Politician carpets parents who choose career for wards

The Enugu state chairman of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), Dr. Ben Nwoye has blamed parents and guardians who force their children to choose academic courses they have no natural calling for.

He equally, expressed worry over the poor quality of graduate lawyers being churned out by the nation’s ivory towers.

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Nwoye said this while hosting the law faculty students of Godfrey Okoye University, Enugu, who visited him at his country home during their 2019 annual picnic, held at the Wildlife Sanctuary, Amuri.

He noted that like most other professions in Nigeria, the legal field has continued to experience serious decline in standard due to the fact that most practitioners may have ventured into the profession by accident.

“Sometimes, parents force their children to choose the law course, probably because it is a prestigious discipline and they want to answer the mother and father of a barrister, even when such sons or daughters don’t have the natural calling to pursue such a career.

The APC state chairman, who is also a human rights lawyer however, advised parents to always allow their children choose courses of their choice, insisting that it is the only way the children can excel in their various fields of endeavour.

“Sometimes, you see in Nigeria, people choose courses for their children; you don’t decide that you want to have a lawyer. Allow the child to choose his own profession,” he stated.

Nwoye, described the legal profession as a noble field whose practitioners shape and design the society.

Explaining why he has continued to partner with the law students of the Catholic owned university over the years, the APC chieftain said there is the need to encourage the upcoming lawyers.

“We have to give back to the society; we have to encourage our students and we have to encourage our upcoming lawyers because you see nowadays, we have so many lawyers, but the truth is that we have very few good ones.

“Lawyers shape the society; you can’t see a better Nigeria without a better legal system. So, we have to catch them young and talk to them about their responsibilities.

“These people you see here today will be great lawyers tomorrow; some of them are going to be senior advocates, some judges both at the lower, middle and the Supreme Court levels.

In his remarks, the Dean, Faculty of Law, Godfrey Okoye University, Prof. Gozie Ogbodo, expressed appreciation to Dr. Nwoye for the warm reception, saying the institution is determined in changing the narrative of some of the challenges confronting the legal profession in Nigeria, including lawyers shying away from practicing their discipline, especially court attendance.

According to him, as part of measures to tackle some of the challenges as well as deepening the knowledge of its students in their chosen carriers, the university has incorporated in its curriculum compulsory court attachment for its students from 100 level to 500 level, so that every law student will always be attached to a chamber and to a court from 100 level to 500 level.