VANGUARD, THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2016 — 41
Leadership failure responsible for stunted economic growth — NBA President By Dayo Benson
F
AILURE of successive governments has been attributed to their inability to provide the required vision and expertise needed to ignite economic growth in the country since independence. Nigerian Bar Association NBA , President Mr Augustine Alegeh SAN, made this assertion while delivering a lecture titled Law and National Development at the 15th Annual Justice Idigbe Memorial Lecture, organized by the Faculty of Law, University of Benin, Edo state. According to him , “we have witnessed several instances of abuse of office and mismanagement of our natural resources by those we entrusted with our commonwealth . Though Nigeria’s crude oil and gas reserves have continued to increase over the years, despite our enormous endowment, Nigeria has not been able to record significant economic
growth and development relative to our resources”. He said “the reason for the Nigeria’s economic woe’s and setback were identifiable as absence of rule of law, corruption, insecurity and failure to implement extant laws, adding that several programmes were initiated and sold to the public as policies and programmes designed to boost development and economic growth at all levels, but regretted that “these programmmes were mere conduits to siphon and loot the public treasury.” He stated further that, “the few of such programmes that worked and impacted positively on the lives of the citizens were later abandoned by successive governments that erroneously thought that these programmes had served their purposes being the initiatives of previous administrations. “One remembers with nostalgia,the days when the US
Dollars was lower than the Naira at about 70K-$1. During those days, the Naira was considered to be a very strong currency exchange in the world market based on the value of products Nigeria exported. Presently, we
•Mr. Augustine Alegeh
Group to teach law through drama By Jane Echewodo
W
ORRIED by the increasing rate of ignorance of the laws of Nigeria, a production firm known as Interpreters Production Company, has commenced a television series tagged legal drama, aimed at educating people about law through drama. Speaking at the launch of the television series tagged “Burden of Proof” over the weekend, the director of the production company, Ademola Ishola expressed worry over high rate of illegal, wrongful arrests and detention of ignorant citizens and other acts of civil wrong with
impunity by lawless security officials and individuals. According to Ishola, “It is no doubt that we are in the midst of crisis, lawlessness, abuse of human right, intimidation, extortion, victimization, torture, inhuman treatment as well as harassment which has become the norm in our society. “This happens on a daily basis and all is due to the ignorance of the law on the part of the evil perpetrators too. Ignorance is the root and stem of all evil. The great book says: my people are destroyed for the lack of knowledge. “Experience has shown, over the years, that the greatest
are faced with the sad reality of having the currency exchange rate at $1 to N320.” He said it has become imperative to examine the relationship between law and National Development in nation
obstacle to people’s access to the law and justice is borne out of accessible information on the position of the law on issues affecting the people, what their rights are and how to enforce them.” He however, pointed out that the drama concept is to ensure that the due process and procedures permitted by the law are adhered to in the treatment and handling of the common man. “We are driven by a strong sense of social justice. We are putting together the information every citizen of this country ought to have about the law and its enforcement. We are taking up the challenge of educating and
enlightening our people on their basic rights and legal remedies against human violators. We are going to use power of information to usher in a new era where everyone is purged of ignorance of the law”, Ishola added. While also pointing out that some legal issues treated in the first edition of the drama concept include: Forceful ejection, mareva injunction, limitation of action, desertion of pregnant woman or girl (sec.277 Criminal Law of Lagos State), false imprisonment, perjury, negligence (resulting in industrial injury), nuisance (generator noise and fume), breach of promise, domestic violence (husband to wife), domestic violence (mistress to domestic servant).
Law firm’s annual lecture tasks govt on economic growth By Dayo Benson PROFESSOR at Harvard Business School , Prof. Robert Z. Lawrence has advised Nigerian government to take advantage of global economy trend by moving the nation away
A
EDITORIAL Innocent Anaba ( Head) Wahab Abdulah Ikechukwu Nnochiri Dayo Benson (Supervising Editor) dayobenson@yahoo.com
from mono economy to achieve a sustainable growth . He stated this at this year’s annual lecture organised by a law firm Punuka, titled “ The challenges of balancing the need for protection of developing economies and the provision of enabling environment for foreign investment”. The event which was ended by former Head of state, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, also featured Dr. Sonny Kuku, as chairman of the occasion. Some of the lawyers at the lecture included Mohammed Belgore, SAN, Sylva Ogwemoh, SAN, Olatunde Busari, SAN, Prof. Fabian Ajogwu, SAN, Funke Aboyade, SAN, Mrs Elizabeth Idigbe and General counsel of Nigerian stock exchange Mrs Tinuade Awe. In his presentation, the guest lecturer, Prof. Lawrence who spoke on growth and international trade stated that growth has
slowed down in advanced economies like Europe and Japan. He explained that, “ a lot is being driven by what is happening in China which is moving in to service business. Because of growing wages, manufacturing businesses are no longer competitive. Nigeria has to take advantage of this by moving away from mono economy. “ He explained that sustainable growth in economy is when technology is used to achieve development. He said that a “country ’s growth is measured by what you do when things are good, that is, whether you save or spend the money made when things are good. If the trade regime in Nigeria today is promotion structural change, is the exchange rate in the country competitive”he asked. He added that “there is
room for improvement in Nigeria in terms of world trade forum”, stating that infrastructures in the country had to be improved. He therefore urged President Mohammadu Buhari to identify largest supply chain operatives and ask why they are not coming to Nigeria. He advised that “it is better to have the largest supply chains operate in Nigeria than borrow money from them”. He urged the federal government to institutionalise an competitive exchange rate policy, which he said was very critical. While calling on government to subsidise its products, he pointed out that “what Nigeria needs is a tighter exchange rate policy than anything else”. Principal partner Punuka Mr Anthony Idigbe SAN, said the topic is of “great debate and controversy because of the challenges of growing the economy.”
building, added that governments world over, are increasingly engaging in law reforms programmes as they seek to ignite, support and sustain economic growth and development in their countries and Nigeria must not be different. Alegeh who disclosed that the petroleum industry has undergone several modifications and reform however noted with dismay that, “it is rather unfortunate that despite discovering crude oil over 59 years ago, we are yet to enact an Act that has the capacity to regulate all activities within the petroleum sector. He reiterated that attempt by the National Assembly to break the petroleum Industry Bill and pass it piecemeal is certainly not the solution to the problem in the Oil and Gas Reform, adding that the PIB is expected to address the constant face -off between Oil companies and their host communities.
Nigeria hosts first ICC Africa arbitration conference THE International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce, ICC, Paris, in conjunction with the International Chamber of Commerce Nigeria, ICCN, will from June 19 to June 21, 2016 hold the 1st ICC Africa Regional Arbitration Conference in Nigeria. The conference is scheduled to take place in Lagos with the theme: “Arbitration and Africa – Prospects and Challenges.” Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, is partnering ICCN as supporting organisation for the conference, with both the President of the ICC International Court of Arbitration, Paris, Mr. Alexis Mourre and the President of NBA, Mr. Augustine Alegeh, SAN, delivering keynote speeches at the opening ceremony of the Conference. The three day conference is expected to examine the relationship between inward foreign investment in emerging markets in Africa, the types of disputes which may arise, and the African experience resolving investment and other business disputes by arbitration. According to the Chairman of the Planning Committee and Vice President ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR, Mrs. Dorothy Ufot, SAN, “there is currently, a rapidly growing interest in African arbitration and this conference being the first to be hosted by the ICC International Court of Arbitration on the continent will offer an opportunity for a wide range of experts and participants to discuss the challenges and prospects of Arbitration in Africa. C M Y K