I wish to express my gratitude to the Promoters of this project for the opportunity given to me to share my thoughts on the subject matter, which I consider very timely and expedient in the development of our democratic process, particularly now the country is at the dawn of a new Administration and the emergence of the Tenth Assembly. There is no doubt that lawmaking is a critical factor in the successof any democracy and the Executive and Parliamentary Draftspersons are at the centre of ensuring the drafting of appropriate and implementable legislation that drives democracy.

Legislative drafting goes beyond the drafting of the law. It commenceswith the development of a well-researched policy on the subject and assessment of the socio-economic and political impact of the policy, as well as fiscal and financialconcerns ensuing from the policy if adopted.It also considers the global trends and international dimensions on the subject. Policies further require the approval of relevant Government authorities at different levels of governance, particularly the Federal Executive Council, where it will be exposed to authorities operating the different sectors to analyse it from different angles including the National Development Plan. Legislation is subsequently developed along the policy considerations. Draftspersons take cognisance of all these in their preparatory research on the subject matter of a bill. The ultimate aim is to ensure that any bill drafted is Constitutional, fit-for-purpose, unambiguous, does not impose a huge financial burden on the populace, and avoids all the pitfalls that result in the decline of assent by the President.

This paper seeks to bring to the fore recurring reasons for withholding or declining assent to bills by the President. It is hoped that this paper will serve as a checklist for drafting bills, reduce the number of bills that declined assent and further the relationship between the Executive and the Legislature in the coming Administration. I see great benefits in this interaction for the nation.

This Paper does not intend to delve into the elementary of defining legislative drafting, however, to create a proper linkage between the way the mind of a legislative draftsperson works, permit I will briefly look at the keywords in this discussion and other preliminary issues in legislative drafting before going into the substantive issue for discussion.