The Nigerian Senate on Tuesday mandated its committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters to immediately initiate the process of revising the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004. This, the Senate said, should be done in conjunction with the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation.
The move to review the laws followed a motion sponsored by Sheu Kaka (APC, Borno Central) during Tuesday’s plenary.
Leading the debate, Kaka noted 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 December 31, 2002.
The Laws of the Federation of Nigeria is an alphabetical compilation of laws operative in Nigeria which are updated regularly. The compilation of the laws was carried out under the authority of the Attorney General of the Federation.
The lawmaker added that the 2024 legal document was subsequently approved by the National Assembly through the Revised Edition (Laws of the Federation of Nigeria) Act, 2007 which repealed the Revised Edition (Laws of the Federation of Nigeria) Act 1990.
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He also noted that there was an attempt to revise the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria in 2010 but this effort had no legal framework of the National Assembly approving it. Kaka expressed worry that the laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 has not been revised nineteen (19) years after, with the implication that the several laws enacted in Nigeria from 1st January 2003 till date remain excluded from the compilation.
He expressed concerns 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of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 has not only left numerous statutes out of the compilation, but also retained many repealed statutes with the attendant confusions and other negative impacts;
“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.
“Revision of the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 is long overdue and as such will be in the interest of democratic governance in Nigeria to commence the revision process without further delay”, he said.
