Law

This paper scrutinizes floating charge securities (hereinafter referred to as FCS) within the framework of legislative amendments enacted by the Enterprise Act 2002 and the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020. These alterations seek to advance transparency and efficiency, albeit potentially at the expense of equitable treatment for floating charge creditors. The legislative modifications, rather than facilitating the proposed restructuring methodology, have compounded the complexities inherent in the distribution process and have severely impaired the effectiveness of FCS. This study draws upon the crystallisation process, priority distribution, and administrative receivership as critical components of its analysis.

The discourse surrounding the potential abolition of FCS has been extensive; however, this paper aims to advocate for its preservation by accentuating its pivotal role in contemporary commerce. Reference is made to the 2021 report by the Bank of England, which empirically assesses loan demand in the post-Covid era (as evidenced by Charts 1, 2, and 3; Figure 1). This empirical and comparative analysis of loan requirements for SMEs and MSBs substantiates a set of hypotheses and underscores the enduring significance of floating charge securities within the realm of corporate law.

The imperative at hand is to reinforce rather than diminish the development of FCS. To this end, the study delineates the three theoretical objectives of corporate insolvency distribution. The research, grounded in extensive scholarly work, amalgamates doctrinal and theoretical methodologies with non-doctrinal analysis. It juxtaposes the idealistic aspirations embodied in the legislative amendments against the practical realities that have emerged over the past decade, employing established scientific research techniques, including functional analysis and inductive reasoning, alongside a comparative study of international practices.

Through the examination of case studies ICS and CICS, this paper endeavours to illustrate the suboptimal treatment accorded to this distinctive form of security. Ultimately, it makes a compelling case for the retention of the pari passu principle of distribution as the prevailing method until a more efficacious security mechanism can be devised.

This article focuses on the extant corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices in the oil and gas industry in Nigeria. The oil and gas sector of Nigeria has been beset by a lot of problems not limited to violence, kidnappings, eco-terrorism, and maladministration amongst others. One way of curing the inherent problems is the use of CSR by many oil multinational corporations (MNCs) operating in Nigeria. This article focuses on the Chinese oil firms operating in the oil and gas industry in Nigeria and investigates if they operate on the same basis as the Western firms. It seeks to determine whether the variants of CSR practised by non-Western firms in Nigeria have had negative or positive impacts in the oil and gas industry especially with China’s contribution to Nigerian economy.

Women in Nigeria face many challenges and discrimination under some extant laws. This paper will focus on some of these laws and their impacts on women in Nigeria. The first section will focus on a brief history of Nigeria as a background to the paper. Nigeria’s unique legal system will be briefly highlighted. The second section of the paper will highlight aspects of Nigerian laws accentuating discrimination against women. Some of these laws will include the Labour Act, the Police Act, customary practices and sexual violence laws amongst others. The third part of the paper will focus on the reforms of the extant laws. Some of these reforms include judicial activism of judges in Nigeria, regional and international treaties which Nigeria has signed and ratified (and in some cases, domesticated), and the social activist roles of the Civil Society Groups or Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in Nigeria. The fourth section will proffer some recommendations. The final section will be the concluding part of the paper.

The activities of oil multinational corporations (MNCs) in Nigeria, especially in the
oil and gas sector, have come under focus in recent years. The BP oil spill in the
Gulf of Mexico in the USA highlighted the negative or unintended consequences
of the activities of MNCs. Also, oil MNCs in Nigeria have been at the centre of
scandals about poor labour standards, environmental degradation and human
rights violations amongst others. Furthermore, the extant state-oriented or command
and control regulatory regime has been ineffective. Thus, self-regulation
by oil MNCs has risen to help counter these negative consequences. This article
contends that the self-regulatory regime is ineffective and advocates for reforms
to remedy it.

ABSTRACT The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Charter) establishes a system or mechanism for the promotion and protection of human rights in Africa within the framework of the African Union (formerly known as the Organisation of African Unity). The African Charter promotes a range of human rights such as civil and political, socio-economic and cultural, individual and collective rights. The African Charter is the first regional mechanism to incorporate the different classes of human rights in a single document. There have been a plethora of academic postulations indicating that the African Charter has impacted Nigerian Law minimally. This article contends that the African Charter has impacted positively on Nigerian law notwithstanding the academic postulations to the contrary.

The concept of corruption is culture-bound. In the UK, it is unheard off and criminal for public officers to accept gifts. However, corruption is seen to be part of the culture of many developing (especially Asian and African) countries. In Nigeria, corruption is seen to be part of the administrative or bureaucratic culture and a way of life.
This paper will argue that because of the institutional failures of the Nigerian state in the area of corruption, recourse to the ‘traditional’ oath taking akin to the variant used in customary law/arbitration cases amongst natives in corruption cases might be the solution.