CONSULTANT in the Ministry of Legal Affairs, Justice Abdullahi Zuru, passed away recently due to illness, the ministry said in a release.
Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams and members of his staff, last Friday paid tribute to the late Justice Zuru at a special gathering at the ministry’s boardroom. Williams remembered Zuru as “a man of great intellect, who was principled and religious and with a passion for reforming the law.” The Attorney General further stated that the late Justice Zuru had even managed to impress the President of Guyana, His Excellency David Granger, with his great work ethic and progressive thinking.
During the ceremony, several members of staff were unanimous in their description of their late colleague’s work style and ethic which they described as “dedicated and committed.” Justice Zuru was also described as an advocate for legal professional development and continuing legal education, whose belief was that with proper mentorship, young attorneys could become office holders who would dispense their functions with integrity and impartiality.

Though based in Guyana, Justice Zuru was a national of Nigeria, and a former Solicitor General and Judge of the High Court in Nigeria. Justice Zuru had also worked worldwide as a Law Revision Consultant. During his life, Justice Zuru moved to the CARICOM Secretariat as a consultant involved in Legislative Drafting and Law Revision to the member states of the organisation. In the Caribbean, he supervised the revision of the Laws of Grenada done by LexisNexis. He also undertook the revision of the Laws of Belize which are being published by the Regional Law Revision Centre in Anguilla. Justice Zuru had also prepared a preliminary law revision format for the Commonwealth of Dominica and he also revised the Laws of Antigua and Barbuda.

In Guyana, he was involved in correcting errors and omissions made in the 2010 revised Laws of Guyana, as well as, providing manpower training to the personnel of the member states in legislative drafting and law revision. He was also involved in training members of the legal staff in the use and application of the new civil procedure rules.
Shortly before he died, Justice Zuru was actively involved in laying the groundwork for the establishment of the Law Reform Commission.