Students of the Nigerian Law School, Port Harcourt Campus, popularly known as “Queens Campus”, resumed last Saturday after the externship programme, expecting to return to a stable, conducive environment to prepare for the bar examination finals. Instead, they returned to a nightmare.
There has been no electricity or running water since we resumed. This is a four-year-old campus, yet we are struggling to access the most basic amenities. Students now pay up to ₦500 per bucket just to get water to bathe.
Others have resorted to bursting bags of the popular sachet water for bathroom uses. It’s inhumane.
One of the students recently interviewed has this to say: “We are in the peak of the rainy season, and with no electricity, we can’t even boil water to bathe. There are no heaters, no lights, no functioning sockets, nothing. Every day is a struggle”
“How are we to excel under these atrocious conditions?”
”This is supposed to be a place of learning. But how are students expected to focus in class or read at night when the primary concern on everyone’s mind is how to get water? When we’re exhausted, frustrated, and uncomfortable?”
Queens Campus is barely four years old. How is it that such a new facility is already in this state of disrepair? Students deserve better, at the very least, light and water.
“We hope this serves as a wake-up call to the authorities. We can not produce excellent lawyers from a place that can’t even provide the bare minimum for survival”, said a senior faculty member who didn’t want his name mentioned.
To make matters worse, we returned to an overgrown, bushy environment. The grass around the hostels and lecture areas is unkempt, and at night, the noise from crickets is constant and disturbing. Beyond the discomfort, there’s a real fear that snakes or other dangerous animals could be hiding in those bushes.
It’s hard to believe this is happening in a campus that’s only four years old. The physical and mental strain this places on students is enormous. We’re not just trying to pass exams, we’re trying to survive each day in conditions that are far from what any academic institution should permit.
We need light. We need water. We need a safe and clean environment. And we need them now.
Further investigations revealed that this facility was reported to have been completed at the kingly sum of 16 billion Naira by ex Governor Nyesom Wike , of which some other reports declared it at 17 billion Naira. The ongoing deterioration of the campus does not seem to reflect the amount allegedly spent to establish the facility, nor does the management of the Law School seem interested in attaining a standard or sustaining those standards in line with global best practices.
We call on the management of the Nigerian Law School in Port Harcourt to ascertain the veracity of this report and establish systems and processes to reverse the ongoing neglect.