POTENTIAL IMPACT OF TORTIOUS LIABILITY FOR SPORTS INJURIES IN NIGERIA

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1 Abstracts of selected publications POTENTIAL IMPACT OF TORTIOUS LIABILITY FOR SPORTS INJURIES IN NIGERIA The development of sports in Nigeria has not attained the desired goal as a result of several factors, which have accounted for a large number of sportsmen and women losing their lives in the cause of duty and others being prematurely retired from the industry due to injuries sustained by them which is hardly compensated for. One thing that is noticeable in the statistics of sports injuries in Nigeria is that there has been no attempt at any time to legally enforce liability for injuries, causing sportsmen penury, pain, anguish, medical expenses personally, and leading to low sporting ebb for the country, as some of the best hands are not available for the country in international sporting competitions due to the travails of the injuries. It is in this vein that this paper aims to stress the need for enforcement of tortious liability for sports injuries in the country in accompaniment with a reliable regime of affordable sports insurance, contingency legal practice and a positive judicial attitude towards the award of punitive damages as due and proper compensation for injured sportsmen. DECLARATION OF STATE OF EMERGENCY IN NIGERIA: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS This paper attempts to analyse the legal effects and implication of the declaration of a state of emergency in Nigeria as well as other parts of the world. The paper considers the different instances conversant in Nigeria where a state of emergency has been declared. It also goes further to consider how the President handles situation in the face of the lacuna as per the guidelines for the actions taken by the President in a bid to restore normalcy not expressly stated in the 1999 Constitution. ENDING THE UNENDING JURISDICTIONAL DUEL BETWEEN THE FEDERAL AND STATE HIGH COURTS IN NIGERIA There are a number of trial courts in Nigeria which have civil jurisdiction. The most relevant of these are the Federal High Court and the State High Courts. Each of these two courts has its own sphere of authority stipulated by the Nigerian Constitution, yet litigants and the courts themselves continue to find it difficult to conclusively and convincely determine where which court s jurisdiction ends and the other s begins. Since lack of jurisdiction is fatal in Nigeria, it becomes imperative to understand and properly situate the determinants of trial jurisdiction in Nigeria between the federal and state high courts. This task is what this paper undertakes cursorily, because a defect in competence is not only intrinsic but extrinsic to the entire process of adjudication. PLEA-BARGAINING IN NIGERIA: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

2 It is a known fact that, every new experience or acknowledgement comes with new challenges in a world where reason prevails; most often genuine efforts are made by all and sundry to see that the system is strengthened. Criminal justice system has been said to mean the entire spectrum of institutions, rules and practices aimed at social control, for the prevention, detention, investigation, prosecution, and punishment of criminals. However, the rules and practices aimed at social control have failed the country in many instances. The inability of the practice to prevent crime has made the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to introduce tacitly plea bargaining in its handling of financial crime. This paper concern is whether or not plea bargaining leaves a wide margin for it to be exploited corruptly, by usurping the judicial function of adjudication, coffering legitimacy on the stolen property, there by telling the big thief to go ahead and steal more and ends up weakening the criminal justice system it ought to uphold. In this regard the paper examines the possibility for a reform of Section 14 (2) of the EFCC Act, in order reflect justice and fairness. THE NIGERIAN RESPONSE TO THE CASUALTIES OF ITS PETROLEUM INDUSTRY The Nigerian government have tried in their little way in providing legislations that are intended to stem the tide of the problem being generated on a daily bases by the exploration activities of its petroleum industry, however the gesture is not enough as the sanctions provided for by this legislations are laughable as they do not show any political will in trying to bring a lasting solution to the menace of pollution in the petroleum industry in Nigeria. This paper examined the adverse impact of petroleum exploration, government response to the situation, the part played by the courts and suggested possible solutions to the problem CYBER CRIME, INFORATION TECHNOLOGY AND NIGERIAN EXPERIENCE In most developed countries, legislative enactments have been put in place to criminalise cyber fraud. However, in many developing countries, like Nigeria, the reverse is the case and where there are related laws it only covers rotary telephones and not or the internet. This article calls for the need to keep our laws current so that both the police and the courts can do their jobs and keep Nigerians and the global world safe. AN EXAMINATION OF SOME PROBABLE LEGAL IMPEDIMENTS TO THE JUDICIAL ADMINISTRATION OF CRIMES UNDER THE EFCC ACT Indeed, financial crimes whether committed by bank officials, tax personnel, professional accountants, public servants, politician or private individuals, have cost the nation huge sums of money. It is certainly one of the factors that have brought Nigeria s economy to its knees and has

3 continually undermined the key gains of our democratic government. This article attempts to expose the legal impediments to the judicial administration of crimes under Nigeria Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act by outlining government s efforts at combating this cankerworm and making possible suggestions for better impact. CORE PRINCIPLES OF NEPAD: AFRICA S ROADWAY TO DEVELOPMENT Africans cannot continue to live in a world where the voices of the poor go unheeded, where economic development benefits only the rich and where conflict is allowed to germinate and where we are seen as the continent of the poor. There is a need for a change that calls for the moral obligation of all Africans. It was predicted many centuries ago that the poor will always be around, a prediction that becomes more evident with the avalanche of the so-called charity organisations I the world today. However, a severe and humiliating poverty does not promote a culture of democracy and human rights; rather it leaves many people vulnerable and open to manipulation by several forces and interests. However, Africa s new generation of enlightened leaders has promulgated an initiative to spur growth and reduce poverty on the continent; it is entitled New Partnership for Africa s Development 9NEPAD). It is couched with five core principles, good governance, entrenchment of democracy, peace and security; sound economic policy-making and execution; productive partnership; and domestic ownership and leadership. These are considered as the preconditions for Africa s renewal. As its primary objective, this article analytically describes and assesses the NEPAD initiative as a strategy for Africa s recovery from economic underdevelopment, poverty and marginalization. Within this context, it describes and analyses its core principles, its action plan and strategies, its implementation mechanism and the challenges to be confronted for its successful implementation as the road-way guiding development and prosperity for Africa and making suggestions that might sharpen its over-all performance. CONTINENTAL AND REGIONAL INTEGRATION: AFRICAN EXPERIENCE (FROM OAU-AU) TO NEPAD It is a heroic understatement to say that Africa is poised for positive transformation in this millennium or at least, this century. Two major developments have led to this palpable optimism,

4 one following on the heel of the other. The first was the adoption on July 11, 2000 in Lome, Togo, of the Constitutive Act of the African Union, (AU Act) by the erstwhile Organisation of African Unity (OAU). The second was the launching on October 23,2001 in Abuja, Nigeria, of a development strategy known as the News Partnership for Africa s Development (NEPAD) International economic relations have revealed that the best method of acquiring economic power is through the convergence of resources and economic activities, after all, no nation is self-sufficient, and in any event, political power without a virile economy means little or nothing. There is therefore, the need to transfer part of each nation s sovereignty so to speak to a body whose power is beyond the confines of each nation s boundaries. The above reasons have therefore led to the formation and recognition of continental and regional economic communities. This paper will examine the nature of international relations and how international law has changed drastically since the end of the Cold and the emergence of a New World Order. And how this change has enlarged and strengthened the economic and trading group across the world. A CRITICAL APPARAISAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RIGHTS UNDER THE NIGERRIA CONSTITUTION The inadequacy of existing legal mechanisms to protect man and the environment from incursions of modern technology necessitated the clamour for the recognition of environmental rights as a separate and distinct right. A right connotes an entitlement to something. In our context, it means an entitlement to a clean and healthy environment. Thus, a right to a clean and healthy environment is the right to everyone to the conservation of his or her environment, free from the degrading effects of pollution, and other human activities. It has been argued that the recognition that human survival depends upon a safe and healthy environment, places the claim of the right to a clean and healthy environment fully on the human rights agenda. In this article, we shall examine whether a right to a clean environment is on an equal pedestal with other traditional human rights. Also examine in this article is the provision of Article 24 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Right.

5 EUTHANASIA AND PROLONGED LIFE SUPPORT IN THE INTENSIVE CARE: A NIGERIAN PERSPECTIVE Cases of terminally ill people who are placed on life support scheme with increasing cost either on the State or the relatives of such persons abound all over the world. Such categories of people most time would prefer to die than to be alive and become a liability by the vegetative state with no hope of ever getting better, not to talk of the excruciating pains they go through. Such wishes on the part of the people are never heeded by anyone not even the medical practitioners as such act will be termed criminal murder. The medical practitioners by the nature of their oath are precluded from assisting a patient to die or being seen giving such a counsel notwithstanding the pathetic state of the persons, because of the sanctity of life. Right to life is the most fundamental of such right which cannot be derogated from by an individual. To confront this problem, some developed democracies have by their legislation, made provisions in their laws legalising the practice whereby a victim could be assisted by a medical practitioner or an individual to die without any legal consequences. This paper will attempt to examine the legality or otherwise of the practice. It will also examine certain legislations in some countries of the world with respect to the practice. Finally the paper will proffers suggestions on whether the practice be given legal backing or not.