Public & International Law

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    Political corruption through misappropriation of covid-19 funds and reliefs in Nigeria
    (Faculty of Law, Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki, Nigeria, 2020) Adeyemo, D. D.
    The year 2020 remains a year cast in global history for the sudden onset of a deadly disease which shut down nations of the world and imposed huge economic effects. The Covid-19 pandemic predisposed many countries, including Nigeria, to splurges in public spending to alleviate economic hardship imposed by the pandemic. Consequently, allegations of political corruption and misuse of public funds was rife in the political landscape. Over 1 billion dollars was allegedly drawn from both external and foreign sources for government spending towards Covid-19 pandemic mitigation funds. By late 2020, social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook became awash with gory stories of hoarded and fraudulently converted relief materials by political and public leaders. While Nigeria has an established legal framework in combating corruption generally, it has been shown by previous studies that the legal framework has not achieved much in combating the menace of corruption from a legal standpoint. Much of the existing legal framework is reactive rather than proactive. With respect to Covid-19 response funds, emergency assistance loan to the government from international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was conditioned upon certain terms such as external and periodic audit to forestall the possibility of misappropriation and corruption. It remains to be known how far effective the terms have been. Given the nature of the allegations of corruption, would the existing legal framework apprehend the dimension of political corruption elicited by Covid-19 pandemic? This paper examines the subject of political corruption in Nigeria within the context of Covid-19 pandemic. It adopts a purely doctrinal and desktop legal research approach in analysing the existing laws on corruption and the emerging dimensions of political corruption introduced by Covid-19 induced public corruption. It proposes a more proactive approach to the subject of political corruption in Nigeria through accountability and transparency in public spending and non-legal approach which incorporates the role of non-governmental organisations.
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    The practice of federalism under the constitutions of Nigeria, United States of America and Australia
    (Princeton & Associates Publishing Co. Ltd., Lagos, 2022-09) Araromi, M. A.
    The concept of federalism is an unsettled phenomenon in political and legal disciplines; though many writers have common areas of agreement as to what the basic principles of federalism entail. This chapter is meant to consider the concept of federalism and some of its components with the aim of determining the true features of the concept. The chapter further considers the practice of federalism in the United States of America, Australia and Nigeria with the purpose of comparing these with the basic requirements of federalism. The chapter finds that though there is no perfect practice of federalism in the three countries but there is a real legal and Constitutional template for a true practice of federalism in the United States and Australia even though there are some areas of concession or compromise by the federating units and the courts giving extensive interpretation of the scope of powers of the central government under some omnibus provisions. In Nigeria, on the other hand, the Constitutional structure of power does not really reflect a true federal arrangement. However, the country continues to struggle for survival as a unit under this lopsided arrangement.
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    Artificial intelligence: the challenges posed to the law of contract in determining liabilities of parties
    (Sweet and Maxwel, 2022) Araromi, M. A.
    Traditional methods of contracting involve, among others, using paper documents and oral communications. The extant laws appreciate these methods of contracting and make provisions for the validity, rights and liabilities of parties. Electronic transaction models make a detour from the established jurisprudence on contract provided by these extant laws and the court systems. With constant development of technology one-off legal response may sometimes not be enough to address new challenges posed. Artificial intelligence is one of the areas of development in technology that has affected the traditional legal provisions on contract. Machine intelligence has created some challenges in determining the liability of contracting parties, especially where the machine is acting on learned or extraneous data. It is observed that the existing international legal regime by the United Nations, which serves as the authority in resolving international legal matters, is not sufficient to address this problem. This article addresses the effect of artificial intelligence on contract in determining the liability of parties, and suggests a solution.
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    Religion and secularism in Nigeria: the effect of compulsory dress codes in the educational system on the right to practice religion
    (Brill|Nijhoff, 2021) Araromi, M. A.
    Though Nigeria is regarded as a secular state, there are two major religions which are predominantly practiced. Religious sentiments have permeated the societal space in Nigeria and often times the ardent practice and observance of religious tenets lead to perennial conflicts with governmental policies. It is one of the fundamental precepts of human rights that the religious belief of individuals should be respected, therefore the provision for the protection of right to religion in the national laws and some international instruments. The education system requires specific dress codes which must be observed. It is against this backdrop that this paper examines the right to practice religion in Nigeria and the obvious conflicts between this practice and policies in the Nigerian education system particularly at primary and post-primary school levels. The paper addresses the scope of the right to practice one’s religion under the law vis-à-vis governmental policies in educational institutions.
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    Victims or complicit traffickers? examining the status of victims of organ trafficking in Nigeria
    (Department of Commercial and Industrial Law, Faculty of Law, University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, 2023-12) Adeyemo, D. D.
    Organ trafficking is one of the fast-booming offences with transnational dimensions. Often, organ trafficking is linked with human trafficking and punished along the same lines as the crime of trafficking in persons for the purpose of organ removal. Traffickers are often punished as the offenders while subjects of the harvested and trafficked organs are regarded as victims who are protected by the law rather than punished. However, with regard to the crime of organ trafficking, it is difficult to conceive some so-called victims of organ trafficking as victims without the tainted lens of complicity in the offence. With respect to victims, organ trafficking is largely touted as an offence driven by poverty and economic difficulty as against greed and sheer criminal tendencies. International legal provisions on organ trafficking do not exactly conceptualise a victim in the context of plain organ trafficking, state parties may exercise their discretion within their domestic legal context. This paper examines the subject of victims and the offence of organ trafficking in Nigeria. This paper adopts a purely doctrinal approach in examining the status of victims in organ trafficking. It makes use of data from primary sources from both domestic and international laws and secondary sources of data on organ trafficking in assessing the status of victims of organ trafficking. The paper argues that the recent cases of organ trafficking reveal that many victims are consenting perpetrators and drivers of organ trafficking rather than being innocent, vulnerable and exploited victims. The law ought not to shield those against whom it must wield its sword of correction and punishment. Hence, the status of victims in cases of organ trafficking should be reviewed differently from victims of trafficking in persons for the purpose of organ removal.
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    The prospects of the African union transitional justice policy 2019 and sustainable peace in Africa
    (Department of International Law, Obafemi Awolowo University, lle-lfe, Nigeria, 2023) Adeyemo, D. D.
    The African Union (A U) adopted the African Union Transitional Justice Policy (AUTJ Policy) in 2019 against the backdrop of attaining sustainable peace within the African continent. The Policy was designed to serve as a continental guide to member States in the design and implementation of context-specific transitional justice programmes within their respective States. The Policy incorporates indigenous principles and elements which member States should adopt to domesticate transitional justice. Presumably, over the years, the African continent has had the highest number of States confronting conflict situations or repressive regimes. Hence, it would appear that the Policy is a timely intervention of the AU in pursuing its agenda of a peaceable and stable continent. The Policy makes several bold innovations and provisions which are potentially capable of transforming the structure for peace and security in Africa. This study attempts to examine the provisions of the Policy against the conventional narratives of transitional justice principles and mechanisms and the goal of sustainable peace. Is the Policy just another document which will wield little or less significant impact within the continent? The paper adopts a purely doctrinal and desktop review approach in analysing the provisions of the AUTJ Policy within the context of the concept of transitional justice and sustainable peace. The study makes use of data from both primary and secondary sources of law and argues that while the adoption of the Policy is an innovative move, it runs the risk of irrelevance where its provisions are merely recommendatory and elicit no binding obligations from member states.
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    Good offices: a veritable alternative dispute resolution tool for peace and nation building
    (2023-10) Bamgbose, O.
    Disputes are a part of life for living creatures, from insects to human beings. While insects or animals mayfightfor space, territory and dominance, human beings and countries fight each other for territory and may engage in war. Throughout history, differences resulting in conflict were resolved, are still being resolved and will continue to be resolved. The traditional societies settled and still settle family disputes without interference from and invitation to the third parties who are not members of that family. The dominance of the British through colonization introduced cultures hitherto unknown into many societies. This also included a justice system foreign to the people. Litigation was one of such. The taking of a dispute out of the family or community jurisdiction, to a court that is set up by the state was introduced and adopted. Litigation was adopted as a process with its advantages and disadvantages. The disadvantages and the problems in litigation brought about a search for an alternative. These alternatives are not totally free of problems but are more acceptable in respect to certain types of cases, than litigation. It is therefore an alternative to litigation. People who have a common identity tend to stay together to build unified societies and nations. However, there are situations that may make it difficult or impossible for people to stay together. In such situations, if actions are not promptly taken to resolve the issues, there may be conflict. This paper looks at the concepts of conflict and conflict resolution, peace in the midst of conflict and the efforts that are made at nation building. The paper, through the use of case studies to support a preposition, suggests that the use of alternatives dispute resolution (ADR) methods in some cases, through the establishment of a grounded ADR structure in place, to resolve conflict rather than the use of litigation may be a solution to nation building.
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    Decolonization of western sahara within the international legal framework: matters arising
    (Academic Staff Union of Universities, 2021) Olaniyan, K. O.