Justice Abdullahi Zuru, a national of Nigeria, has been appointed as a consultant in the Parliamentary Drafting Division of the Ministry of Legal Affairs.
According to a statement issued by the ministry, Zuru holds a Master of Laws Degree (LL.M) from the University of Ottawa and was admitted to the Canadian Bar.
He has held numerous posts in his native Nigeria since the 1980s, including Secretary to the Law Reform Commission, Director of Legislative Drafting, and Solicitor General and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Justice, all in Sokoto State, Nigeria.
It was noted that in addition to his regular duties in these positions, he participated in a six-month National Law Reform Exercise to remove all pre-1900 English Statutes from the Nigerian Statute Books.
According to the ministry, in 1992, Zuru was appointed a Judge of the High Court, Kebbi State, Nigeria. In 1998, it added, the government of Zanzibar, Tanzania recruited him as its pioneer Chairman of the Law Reform Commission. During his tenure, it said, the laws of Zanzibar were revised. Additionally, during the same period he initiated the establishment of the Association of Eastern & Southern African Law Reform/Revision Commissions and acted as its Chairperson until he left Zanzibar.
The statement noted that in 2002, Zuru moved to UNDP Uganda to help the government of Uganda fight corruption and to participate in the activities of the Uganda Law Reform Commission.
In 2005, he moved to Fiji as consultant and Law Revision Commissioner in the Attorney-General’s Chambers, Suva. He was also called to the Fiji Bar in 2006.
Zuru also moved to the Caricom Secretariat as consultant on Legislative Drafting and Law Revision Consultant to member states. The statement said that in the Caribbean he has supervised the revision of the laws of Grenada and undertaken the revision of the Laws of Belize. He has also prepared a preliminary law revision format for the Commonwealth of Dominica, pending the permission from the Commonwealth Secretariat to commence the revision exercise. He has also revised the Laws of Antigua and Barbuda up to 2015.
Additionally, for Guyana, he had corrected errors and omissions made in the 2010 revised Laws of Guyana.
In addition to his regular scheduled law revision duties, the statement said Zulu participates in facilitating and providing the legislative drafting needs of the Caricom Member States as well as providing manpower training to the personnel of the Member States in legislative drafting and law revision.
