Nigeria: Did Lagos Get It Wrong in Enacting Waterways Act?

21 September 2009

Lagos — The Lagos State government recently through its House of Assembly enacted the Lagos State Waterways Authority Act. The law established the Lagos State Waterways Authority and saddled the agency inter alia with the regulation and management of the "internal waterways" of Lagos State. The Lagos State Government claimed that it exercised its powers pursuant to the provisions of Section 315 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 which purportedly empowered it to repeal an existing law. The Lagos State government argued that by the said provision, it had the power to repeal the National Inland Waterways Authority Act, Cap N47, LFN, 2004 ("NIWA Act") which vested the powers over the inland waterways of Nigeria in the National Inland Waterways Authority. ("NIWA")

The issue agitating lawyers and their clients alike is whether the Lagos State government and the Lagos State House of Assembly acted in accordance with the tenets of the law in repealing the NIWA Act and purporting to replace same with the Lagos State Waterways Authority Act.

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