By Saminu Ibrahim
Attorney-General of the Federation and Minster of Justice, AbubakarMalami, SAN has applauded the activities of the Nigerian Institute ofAdvanced Legal Studies for rendering valuable services in the country.
Malami made this known in a speech at 2020 founders’ day lectureorganised by Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies on Tuesdayin Abuja.
This is contained in a statement issued by Dr. Umar Jibrilu Gwandu,Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations Office of theAttorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice and madeavailable to newsmen on Tuesday 17th March, 2020.
“I must commend the Institute for its special relationship with theMinistry of Justice, as the Institute enjoys a symbiotic relationshipwith my office. This has made the attainment of its statutory mandateassured and meaningful,” the Minister has said.
Malami said the Institute is very supportive to its parentMinistry in form of ground breaking researches and capacity buildingfor our Law Officers.
“I recall that we often turn to the Institute when dealing withemerging areas of law such as Anti-Terrorism Law and Practice, ICT andCybercrime laws, etc,”
Speaking on the theme “Nigeria In Quest of Good Governance, Law andBeyond Law”, he said the ideals of those concepts however seem to have beencontinually and continuously been flouted by most African states.
He recalled that some scholars have argued that the ideal of goodgovernance has continued to elude most states of African descent,because of the twin problems of endemic corruption and basic departurefrom the rule of law and constitutionalism.
“Thus African states have been accused of having ‘constitutions withoutthe spirit of constitutionalism’; of having laws without respect forthe rule of law; and of ‘creating poverty out of God given wealth’ dueto lack of good governance.
Malami noted that rule of law, being one of the key-components of goodgovernance, plays a significant role in fine-tuning the requiredleadership style that is geared towards the attainment of a bettersociety, hence the need for every nation/political entity andorganisation to assimilate and indoctrinate same.
The Minister said being a formidable instrument of social change, lawis used by mankind in addressing social vices and in paving ways fororderly society, where peace and development thrives. “Indeed, law hasproved to be inevitable phenomenon in a quest for good governance,” hesaid.
“By the appropriate utilization of the instrumentality of ourlegislature, we have been able to sponsored good number of bills tothe National Assembly in complementing the efforts of PresidentMuhammadu Buhari to bring about the much-needed good governance in ourdear nation”.
The Minister said President Muhammadu Buhari’s led administration in its unrelenting fight against corruption which manifestly has yielded unquantifiable excellent results in the eradication of corruptpractices and enthronement of good governance in Nigeria.
