ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- Nigeria’s former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi has revealed why he refused to fund the establishment of Law School in Rivers State while he held sway as the Governor.
Amaechi who just graduated from Base University as a Law Student, faulted his successor, Governor Nyesom Wike, for committing the state’s money to the project which he described as federal government’s responsibility.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain and frontline politician stated this during an interview with The Vanguard.
According to him, the money invested in building the Law School should have been diverted to employing more teachers, building more schools and creating more jobs for Rivers people.
He said: “Yes, it’s true. I asked them when they brought the proposal, I asked them, would the federal government fund it? and they said no. I’m not father Christmas. I said primary schools in Rivers State are not functioning, secondary schools are not functioning and I would go and build a law school for government as big as the federal government?
“I told them that I have a land and here’s the land and they said no. So,I don’t know why that is an achievement for a man whose primary and secondary schools are not functioning and teachers are not paid.
“By the time I did audit of education in Rivers State, we trained 90,000 teachers and I employed 13,200. So that money that he used in building law school would have been used to employ more teachers.
“So that money that you are investing in a big federal government’s project you should have used it to employ more teachers, build more schools and create more jobs for our people. Rivers State has the highest number of unemployment.”
When asked if he would go to Law School, he said: “Yes, I think so. I may go to Law School. I’m already doing a Masters degree in Corporate and Company Law at Kings College, London. I hope to combine it with Law School.”
He continued: “I don’t intend to practice but to have the knowledge of law and the certificate. It is to help me not to make some mistakes. There is no excuse in law. There are some things you can’t know except you read law.”