By Haruna Salami
The Nigeria 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 was 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 Central).
In his lead debate, Senator Shehu 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.
The Borno lawmaker 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 31st December 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He further said the laws further repealed the revised edition (Laws of the Federation of Nigeria) Act 1990.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.
Shehu who disclosed that the motion was quite distinct from the Constitution alteration bill which the National Assembly used to embark on , said with the current political will, the 10th National Assembly under Godswill Akpabio will achieve this before the end of its tenure.
