The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), has inaugurated a 46 member-committee of legal experts to review, update and consolidate all Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (LFN).
Fagbemi inaugurated the committee on Thursday in Abuja.
The Syndicate reports that the committee is jointly chaired by a former Ekiti State Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice, Mr Olawale Fapohunda (SAN), and the Chairman of the Nigerian Law Reform Commission (NLRC), Prof. Jummai Audi.
Fagbemi said the initiative is to promote rule of law, ensure better access to justice, advance legal reforms and promote socio-economic growth in the country.
The AGF expressed concern about the country’s inability to update the laws of the federation since 2004 to allow for clarity, predictability, consistency and uniformity.
Fagbemi said the general purpose of any law is to protect public interest as well as regulate human behaviours and interactions between corporate entities.
The AGF stressed that law is dynamic and constantly evolving, hence the need for continuous review or reform of the body of laws (corpus juris) to address contemporary socio-economic developments, resolve conflicting and obsolete provisions with the ultimate aim of improving the administration of justice and promotion of the rule of law.
The committee is to coordinate the collection, collation and compilation of Nigeria Laws up to 2024, work with relevant government agencies in harmonising the laws up to 2024 and crosscheck, edit and proof-read all the legislations to be collected.
It is also to identify all legislations not included in the 2004 edition of the LFN and update same, as well as identify outdated or redundant laws in the current LFN that need to be repealed, and to merge laws addressing related matters to eliminate redundancy.
The committee will prepare a comprehensive report of its findings and submit to the Attorney General within six months.
Fagbemi urged the committee’s members to work in synergy and exhibit patriotism in the overall interest of the nation.
The AGF hoped that the report of the committee and copies of the draft volumes of Laws of the Federation 2024 would be ready within the six-month time frame.
