MLD https://ir.nilds.gov.ng//handle/123456789/43 2026-04-30T07:58:46Z 2026-04-30T07:58:46Z Nonso-Nwanze, Patience Egechi https://ir.nilds.gov.ng//handle/123456789/1601 2025-02-01T12:23:38Z 2024-07-01T00:00:00Z

The Imperative of Regulating Legislative Drafters in Nigeria Nonso-Nwanze, Patience Egechi Legislative drafters are vital for drafting legislation and transforming policies into law. Legislation is a permanent enactment that stands on its own and speaks for itself without assistance or explanation from the drafter. Legislative drafting hence requires professionals known as legislative drafters. This essential body currently has no regulation guiding it to maintain and control the ethics of the practice. Thus, the absence of regulation has often resulted in some poorly drafted legislation as some of the drafters are non-professionals or non-experts in legislative drafting. The primary objectives of this research are to examine the necessity of regulating the legislative drafters, to identify the effects of the non-regulation of legislative drafters, to determine the steps or measures to regulate the legislative drafters in Nigeria, and to understand the significance of regulating legislative drafters. The justification is ensuring that the legislative drafters are regulated to encourage good quality and effective legislation in Nigeria. The doctrinal methodology was applied for the research, with data collated from diverse Acts, judgments, legal principles, case laws, textbooks, journals, and statutes, and a literature review was carried out to see how effective some legislations were. The study compares some Acts that conflict with existing legislation that render them unconstitutional and of no effect, especially those that conflict with the Constitution. The study found the need to regulate legislative drafters as it was discovered that the after-effects of using non-professionals were observed in some Acts/Laws like the ICPC ACT, EFCC ACT, Electoral ACT, etc. Also, the finding is that regulating legislative drafters is an added advantage to the profession as it promotes that field of law. The study recommends stopping or reducing poor quality or ineffective legislation to have a regulation guiding all legislative drafters. This study recommends enacting an Act by the National Assembly to regulate legislative drafters as obtained in other professions such as the Dental Council of Nigeria, the Council of Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, etc. This will also align with international best practices as done in countries like Somalia, Canada, and the USA. This research finally suggests that the National Assembly in addition to the regulation may enact an Act like the Legislative Negligence Act, similar to the Canada 2003 Act which states that, if a drafter drafts a Bill that results in litigation, then the salary of the drafter will be deducted until the litigation is over. This will promote seriousness and carefulness among legislative drafters in Nigeria.

2024-07-01T00:00:00Z Omole, Ronke Suzan https://ir.nilds.gov.ng//handle/123456789/1600 2025-02-01T12:23:27Z 2024-03-01T00:00:00Z

An Appraisal of Legislative Drafting Rules: A Focus on the Electoral Act, 2022 Omole, Ronke Suzan The effectiveness of legislation relies in its capacity to communicate legislative intent clearly to stakeholders. However, certain legislative documents persist in using outdated drafting styles, leading to ambiguity in interpretation. Additionally, the absence of adherence to gender-neutral principles within legislation introduces further complexity, potentially implying gender exclusivity within defined roles. This research examined the adherence of the Electoral Act, 2022, to fundamental principles of legislative drafting; it addressed concerns surrounding clarity, gender neutrality, and ambiguity within the legislative text. This research paper aims to conduct a comprehensive examination of legislative drafting rules, with a specific focus on the Electoral Act of 2022. The central objective of this research was to explore the intricacies of legislative drafting and to what extent these principles applied to the drafting of the Electoral Act, 2022. The justification of the study lies in its potential to improve legislative drafting practices, enhance the quality of the Electoral Act, 2022, and contribute to the governance landscape. The research adopted the doctrinal approach against the non-doctrinal. This approach is usually regarded as desk or library research. It is concerned with ascertaining the consequences; usually legal; of a fact situation. It seeks information that is already in the public domain. The Doctrinal approach was the primary research option of this research as it directly enquired into the state of law shorn of arguments. It is, in this sense, practical research as distinct from pure or applied research. This approach used documented work in organising materials and also sought information from primary and secondary sources such as statutes, decided cases, relevant textbooks and journals. In line with the central objective of exploring the intricacies of legislative drafting rules and to what extent these rules were applied to the drafting of the Electoral Act, 2022, the key findings underscored the imperative to adopt a modern approach to legislative drafting within the Electoral Act, 2022. Beyond gender neutrality, the analysis revealed deficiencies in clarity, precision, and legal certainty within the legislative text. Ambiguities and gaps within the Act posed challenges in interpretation and implementation, necessitating comprehensive revisions to enhance legislative effectiveness. To enhance the efficacy of the Electoral Act, 2022, the study recommended the need to adopt a holistic approach to legislative drafting, addressing not only gender neutrality but also clarity, precision, and legal certainty. Implementing comprehensive legislative scrutiny mechanisms and providing inclusive language training are crucial steps towards promoting fairness and equity in electoral processes. Enhancing clarity and precision in legislative language, alongside adherence to modern drafting norms, strengthens the Act's compatibility with international frameworks and best practices. In conclusion, by adopting these recommendations, policymakers can ensure that the Electoral Act upholds the highest standards of legislative quality and serves as a reliable framework for democratic governance, ultimately contributing to fair and inclusive electoral processes.

2024-03-01T00:00:00Z Ogoh, Patience Ajuma https://ir.nilds.gov.ng//handle/123456789/1599 2025-02-01T12:23:10Z 2023-04-01T00:00:00Z

Post- Legislative Scrutiny in Nigeria: A Review of the Implementation of the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act, 2015 Ogoh, Patience Ajuma As a growing concern, the notion that the primary problem confronting Nigeria is not the sufficiency of laws, but rather the implementation of the laws passed, demonstrates that the idea of relegating Parliamentary post-legislative scrutiny of law as an oversight function is a stumbling block to the advancement of our democracy and good governance. Consequently, this research work was set out to achieve the following objectives: first, to understand the meaning and import of Post- Legislative Scrutiny; second, it explore the legal frameworks of Post- Legislative scrutiny in Nigeria; it also identified the challenges of the application of post-Legislative scrutiny in Nigeria; and lastly proffered ways to improve Post-Legislative scrutiny in Nigeria. The justification of the study was to proffer ways to strengthen the oversight function of parliament. The doctrinal method of research was adopted to achieve the set-out objectives. Doctrinal research methodology was adopted because this research work was a research into law as a normative science, and research into law as it stands in the books. To this end, statutes such as the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was taken into context, the Violence against Persons (Prohibition) Act, 2015 (VAPPA) was critically examined. Standing Orders of the House of Representatives was also examined, while the opinions of several scholars and writers on the subject were also interrogated. The following findings were made: first, there is no provision for Post Legislative scrutiny under the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic, as amended. The nearest attempt is the oversight function of Parliament. Secondly, Post-Legislative scrutiny in Nigeria is still unstructured, and unlabeled and parliament is still grappling with the concept. Thirdly, the Report systems as provided under section 42 of the VAPPA, leave the channel for reporting vague. Lastly, many scholars have reduced PLS to being the business of parliament with regards to Primary Acts of Parliament, with little or no consideration for delegated legislation. The recommendations to the findings in this research work were: first, to amend the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to stipulate the powers and duty to undertake Post Legislative Scrutiny in the same way that the Oversight function is provided; the result of which is to strengthen oversight power of parliament. Secondly, it recommended the National Assembly take steps to ensure a structured and well-designed PSL system through Law Reform. Thirdly, it further recommended Post-legislative scrutiny to be conducted between 3-5 years after the enactment of the legislation under scrutiny; and last recommended further again that priority should also be given to subsidiary legislations in the consideration for PLS. In conclusion, therefore, the broad objective of this research was intended to achieve a structured and well-labelled system of Post-Legislative scrutiny in Nigeria. The findings and recommendations proffered herein is believed by the researcher to be a step in the right direction towards achieving the stated objective.

2023-04-01T00:00:00Z Ibuzor, Patrick Chinedu https://ir.nilds.gov.ng//handle/123456789/1597 2025-02-01T12:22:48Z 2023-05-01T00:00:00Z

An Evaluation of the Practice of Drafting Constitutional Review in Nigeria and the United States of America Ibuzor, Patrick Chinedu Societies react to changes in their environment by adjustments, but leading the adjustments among other factors are laws with constitutions as the flagship. This requires that constitutions have to be adjusted to allow societies to achieve their aspirations. Nonetheless, how this constitution adjustment also known as constitution review put down in documents for effectual comprehension of society varies from one country to another, giving rise to the objective of this research which is to evaluate the sufficiency and paucity of the constitution review drafting style of Nigeria and the United States of America in terms of forms and methods of drafting them and the use of legislative structure and plain language. Thus, due to the increasing need for constitutional review provisions to promote the accessibility of review bills, ensure clarity in the transition from the old provisions to the new ones, and in the application of legislative structure, this research is apt as it proffers solutions to these impinging problems in drafting constitution reviews in Nigeria and the United States of America. For effective research on the topic, doctrinal research methodology was considered, while primary sources of data such as constitutions and secondary sources such as textbooks were consulted. This is possible because this research does not require interviews or responses from individuals or groups on the subject. The outcome of these assessments and exploration presents clear divergence and convergence practices in the application of legislative structure and plain language, and in the methods and forms in which review of constitutional provisions are drafted. On this backdrop, this research found among other things that the incremental form of drafting constitution review provisions in Nigeria proves riotous as it promotes the proliferation of constitution review bills. It is also found that there is a strong palpability of combining direct and indirect methods of drafting constitution review in Nigeria and the United States of America for a better understanding of its impact by their legislative audience. And while the use of plain language has gained momentum in global legislative drafting, the scheme is still oscillating in both jurisdictions. Therefore, it is recommended that drafters of the Nigerian constitution should revert to non incremental form of constitutional alteration system that discouraged the proliferation of constitution review bills; that direct and indirect methods of drafting constitutional review by fused to produce a third but more perfect option for drafting constitutional review; and that plain language should remain the focal point in that regard. Research on this topic is virtually novel, as a result, there is an opportunity to expose in a comparative sense knowledge on various styles of drafting constitutional review applicable to both countries. In addition, it is anticipated that further research is required on certain areas of the subjects for full development and broadening of knowledge and practice of drafting constitutional review provision.

2023-05-01T00:00:00Z