The Nigerian Senate has mandated its Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters to immediately interface with Office of the Attorney General of the Federation to initiate the process of reviewing the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
It said the review was further based on directives as deemed expedient and appropriate in the circumstances.
Senate resolution is sequel to adoption of a motion on “Urgent need to commence revision of the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria which has remained unrevised for almost two decades”sponsored by Senator Kaka, Shehu Lawan (APC- Borno).
Senator Shehu in his lead debate said the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (LFN) was an alphabetical compilation of laws operative in Nigeria which are updated on a regular basis.
He said the compilation of the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria was carried out under the authority of the Attorney General of the Federation, subject to the approval of the National Assembly through an Act.
Senator Shehu said that the last and extant compilation of the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria was in 2004 which reckoned with all statutes existing in the federation as of 31 Dec.2002.
According to him, the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 was subsequently approved by the National Assembly through the revised edition (Laws of the Federation of Nigeria) Act, 2007.
He further said the laws further repealed the revised edition (Laws of the Federation of Nigeria) Act 1990.
Shehu said the statutes in the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 were enacted in different years before and after Nigeria’s independence even though they were all cited as “LFN 2004”.
He said the laws consists of 16 volumes, with each volume made up of several statutes organised in an alphanumeric order.
Senator Shehu said there was an attempt to revise the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria in 2010 but the effort had no legal framework of the National Assembly approving it.
He expressed worry that the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 has not been revised in the last 19 years, with the implication that the several laws enacted in Nigeria from 1 January 2003 till date remain excluded from the compilation.
He also expressed concern that the continued non-revision of the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 has not only left numerous statutes out of the compilation, but also retained many repealed statutes with the attendant confusions and other negative impacts.
According to him, the non-compilation of the several federal statutes leads to dearth of knowledge of many existing laws on the part of Nigerians, especially students, lecturers, researchers, lawyers, legislators, and judges among others.
He said that revision of the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 was long overdue and would be in the interest of democratic governance in Nigeria to commence the revision process without further delay.
