Stages In The Process Of Law Making In Nigeria

In this article i will extensively explain the the
process of passing a bill into law in Nigeria. If
you have been stuffing the internet to know
how laws are made in Nigeria, this is the right
post for you to read. I enjoin you to read
painstakingly as I will carefully explain every
stage.
After conducting a lot of keyword research and
opinion pulls on the street last week, I found
that many Nigeria's do not know how laws are
made in the country. A man ignorantly told me
that it is even the president that is responsible
for all the harsh local and federal laws in
Nigeria.
This is not really good as a citizen of Nigeria. I
mean, the procedure for making laws in Nigeria
is something every Nigerian should know. It
doesn't matter whether you attended formal
education or not. It is incumbent on you to
know the process of law making in your
country.
Well, knowing fully well that many citizens
don't really know the process of law making in
Nigeria, i thought it wise to make a
comprehensive article, explaining the different
stages in the process of law making in Nigeria.
In other words, i will be teaching you the stages
of law making in Nigeria today. But before,
going into the crux of this article, i would like to
define some terms that will help you
understand when i start to explain them.
What is a bill?
Wikipedia postulates that a bill is proposed
legislation under consideration by a legislature.
It does not become law until it is passed by the
legislature and, in most cases, approved by the
executive. Once a bill has been enacted into
law, it is called an act of the legislature, or a
statute.
In short and simple English, a bill is a proposed
law to be discussed in the parliament in order to
become law. There are basically two types of
bills viz: public bills and the private bills.
Public bills may be initiated by a Minister, in
which case they are referred to as “government
bills”. They may also be initiated by private
Members, in which case they are called “private
Members’ bills”. On the other hand, the purpose
of a private bill is to exempt a person or group
of persons, including a corporate person, from
the application of a statute.
Stages for passing a bill into law in Nigeria
Below are the stages in the process of law
making in Nigeria:
First reading:
At this stage, the draft of the bill is presented to
the clerk of the house. It will be printed in
leaflet and circulated to all members. Members
of the parliament will be notified about the
presence of such bill by the clerk and the date
for second reading will be fixed.
Second reading:
Apparently, this is the second stage in the
process of law making in Nigeria. At this stage,
the person that introduced the bill to the house
will explain the purpose of the bill to the house.
Members will then debate on the bill, whether
to be read second time or not. If voted in
favour, the bill will move to the next stage. It
should be noted however, that amendment is
not entertained at this stage.
Committee stage:
This the the third and very important stage in
the passing of bills into law in Nigeria. Here, the
bill is referred to the a committee. It can be a
committee of the whole house or standing
committee depending on the importance of the
bill. Amendment is made to the bill at this stage
and then, it will be moved to the next stage.
Report stage:
The report stage will immediately follow the
committee stage. Here, the findings of the
committee will be reported to the house after
all the amendments have been made.
Conversely, the amended form of the bill will be
read by the Chairman of the committee on that
day.
Third reading:
This is the final stage of the bill with the
parliament and a thorough attention is given to
the bill in order to correct all error with draft.
Now, a final vote is also given to the bill and if
the house agrees, it will move to the last stage.
This house will also make sure that passing such
bill will not bring about an obnoxious law into
the Nigerian legal system.
Assent:
A duly passed bill by the house will now be
sent to the president for his assent. When the
president assents to the bill, it will automatically
become a law and it will be binding on every
citizen of Nigeria.
It should be noted however, that where the
president fails to give his assent within 30 days,
the parliament can automatically make that bill
a law if it is passed in the same form it was
sent to the President by two-third majority vote
in both Chambers (sanate and representatives).
Conclusion:
Yeah! That is all I have on the process of
passing a bill into law in Nigeria. It is very
pivotal that you know these stages as a citizen
of Nigeria. Even if you are not a student or a
scholar, this is one of the primary things every
Nigerian should know.
Hope this article was helpful? Well, if you still
have questions or contributions to make, you
can send them via the comment box below. I
will be glad to here from you!
By: Edeh Samuel Chukwuemeka

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