Law Makers Research Articles

New Perspectives in Combating Child Trafficking and the Shift to an Effective Child Protection in Nigeria

The Article examines the challenging issues of child trafficking and the new perspective in combating the phenomenon in Nigeria. It shows the multiplicity and the complex nature of the problem which has social, cultural and political underpinnings. The lack of genuine political will and focus on addressing the factors per se contributes to the perpetuation of the phenomenon. The need for the identification and eradication of child trafficking has become a matter of urgency, hence a particular attention from authorities and all stakeholders is deemed an imperative. The article focuses on the legal and political approach adopted by Nigerian law and policy makers in recent years. The article evaluates the achievements made through various actions undertaken to eliminate the phenomenon. It concludes that there are shortcomings although the new approaches adopted as the Nigerian authorities have yet to deliver in the area of child trafficking and the protection of children’s rights.

MODIFICATION OF PUBLIC CONTRACT: BETWEEN RULE OF FAIR COMPETITION AND FREEDOM OF CONTRACT PRINCIPLE

It is internationally accepted that public procurement procedure and public contract shall be organized in accordance with the fair competition principle and fulfil the requirement of transparency. Public procurement regulations are necessary to secure the efficient use of taxpayer resources by the government in purchasing goods, services and works from the market and to ensure fair competition among the public contract should be protected and that therefore it would be necessary to amend existing regulations which prohibit or restrict this right derived from freedom of contract. In addition, law makers should also put in place restriction with regard to corporate restructuring which main intention is to circumvent requirements of tender documents.

MODIFICATION OF PUBLIC CONTRACT: BETWEEN RULE OF FAIR COMPETITION AND FREEDOM OF CONTRACT PRINCIPLE

It is internationally accepted that public procurement procedure and public contract shall be organized in accordance with the fair competition principle and fulfil the requirement of transparency. Public procurement regulations are necessary to secure the efficient use of taxpayer resources by the government in purchasing goods, services and works from the market and to ensure fair competition among the public contract should be protected and that therefore it would be necessary to amend existing regulations which prohibit or restrict this right derived from freedom of contract. In addition, law makers should also put in place restriction with regard to corporate restructuring which main intention is to circumvent requirements of tender documents.

Actions Speak Louder Than Words: Examining the Relationship Between Violent Behaviors and Bullying Victimization Among Adolescents

Abstract Incidences of traditional bullying and cyberbullying have received national attention and have increased concerns of law makers and education officials regarding prevalence and the potenti...

Conflict Theory in Relation to Cyber Crime Act NO.14 of 2015

Conflict theory is one among the theory of Criminology developed by Durkheim, Emile and Karl Marx. When there are two sides of different opinions or views on the same matter that is where a contradiction occurs. When contradiction occurs creates a room for conflicts, quarrels, chaos or misunderstanding between the same person(s) as it creates classes or division of people. This is where conflict theory emerged as it refers to the misunderstanding between two or more person(s) who are in different positions of power and authority on a particular matter. Due to such misunderstanding between such persons, crime is unquestionably emerging. I have decide to use Cyber Crime Act NO.14 of 2015 in connection with Conflict Theory due to the number of criticism that have been provided by some institutions, lawyers, journalists and other people who claims that some of the provisions of the Act are unconstitutional hence affects some fundamental rights of human beings therefore creates division of classes between the law makers and the law compliers, as those who are suppose to comply with the law feels that such provisions were created to humiliate them. If such provisions were created to humiliate them, then they are not fit for the purpose of protecting the public interest. In that case if people decide not to comply with the said provisions, they will be deemed to commit crime as stipulate by the Act itself. Therefore, creating a possibility on the existence of conflict between those who are arguing against such provisions and those who created the law.

Culpa in Contrahendo, Promissory Estoppel, Pre-Contractual Good Faith and Irredeemable Acts

Abstract Concepts of pre-contractual good faith, culpa in contrahendo and promissory estoppel have received increasing attention from legal scholars, law makers and practitioners. Those concepts appear as fundamental in all civil and common law systems and yet as ones whose nature and contents are still ill-defined. Moreover, recent doctrinal developments in Chinese and in the modernized French Law of contracts call for further systematic assessment. This paper fills the gap by providing an evaluation of the English, French, German and Chinese law of contracts. It offers a comparative law and economics evaluation and argues that those duties serve as a multi-functional judicial mechanism enabling ex post screening between socially desirable and undesirable behavior. They set the behavioral standards and serve as deterrence mechanisms that attempt to discourage certain socially undesirable behaviour in the course of the negotiations. The paper seeks to find out what new light the comparative law and economic analysis can shed on the issues of pre-contractual good faith, culpa in contrahendo and promissory estoppel to help to clarify it.

Path Dependence and Paradox in Harmonizing Out-of-court Procedures across Europe. The Evidence from Italy

This paper focuses on the impact that the ‘new approach to business failure’ has had on Italian out-of-court procedures. It will demonstrate that in 2005 Italian law started to embrace the rescue culture of out-of-court procedures by means of a series of reforms; initially, this movement facilitated the incorporation of the ‘new approach to business failure’, but – and this is the paradox – the more law makers and courts remove the old paradigms and introduce new ones, which in principle could make the procedures smoother, cheaper and more efficient, the more the law in the book and the law in action appear to be overloaded with additional prerequisites which make the procedures cumbersome, costly and inefficient.

Missing HRM: the original sin of museum reforms in Italy

ABSTRACTThe Italian Ministry of Culture has been undertaking substantial reforms in the last decades, aimed at reorganizing both the museum sector and the local branches of the Ministry, the Superintendence system. By reconstructing the genealogy of these reforms from a management study perspective, the paper points out the overall misunderstanding of human resource issues in their design and implementation. Starting from the Pompeii reform in 1997 up to the Franceschini reform in 2014–2016, the authors focus on the main inconsistencies, omissions and mistakes undermining the effectiveness of change processes. The ‘original sin’ of museum reforms in Italy, mainly due the predominance of a legislative approach and the lack of a management perspective by the ministerial apparatus and law makers, calls for a new approach in organizational and HR terms.

Changes in northern hemisphere male international rugby union players’ body mass and height between 1955 and 2015

ObjectivesWe sought to establish the effects of professionalism, which officially began in 1995, on the body mass and height of northern hemisphere male international rugby union (RU) players. We hypothesised...

Major Issues Related to Women Health, Social, Cultural and Economic Development

Present article sketches out major issues related to health, social, cultural, and economic wellbeing of the women. Most prevailing problems are related to malnutrition, sociality, sanitation, shelter, education, and livelihood, cultural and economic development in modern human ecological system. In poor countries women are living at socio-demographic risk of reproductive health, sociality, and healthcare. Condition is worst as large percentage of women belong to poorest strata of demography with highest fertility rates, having no means to meet out their daily needs. Starting from child birth to motherhood they are living under huge plethora of problems and a miserable cursed life. There is no real time data available on reproductive health, sociality, and healthcare of pregnant mothers, house hold and working women at global level. Two major factors lack of education and early marriage/parenthood are more assessed threats to girl-child and women in developing countries. These factors directly affect their social, cultural and economic development. There is a dire need of assistance from international agencies, governments, policy and law makers and social community to find solution of these burning problems. There is an urgent need for development of community support system for welfare of women that can assist them in decision making, confidence building, skill development, social and cultural wellbeing and economic empowerment of women.

The rise of new rights for peasants. From reliance on NGO intermediaries to direct representation

ABSTRACTThe UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and other people working in rural areas, adopted by the UN General Assembly in December 2018, recognises new human rights to peasants and other people working in rural areas. The recognition of these rights (such as the right to land, seeds or biodiversity) in international law responds to a normative gap identified by the affected themselves and contributes to the project of ‘decolonising’ human rights. This international law-making process constitutes an important innovation in that it was requested by and developed with the active involvement of La Via Campesina activists—and other transnational movements representing other categories of rural food producers—who have positioned themselves as ‘law makers’. In this paper, I argue that a commitment to ‘human rights from below’ must account for and support the direct engagement, in international law-making, of transnational social movements representing the affected and speaking on their own behalf.

Examining plant variety protection in Nigeria: Realities, obligations and prospects

Nigeria does not currently have a plant variety protection system. Three key reasons why Nigerian law and policy makers should pay attention to plant variety protection are the country's evolving agricultural sector, susceptibility to external pressures and pending international obligations. From 2010, successive Nigerian governments have promoted private sector investments in agriculture, contributing to the increase in the number of agribusinesses in the country. Agribusinesses tend to lobby for the introduction or reform of national plant variety protection systems to suit their business interests. Furthermore, as a founding member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Nigeria has a pending obligation under Article 27.3(b) of the Agreement on Trade‐Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) to protect plant varieties through a patent system, a sui generis system, or a combination of systems. This article argues that Nigeria should proactively introduce a plant variety protection system designed to suit its socio‐economic realities before it is pressured to adopt an unsuitable system. In assessing the options under TRIPS vis‐a‐vis the small‐scale centered agricultural sector in Nigeria, the article finds that the best‐suited option for the country is a sui generis system which protects the interests of both small‐scale farmers and agribusinesses.

Public Debatable Position of Woman as Witnesses in Marriage: The Perspective of Islamic and Constitutional Laws

Position of women as witnesses in Islamic marriage procession is still debated till now. In Indonesian Muslim community, there are two contradictive ideas appeared; first, women have not been allowed to be witnesses not only in marriage process, but also in the divorce, and hudud; second, women could be the witnesses, as long as the number of double and accompanied by a man. This research compares the position of women as a marriage witnesses in the perspective of Islamic and Constitutional Laws. A normative legal method was applied in this Comparative Research. Data found showed that there was no gap for women to be witnesses in a marriage. As stated in the 25 th article of the Compilation of Islamic Law (CIL) of Indonesia which designates as the witnesses in the marriage ceremony are males. They are Muslim who are fair, adults (Aqeel/ baligh), uninterrupted memory and not deaf or hard of hearing. Therefore, this research recommends to renew the CIL, because in 25 th article of CIL provides an opportunity for women to be marriage witnesses. It is expected to President and law makers in Indonesia should consider for Judicial Review of CIL.

An Assessment of the Impact of Municipal Laws on the Policing of Cybercrimes in Nigeria

AbstractInternet crime can be defined as unlawful acts using the computer as either a tool or a target or both. Internet networks are used positively to conduct businesses, manage industrial and governmental activities, engage in personal communications, and conduct research. Also, certain confidential information is stored or passed through the medium of the internet. Credit cards containing information of users are used as the major means of buying and selling on the internet. Information infrastructure has become a critical part of the backbone of global economies; therefore, it is imperative that the general public be able to rely on the availability of such informational services with confidence that their communications and data are safe from unauthorized access or modification. It then becomes important for these and other information to be more secured. However, the speed of the internet, its affordability, and its elimination of distance make the internet the hotbed of crimes globally. Cybercrime growth has skyrocketed in recent times, especially in Nigeria; hence, the need for immediate action by law makers to stem the tide. This research, therefore, examines the adequacy or otherwise of the Nigerian legal framework in checking crimes being perpetrated using the internet as a platform with a view to making useful suggestions.

Unification, Harmonisation and Competition in European Company Forms

The main tools for the convergence of company law are full legal unification, mere harmonisation, and regulatory competition. The article uses this framework to study both the existing and the proposed European company forms (ECFs): the European Company, the European Cooperative Company, the European Private Company and the Single Member Company. All ECFs aim at legal unification, but none of them are endowed with comprehensively unified legal regimes; their regulation is patchy and stratified and suffers from heavy referencing to national law in crucial areas such as corporate governance and corporate groups. It is therefore no surprise that ECFs have failed to win the favour of European entrepreneurs, and the data on the diffusion of ECFs are not encouraging: a large proportion of the few registered ECFs are in fact only shell companies, and most of the operating ECFs are found only in selected parts of central Europe. This failure is the result of high setup, legal and reputational costs, not offset by sufficiently important benefits. The roots of the fiasco go deeper, however, as regulatory protectionism impedes the adoption of attractive supranational company forms. While acknowledging that forcing further cooperative convergence could be not only costly but also ineffective, it must be noted that to some extent non-cooperative convergence is already occurring, at least with reference to national company forms suitable for small companies. Here, in contrast with the cooperative/supranational level, the non-cooperative mechanism of regulatory competition needs not inevitably turn into regulatory protectionism but can instead be a positive source of emulation, causing the diffusion of effective national company forms and leading ultimately to spontaneous legal convergence without supranational intervention. EU company law makers should consider that in the field of ECFs no law might be better than bad law, thus avoiding the path of cooperative adaptation and trusting the uniforming force of regulatory competition instead.

RECONSTRUCTION OF SAVING FINANCIAL STATE LOSSES IN HANDLING CRIMINAL ACTION IN INDONESIA THROUGH JUSTICE-VALUE BASED.

In carrying out the management of this state finances, it should be noted that although there have been several laws and regulations regulating the management of financial state, both at the central level and up to the level of Province, Regency or City even now to the village level throughout Indonesia, there were still many irregularities found by individual state finance managers. This particular matter will cause loss of financial state. The handling of criminal acts, including corruption, is currently emphasizing the retributive justice approach, which I think we need perform a new approach called restorative justice . The retributive justice approach putting morecriminal sanctions (primum remidium) has experienced mayfailures in both preventing and eradicating corruption. As written in the applied corruption rules, the goal addressed by the law makers is how law enforcement officers work optimally to recover losses to the state. As the failure to prevent and eradicate corruption by using retributive justice approach, a new approach is urgently needed, namely the restorative justice. Besides Restorative justice approach has a function to prevent and eradicate corruption, this approach can be also used as a means of optimizing the return of losses to the state and saving costs incurred in managing a corruption case. In this case, the rescue of financial state losses in the handling of corruption cases in Indonesia is indispensable, by looking at the related laws which are not yet effective, which actually triggered more harm to the state in terms of financing the process of implementing law enforcement against corruption cases. Therefore, the existing ralated laws related to corruption eradication, the commission of eradicating corruption and state finances must be reconstructed regarding how deficiencies need to be improved in terms of legal reconstruction and reconstruction of values. Keywords: Reconstruction of Saving Financial State, Criminal Action, Value of Justice.

Prebendalism and Budget Authorization in the Nigerian Legislature

In recent times, the process by which the parliament approves budget estimate from the chief executive has being hijacked by self-serving elements in the National Assembly at the detriment of the masses. Reports abound on how the Nigerian parliament made themselves the highest paid law makers in the whole world, cases of law makers demanding bribes from ministries in which they have oversight functions on have been reported severally. This paper attempts to discuss the effects of the prebendalists on budget authorization, and the means through which they prebendalize during the process of budget authorization in the Nigerian legislature. The paper identified over bloating of budget, neglect in their oversight functions, delay of budget by anti - government forces in the parliament, etc. as the major effects. The paper also revealed that illegal allowances, award/implementation of constituency projects, and padding of budgets through government agencies such as Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Nigerian Directorate of Employment (NDE), Ogun-Osun River Basin Development Agency (OORBDA), Lower Niger River Basin Development Agency (LNRBDA) and other river basin agencies serve as conduit pipes through which lawmakers prebendalize. Data collection was through secondary sources while content analysis was adopted as a method of analysis. The paper was interrogated using Prebendalism as a framework of analysis. It was recommended that the House of Senate be scrapped and only the House of Representatives retained to save cost. It was also recommended that the Nigerian masses should organize a peaceful protest to the National assembly to demand for an end to self – representation, and finally, a convocation of Sovereign National Conference was suggested to enable Nigerians establish an independent guideline for selecting credible people into leadership positions.

Fintech and regtech: Impact on regulators and banks

The purpose of this paper is to develop an insight and review the effect of FinTech development against the broader environment in financial technology. We further aim to offer various perspectives in order to aid the understanding of the disruptive potential of FinTech, and its implications for the wider financial ecosystem. By drawing upon very recent and highly topical research on this area this study examines the implications for financial institutions, and regulation especially when technology poses a challenge to the global banking and regulatory system. It is driven by a wide-ranging overview of the development, the current state, and possible future of fintech. This paper attempts to connect practitioner-led and academic research. While it draws on academic research, the perspective it takes is also practice-oriented. It relies on the current academic literature as well as insights from industry sources, action research and other publicly available commentaries. It also draws on professional practitioners’ roundtable discussions, and think-tanks in which the author has been an active participant. We attempt to interpret banking, and regulatory issues from a behavioural perspective.The last crisis exposed significant failures in regulation and supervision. It has made the Financial Market Law and Compliance a key topic on the current agenda. Disruptive technological change also seems to be important in investigating regulatory compliance followed by change. We contribute to the current literature review on financial and digital innovation by new entrants where this has also practical implications. We also provide for an updated review of the current regulatory issues addressing the contextual root causes of disruption within the financial services domain. The aim here is to assist market participants to improve effectiveness and collaboration. The difficulties arising from extensive regulation may suggest a more liberal and principled approach to financial regulation.Disruptive innovation has the potential for welfare outcomes for consumers, regulatory, and supervisory gains as well as reputational gains for the financial services industry. It becomes even more important as the financial services industry evolves. For example, the preparedness of the regulators to instil culture change and harmonise technological advancements with regulation could likely achieve many desired outcomes. Such results range from achieving an orderly market growth, further aiding systemic stability and restoring trust and confidence in the financial system.Our action-led research results have implications for both research and practice. These should be of interest to regulatory standard setters, investors, international organisations and other academics who are researching regulatory and competition issues, and their manifestation within the financial and social contexts. As a perspective on a social construct, this study appeals to regulators and law makers, entrepreneurs, and investors who participate in technology applied within the innovative financial services domain. It is also of interest to bankers who might consider FinTech and strategic partnerships as a prospective, future strategic direction.11We thank two anonymous referees for their very thoughtful and constructing comments who took a keen interest in reviewing our research and in this way contributed materially to the development of the paper. All other omissions and/or errors remain our own.

By poles which may Alter Political Landscape of U.P. and Bihar in 2019 Indian General Elections

The present study is an attempt to give an idea of the number of parliamentary constituencies which may change hands between the N.D.A. and the United Opposition if it comes to Modi versus the REST in 2019 Lok Sabha elections. It, now, looks certain, especially when the B.S.P., after forgetting its personal and political animosity, extended its whole hearted support to S.P. in the Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha by poles to be followed by the United Opposition (B.S.P., S.P and UPA) in Kairana along with the support of the Peace Party and the other Smaller Parties especially the NISHAD Party in U.P. This resulted in the consolidation of Muslims (19.26%), Yadavs (14.0%), Dalits (21.1%) and Nishads-a politically important O.B.C. class (5.0%) in U. P. In Bihar, despite Lalu Prasad’s conviction, his son Tejashwi Yadav has come of his age to lead R.J.D and was able to retain Araria parliamentary seat even in the face of stiff opposition from the ruling NDA. These two states, together, have served as a basket full of votes for N.D.A. in 2014 by sending 104 out of the120 Law Makers in India’s Lower House of Parliament of 543strength. So both the B. J.P. and the Opposition will have to put their best foot forward-B.J.P for staying in power and Opposition for snatching the power in the coming general elections as the road to attain power in Delhi passes through U.P. and Bihar.

The FRAND Contract

Government agencies in various countries have issued guidelines to facilitate private negotiation to license the use of standard-essential patents (SEPs) that a patent holder has voluntarily committed to a standard-setting organization (SSO) to offer to license on fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory (FRAND) terms (or on reasonable and nondiscriminatory (RAND) terms, as the case may be) to a third-party seeking to implement the standard. In effect, these jurisdictions are competing in a tournament of sorts to identify the best legal framework for resolving FRAND licensing disputes. A leading candidate is the existing body of U.S. contract law. In this article, I examine the FRAND licensing of SEPs through the lens of U.S. contract law.1 I will eschew the phrase “FRAND commitment” in favor of the bulkier but more precise phrase “the FRAND contract between the SEP holder and the SSO.” That terminology helps to clarify that the license agreement potentially formed between the SEP holder and the implementer on FRAND terms is a separate, subsequent contract that is entirely distinct from the preexisting contract into which the SEP holder and the SSO have entered. I begin by asking in Part I whether the FRAND contract is enforceable. U.S. courts have found that it is, yet commentators, courts, and other tribunals have flagged various theories of unenforceability when analyzing a FRAND commitment as a contract. In Part II, I analyze the anatomy of the FRAND contract, as informed by first principles of U.S. contract law. Whether, with respect to a given implementer, a given SEP holder has discharged its FRAND duty to the SSO turns on whether the SEP holder has offered to license its SEPs to that implementer on FRAND terms. An implementer loses its rights as a third-party beneficiary of the SEP holder’s FRAND contract with the SSO if the third-party beneficiary rejects a FRAND offer or if it fails to accept that offer within a reasonable time. By underscoring the applicability of these fundamental principles of U.S. contract law, judges, arbitrators, and other decision makers would encourage both the SEP holder and the implementer to avoid dilatory tactics and orthogonal bargaining positions when negotiating license terms for the use of SEPs. In Part III, I examine some of the frameworks that other countries have recently proposed for guiding negotiations for SEPs. Although these frameworks supposedly identify principles that would facilitate the license negotiation between an SEP holder and an implementer of an industry standard, they ignore the relevance of first principles of contract law. Instead, they try to reinvent the wheel—by fashioning a sui generis bargaining protocol for SEP license negotiations that ignores the transactional efficiency of preexisting contract principles of offer and acceptance. These proposals are unlikely to be more efficacious than U.S. contract jurisprudence in defining a clear protocol that encourages the expeditious execution of bilaterally negotiated FRAND licenses. In Part IV, I offer preliminary observations on how a given SEP holder and a given implementer might agree to opt out of the FRAND contract so as to create a superior structure for concluding their bilateral negotiation of a license or, in the event of an impasse, for achieving a more expeditious and cost-effective resolution of their dispute.