected excos ceremoniously. It was in light of this that the faculty via the Student staff adviser Dr N.E. Ojukwu-Ogba gave the elected excos the "express mandate" to carry on with their duties as they were already behind schedule.

     President Garrick in the same vein addressed everyone present to wipe away the notion from their minds that the members of parliament and the President were enemies and opponents. He said that they were all working for the benefit and future of LAWSA and therefore had no enmity between them. The President issued a warning to his would be detractors who may want to frustrate his efforts and "witch-hunt" him to desist from such act as any of such efforts will be met with failure, and the congress members would not allow that.

     It would be recalled that President Garrick Nosa defeated Nosayaba Douglas in the LAWSA elections that held in August, 2015, replacing the Lauretta led LAWSA government.