In a bid to improve skills and expertise in legislative drafting and support services to the 36 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, the federal government has commenced a special training and certification for legislative drafters and lawyers in the country.
Organized jointly by the Federal Ministry of Justice and the Ethics and Corporate Compliance Institute of Nigeria, the program is aimed at bridging the gap in that specialized area in Nigeria.
Speaking in Abuja after a Juma’at service on Friday, a technical advisor to the program and a subject matter expert Sir, Agabaidu Jideani said that “the need has been identified for Nigeria to develop and implement a uniform framework for the improvement of legislation and other instruments in all the 36 states and the FCT as well as the federal government itself through enhanced skills and expertise of the legislative drafters.”
What is prevalent in the country today, he noted, is an unorganized approach to legislative drafting such that drafting skills, style and philosophy differ from state to state and among the various ministries of justice and the various legislative houses – hence the need for a uniform training and harmonization of positions to enable properly drafted bills, instruments and legislations contribute to national development.
He highlighted the gains of the program to include bringing together legal officers of the various public institutions with the power to make regulations as well as private practitioners and drafters from the 36 states and the FCT.
Representative of the Ministry, Mrs Mercy One noted that the lack of a unified system of legislative drafting coupled with a lack of relevant proficiencies within the states and the FCT resulted in very poor quality of bills and legislation over the years
According to her, good quality legislation enhances economic development and improvement in the standard of living of the people.
Obe maintained that more than 80 per cent of the bills submitted in the various State Houses of Assembly, as well as the National Assembly,In a bid to improve skills and expertise in legislative drafting and support services to the 36 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, the federal government has commenced a special training and certification for legislative drafters and lawyers in the country. are poorly drafted, not properly thought out and not intended to serve any national development function but solely submitted so that the legislator would be listed in the media as having sponsored many bills.
Observers at the event commended the Federal Ministry of Justice and the Ethics and Corporate Compliance Institute of Nigeria for putting the program together, noting that targeted training and capacity enhancement is required because legislative drafting is a specialized area of legal practice which is not taught at the undergraduate levels in Nigerian Universities.
In its remark the Abuja Branch of the Nigerian Bar Association, Unity Bat, commended the initiative, saying it would pact positively on Nigeria and Nigerians in the years ahead