The Human Right Implication of Deposition and Banishment of Chiefs in Nigeria

by | Sep 27, 2019 | ANUL, ANUL 2016 I1

The Human Right Implication of Deposition and Banishment of Chiefs in Nigeria

Authors Olufemi Abifarin, Shittu A Bello

ISSN: 2521-2613
Affiliations: Dean, College of Law, Joseph Ayo Babalola University, Ikeji Arakeji, Osun State, Nigeria; Dean, College of Law, Lead City University, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria
Source: Africa Nazarene University Law Journal, 2016, Issue 1, p. 177 – 194

Abstract

This article looks at the removal and deposition of chiefs in Nigeria, both during the pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial era. We examine the arbitrary nature of the removal and deposition of the chiefs, especially in the colonial and post-colonial regimes where non-adherence to the rule of natural justice took place, whereby chiefs’ offences were not made known until after their removals and banishment. We conclude that chiefs are citizens of Nigeria who are equally entitled to the protection of the Nigerian Constitution of 1999 and other laws of the nation. The constitutional and human rights of chiefs should not be compromised, even if they are to be removed. Banishment or deportation of chiefs should not be done without the order of a court of competent jurisdiction, while reparation should be made to those chiefs who have been unjustly and arbitrarily treated.

Strengthening the Application of Informal Justice Systems in Land Disputes: A Case Study of the Kipsigis Community

by | Sep 27, 2019 | ANUL, ANUL 2016 I1

Strengthening the Application of Informal Justice Systems in Land Disputes: A Case Study of the Kipsigis Community

Authors Joseph Sergon Kiplangat

ISSN: 2521-2613
Affiliations: Justice Kenya High Court, Mlimani
Source: Africa Nazarene University Law Journal, 2016, Issue 1, p. 152 – 176

Abstract

This article seeks to address the procedural efficacy of the informal justice systems (IJSs) in Kenya. The absence of a comprehensive regulatory and coordination framework on the IJSs greatly hampers access to justice. Many of the IJSs may not meet the natural justice threshold as they do not adhere to basic principles such as due process, fair trial, equality and non-discrimination. Some of the users of IJSs, such as the village elders, are not skilled in dispute resolution, and this may even distort the delivery of justice. Further, in some communities, IJSs have no enforcement mechanisms, and compliance is predicated upon the culprit’s conscience and socially enforced sanctions such as shunning, ridicule, ostracising and prejudice. The existing procedures, if any, are at best undocumented, rendering the process open to manipulation, unpredictability and unreliability, and are subject to the whims of its leaders. Sometimes the application of an IJS is extended over matters that are out of jurisdiction like serious criminal offences such as murder, rape and child defilement. The effect of this is that the formal justice system is immobilised as witnesses become reluctant and unwilling to testify in court as they may have already settled the matter through an IJS. The land question, being a very sensitive matter in Kenya, is not an exception. This article will consist of four main thematic areas. The first area consists of the historical background of an IJS, the second area focuses on the application of an IJS in land disputes among the Kipsigis community, the third area focuses on the analysis of the Kenyan legal framework on an IJS and the fourth area focuses on the review of relevant case law and includes a summary consisting of the findings and recommendations.

A Critical Appraisal of the Delimitation of Nigeria’s International Maritime Boundaries

by | Sep 27, 2019 | ANUL, ANUL 2016 I1

A Critical Appraisal of the Delimitation of Nigeria’s International Maritime Boundaries

Authors Olubisi F Oluduro

ISSN: 2521-2613
Affiliations: Faculty member of the Department of Public Law, Faculty of Law, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria
Source: Africa Nazarene University Law Journal, 2016, Issue 1, p. 123 – 151

Abstract

The seas harbour so many resources that littoral states with enough technology to tap these resources have relished doing so, making good fortunes for their citizens. However, there are boundaries offshore, just as there are onshore, that must be taken cognisance of in the course of exploiting these sea resources. The delimitation of the seas zones have raised issues among neighbouring coastal states, constituting enough international concerns, one of which includes Nigeria and Cameroon over the oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula, where the issues regarding the boundaries have constituted some brouhaha over the years before adjudication between the two neighbours. This article examines these sea zones in turn as regulated by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS), presenting how this has shapened the use of the seas. It also examines issues in the Cameroon/Nigeria Maritime Boundaries, and ends with a conclusion and recommendation.

Chinese Companies’ Business Practices and Core Labour Standards: A South African, Zambian and Zimbabwean Perspective

by | Sep 27, 2019 | ANUL, ANUL 2016 I1

Chinese Companies’ Business Practices and Core Labour Standards: A South African, Zambian and Zimbabwean Perspective

Authors Tapiwa V Warikandwa, Patrick C Osode

ISSN: 2521-2613
Affiliations: Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Mercantile Law, Nelson R Mandela School of Law, University of Fort Hare, South Africa; Professor and Head, Department of Mercantile Law, Nelson R Mandela School of Law, University of Fort Hare, South Africa
Source: Africa Nazarene University Law Journal, 2016, Issue 1, p. 102 – 122

Abstract

Chinese businesses in Africa have been associated with low levels of compliance with core labour standards. The undesirable results have manifested in the form of poor wages for workers, contempt of occupational health and safety procedures and denial of basic workers’ rights, such as the rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining. In the contemporary human rights driven era, negative attitudes towards core labour rights are out of place. Labour rights must now be viewed as human rights and be treated as an enabler that is indispensable to the developing countries’ pursuit of economic development and substantial improvement in the general welfare of their people. This article examines the current trade practices of Chinese-run businesses in South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. It demonstrates that the exclusion of a trade—labour rights linkage from the World Trade Organization (WTO) legal framework might be contributing to the entrenchment of the said trade practices. Sadly, as this article indicates, African countries, like most developing countries, resist calls to incorporate core labour standards into the law of the multilateral trading system, arguing that a lower level of compliance with core labour standards is one of the critical sources of their comparative advantage.

Reflecting on the Exclusion of Barter in a Contract of Sale of Goods under the OHADA Uniform Act on General Commercial Law

by | Sep 27, 2019 | ANUL, ANUL 2016 I1

Reflecting on the Exclusion of Barter in a Contract of Sale of Goods under the OHADA Uniform Act on General Commercial Law

Authors Roland Djieufack

ISSN: 2521-2613
Affiliations: Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law and Political Science, University of Dschang, Post Box 66, Dschang, Cameroon; Part-time Lecturer, Department of Law, University of Buea, Cameroon
Source: Africa Nazarene University Law Journal, 2016, Issue 1, p. 75 – 101

Abstract

The principal focus of this article is to critically test the application of the OHADA Uniform Act on General Commercial Law to barter-like transactions. It demonstrates how the Uniform Act lacks the necessary technical elements to govern bartering. The non-monetary nature of pure barter transactions appears to be the driving force for this author’s rejection of the application of the Uniform Act to barter. Although Article 262 of the Uniform Act requires the buyer to pay the price for the goods, the word ‘price’ is not defined by the Act. Thus, there is ambiguity as to whether or not a price must be monetary in application to barter contracts under the Uniform Act. This is the principal concern of the author inter alia in questioning whether the Uniform Act can be applied to barter-like transactions, because in a barter transaction, the price paid for the delivery of something is the reciprocal delivery of something else. Arguably, by leaving ‘price’ undefined, the drafters of the Uniform Act raise some ambiguity on its endorsement of the application of barter transactions. Thus, the conclusion in this article is based on the premise that the Uniform Act is not suitable to govern barter-like transactions.

Reviewing the Africa-ICC Relation: Does the International Criminal Court’s Purpose to ‘End Impunity’ Reflect the Same old Selective Application of International Law?

by | Sep 27, 2019 | ANUL, ANUL 2016 I1

Reviewing the Africa-ICC Relation: Does the International Criminal Court’s Purpose to ‘End Impunity’ Reflect the Same old Selective Application of International Law?

Authors Duncan Ojwang

ISSN: 2521-2613
Affiliations: Lecturer of international law and international human rights law; member of the Illinois Supreme Court Bar; BA Indiana University, JD University of Southern Illinois, LLM Indiana University, SJD University of Arizona
Source: Africa Nazarene University Law Journal, 2016, Issue 1, p. 50 – 74

Abstract

A discussion on the International Criminal Court (ICC), established in 2002, on its legitimacy, impunity, selectivity, fairness and accountability cannot be attributed to one reason. This article reviews the Africa Union’s and the ICC’s antagonistic relation, in lieu to the trial of Kenyan leaders. Notwithstanding that a number of African countries in an effort of good faith founded the ICC and important positions at the ICC are held by Africans, numerous challenges have arisen. In order to understand these challenges, this article looks at the historical creation of the doctrine of ending impunity in the world, and also the goal and purpose of the ICC as the first permanent international criminal court, according to the preamble of the Rome Treaty. This article reviews whether the current argument on the selectivity of the ICC can be attributed to the long-established foundation that prejudices non-European cultures. The article expands the work done by scholars like James Anaya and Robert Williams, Junior in exploring the historical language of discrimination and the racism of the word ‘impunity’ as a cause of injustice in the ICC operation. The legal history and foundation of the doctrine of impunity and ending impunity functions to selectively focus the attention of the international community on human rights abuse in Africa, turn a blind eye to other perpetrators, and portray a stereotype that exaggerates other cultures and nations as full of impunity and savages. It sometimes works to validate the hegemony and power exercised by the western countries over human rights violation in Africa. Therefore, the word ‘impunity’ is crucial rhetoric of the ICC and is a discourse that is effective in justifying selective activities of the ICC. This article seeks to discuss the reason for the diversity of perception on the word ‘impunity’ and why the ICC might be engaged in selective justice.