AN APPRAISAL OF THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR LEGISLATIVE DRAFTING IN NIGERIA: PRINCIPLES, PRACTICES AND PROSPECTS

Abstract

Legislative drafting is the process through which policy proposals put forward by legislators, policy-makers and other stakeholders are converted into legislative bills which subsequently become Acts of Parliament, if they successfully pass through all the law-making stages and are assented to by the President. The legislative process entails bills undergoing sequential stages of drafting from the initial policy instructions to the final assent by the President. Using the doctrinal research methodology, this article examined the legal framework for legislative drafting in Nigeria, highlighting the core principles, operational practices and future prospects of legislative drafting in Nigeria. It reviewed the constitutional foundations of legislative drafting under the 1999 Constitution and the statutory guidance provided by the Interpretation Act, amongst others. It identified some systemic challenges flowing from inadequate legal framework, such as poor capacity, ambiguous language and institutional friction. The article also touched on the roles of bodies like the National Assembly Legal Drafting Department, the Legal Drafting Department of the Federal Ministry of Justice, the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS) and the Nigeria Law Reform Commission (NLRC). Ultimately, the article provided strategic recommendations for inclusion in a comprehensive legal framework or standard handbook, which should, among other things, establish a supervisory and monitoring body to oversee the legislative drafting discipline and practice in Nigeria; recognise the practice as a separate and distinct field of law; adopt modern plain language drafting standards and automated drafting technologies; and institutionalise capacity building to enhance statutory clarity and promote sustainable democratic governance.