The study examined enforcement of the rule of law as the new paradigm for sustainable national development. Specifically, the study investigated the relationships between the rule of law and national development. The study adopted qualitative research approach which depended largely on secondary data collected through review of extant literature. The study was anchored on modernization theory propounded by Tamaha (1995). The study finds that if the rule of law is taken in to account, it can serve national development to the extent of better development to the betterment of the government and its citizens. Furthermore rule of law advances the development in the process of changing it as the given nation requires. Such development provides restoring confidence and transforming the institutions that produce citizen security, justice and jobs as they are the major roles of rule of law. It was thus recommended that development of emerging nations should be the focal point of the political class while legal frameworks that will hasten this sustainable development should be instituted.