| dc.description.abstract | ABSTRACT
The Federal Capital Territory Customary Court Act, 2007 (hereafter called “the Act”) is the enabling legislation establishing the Federal Capital Territory Customary Court (hereafter called “the FCTCC”). Obsolete drafting dimensions, convoluted expressions, ambiguous provisions and the use of gender specific terms which indicate ambiguities and unintended inconsistencies are some of the problems with the Act which necessitated this research. The objectives of this dissertation included a review of the long title of the Act so that it captures and reflects its purpose to a certain extent. The study recommended the use of marginal notes effectively as internal aids to Statutory Interpretation. This dissertation proposed an amendment of the FCTCC to comply with plain language and gender-neutral drafting principles. Enhanced applicability of the jurisdiction of the FCTCC in the administration of Justice is another gap filled. The study also identified legislative drafting improvements that necessitated the proposed amendment bill annexed to this dissertation.
Using a doctrinal research method to actualize all the objectives and to come up with the findings tied to all the questions of the research, both primary and secondary sources were used. The primary sources include: Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as altered), the Federal Capital Territory Customary Court Act 2007, some recent legislations like the Students Loans (Access to Higher Education) Act, 2023 and judicial decisions while the secondary sources include: Legislative Drafting journals, articles, Law review texts, online/internet sources among others, to identify the weaknesses and gaps in the Act.
The finding on the first objective is that the use of bold/capital/uppercase letters in the long title is not justifiable. The research addressed the second and third objectives by identifying the absence of marginal notes for sections 39, 40, 41, 42 and 43 with a proposed amendment with relevant marginal notes. The fourth research objective scrutinized the intricacy present in both the language and the stylistic elements of the legislation; as a result, it opened up the need to amend sections 2, 25, 14 and 18 adopting plain language and gender-neutral terms. Also, the fifth objective unveiled aids in improving the quality of legislations.
This research recommended an amendment to correct the wrong/inappropriate use of uppercase/bold/capital letters in the long title and the use of the new and existing enacting formula. In line with the findings, the proposed amendment bill contains an explanatory memorandum which offers sufficient clarification on the intentions of the newly introduced legal framework, helping to interpret the act in case of disputes about its actual purpose. This research further provided a proposed amendment to sections 2, 25 and 14 of the Act with adequate use of clarity, simplicity and plain language. This dissertation contributes to law reform and development in Nigeria, advocating for a more effective and culturally sensitive approach to the administration of justice in the FCT. A Bill for an Act to amend the Federal Capital Territory Customary Court Act is proposed and added as an annexure to this dissertation. | en_US |
