Malami Inaugurates Nigerian Law Reform Commission

The Attorney-general and Minister of Justice at the Federal Ministry of Justice, Abubakar Malami on Thursday inaugurated the Nigerian Law Reform Commission.

Malami named Professor Jummai Audu as the Chairman; Barr. Bassey Dan-Abia -Commissioner; Hon. Muhammad Ibraheem – Commissioner and Dr Muhammad Aminu as the Secretary of the commission.

The Nigerian Law Reform Commission was established in July 1979 by the Nigerian Law Reform Commission Act, Cap. N118, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

The Commission since then has been placed under the ministerial supervision of the Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, chaired by a Chairman.

The Functions of the Commission according to the Minister of Justice is to, generally take and keep under review all Federal Laws with a view to their systematic and progressive development and reform in consonance with the prevailing norms of the Nigerian society.

He said the Commission may also provide expert advice and information to Federal Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies, the National Assembly or other bodies with regards to proposals for the reform or amendment of laws.

The Commission is also empowered to consider proposals for reform of State Laws from any State, group of States or all the States in the Federation and submit reports thereon to the appropriate Attorney-General or Attorneys-General.

In his words, Malami said that “Generally, scholars regarded law reform as the process of weeding out and replacing the obsolete laws within the legal system to attune the applicable laws to the prevailing realities and norms in the society.

“Therefore, the importance of law reform cannot be overemphasized because of its relevance to the socio-economic and political development of any nation. It is uniformly agreed that law as an instrument of social engineering always served as the instrumentality of meaningful reform in any civilized society.

“With this in mind, the Nigerian Law Reform Commission (Commission) was established in Nigeria through Decree No. 7 of 1979 with a view to keeping Nigerian laws in a perpetual review.”

He urged the newly inaugurated members of the commission to discharge their functions and be guided by the extant provisions of the commission’s constitution.