Avoiding Over-legislation by the 9th National Assembly

Charles Omole/

Legislations is never a replacement for Education. Globally, the urge to legislate for every possible bad human behaviour has been recognised as unnecessary. The 9th NA should avoid the temptation to see new laws as solutions to old and emerging misdemeanours and wrong behaviours of citizens. At the very least, they should focus on amending existing statues to extend their reach if necessary. Just crafting new laws for every single wrong behaviour is Over-Legislation.

It will make our body of laws cumbersome and can create enforcement confusion when there are several Acts that can be used to punish the same crime. On Hate speech; we have enough laws in place to enforce this. On regulation of Social Media; we have enough laws to enforce this.

And the list goes on. The NA should focus on encouraging Executive enforcement of existing laws rather than creating new laws.

Finally, the NA, should learn from the errors of the 7th and 8th NA; who created hundreds of needless Agencies with the laws they passed; which has in turn increased the cost of government. The 9th NA should adopt a policy of shutting down an existing Agency for any new one to be created. This will ensure we don’t add to the already unaffordable cost of running this bloated government estate.

New law is not a replacement for changing hearts and minds through education, orientation and creation of a more equal society. Too much law making creates a perception of disproportionate complexity in our legal landscape.

Historically, it has always been easier to legislate anew than to repeal or tweak old ones. This is a bad habit. For many in the NA; Legislation is perceived as a sign of action and therefore seen as a powerful communication tool. They can boast of how many laws they passed.

But the effectiveness and impact of these laws is never really considered. A more perfect body of law is needed to achieve a more perfect union. Too many similar laws relating to the same breach, creates needless complexity in our Jurisprudence. 9th NA should act with wisdom.

*Dr. Omole shared this article on Twitter via @DrCOmole.