The Lagos State Government has begun a comprehensive review of more than 250 state laws to identify outdated provisions, overlapping mandates, and legal gaps that hamper governance and service delivery.
The Lagos State Law Reform Commission, with technical support from the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, is conducting the exercise and expects to determine which laws should be retained, amended, consolidated, repealed, or replaced.
The review comes against the backdrop of decades of rapid urbanisation, economic expansion, technological change and population growth in Lagos, with the state’s legal framework comprising laws enacted across different periods.
Executive Secretary of LAWRECOM, Oluyemisi Ogunlola, said the audit would test whether existing laws remained relevant to the realities of contemporary Lagos and whether institutional responsibilities were clearly defined.
She identified the Administration of Estates Law, enacted in 1959, and the 1969 law on abandoned properties as examples of older legislation still contained in the state’s legal framework despite subsequent legal developments.
“Law reform cannot be undertaken in-depth without a proper audit,” Ogunlola said, stressing the need for laws to be periodically reviewed as society changes.
Beyond outdated provisions, the audit will examine conflicting and duplicated laws, regulatory uncertainties and overlapping responsibilities among government institutions.
LAWRECOM said the exercise would produce an authoritative inventory of the state’s laws and a prioritised framework for future legislative action.
The Director of Research at NIALS, Prof Emmanuel Okon, who leads the institute’s technical team, pledged the institute’s competence and commitment to the assignment.
The commission said the outcome of the review would provide a basis for systematically updating Lagos’ legal framework and strengthening its capacity to support governance, investment, innovation and socio-economic development.