Public Lecture

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THE POWER OF EDUCATION

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Aare Afe Babalola

INTRODUCTION

It gives me great pleasure to be in this Victoria Parks & Gardens in Igbajo, Osun State today to double as the Keynote Speaker and Special Guest of Honour at this momentous occasion of celebration of excellence and rare attainment by one of the shinning stars of Igbajo, Prof. Damilola Sunday Olawuyi, SAN, our Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academic, Research, Innovation and Strategic Partnerships, ARISP, who joined the Elite Club of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs), on Monday, December 14, 2020. Before going into my presentation, I especially congratulate the Owa of Igbajoland, Oba Olufemi Adeniyi Fashade, Akeran IV, and all the eminent sons and daughters of Igbajoland for this attainment by our son, Prof. Damilola Sunday, Olawuyi, SAN. I am proud of you all. Special mention must be made of my childhood friend, Chief Olajide Oyewole, a respected member of the Nigerian Bar, a loving, generous, kind person and lover of quality education who I have known for over 60 years now. Chief Oyewole’s brilliance as a Solicitor has never been in doubt. It was therefore not a surprise that the Nigerian Law School recognized his brilliance in Solicitorship and as far back as the 1960’s he was invited by the Nigerian Law School to teach that aspect of Law that relates to Solicitor’s work. My friend, I salute you. Of course, I cannot forget the Asiwaju of Igbajo, our own Chief Solomon Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN and his amiable wife, Chief (Mrs.) Funmilayo Awomolo, SAN, great Alumni of our Chambers, Emmanuel Chambers. I am always thrilled about this family. Thrilled because Mrs. Awomolo’s First Degree was in Chemistry, but I encouraged her to veer into Law. I am happy she listened to me. Today, she is a proud member of the Nigerian Inner Bar as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria. I stand to be corrected, I am not aware of any other family in Nigeria today where both husband and wife are Senior Advocates of Nigeria. I congratulate and celebrate the Awomolos.

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/jsdlp.v11i2.8

Aare Afe Babalola, OFR, CON, SAN, the Founder and Chancellor of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti.

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THE NIGERIAN BAR ASSOCIATION IN THE 21ST CENTURY: THE INTEREST OF THE LEGAL PRACTITIONER AND THE COMPETING DUTY TO ACT IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST

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Olawale Fapohunda*1

INTRODUCTION

I congratulate members of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Ikere Ekiti Branch on the successful hosting of this First Law Week. I am particularly impressed by the professionalism and dedication with which the leadership of this branch put together this week. I will not be saying anything new if I add that the NBA Ikere Branch has truly come of age. I should also quickly add that I consider it a privilege to be asked to deliver the First Chief Wole Olanipekun Public Lecture. The significance of this is not lost on me. Chief Olanipekun’s contribution to legal practice and the legal profession needs no elaboration. He is an icon, a mentor, and an outstanding legal practitioner whose strides in the profession redefine the meaning of colossus. I am specifically pleased that I have the exclusive copyright to the First Chief Wole Olanipekun Public Lecture

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/jsdlp.v10i2.8

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AWOISM AND THE UNENDING SEARCH FOR TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP IN NIGERIA: POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, EDUCATIONAL AND SOCIAL CHALLENGES

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Aare Afe Babalola*

INTRODUCTION

I consider it an exceptionally great honour for me to receive the 2018 Chief Obafemi Awólowo prize for leadership. I thank the Governing Council and Board of Trustees of the Foundation for finding me worthy of this monumental honour, and for the privilege to join the two eminent past recipients of this Award, namely, Professor Wole Soyinka in 2012 and Thabo Mbeki in 2014. It is one of the greatest joys of my life that I am associated with an award named after an accomplished leader of men, iconic pan-Africanist, resolute nationalist, astute administrator, consummate family man, preeminent statesman, bridge builder, revered leader of the Yoruba people, Nigeria’s foremost federalist, one of the greatest African leaders of all time, and an epitome of the good life, Chief Jeremiah Oyeniyi Obafemi Awolowo, GCFR

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/jsdlp.v10i1.7

* Text of a keynote lecture delivered on 6 March 2019 by the 2018 Recipient of the prestigious Chief Obafemi Awolowo Prize for Leadership, Aare Afe Babalola, OFR, CON, SAN, LL.D (Lond.), FNAILS, FNSE FCI.Arb, President Emeritus and Founder, Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti.

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THE SEARCH FOR SUSTAINABLE EDUCATION IN POST-COLONIAL AFRICAN STATES

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Aare Afe Babalola*

INTRODUCTION

The Director of the African Studies Centre and Rhodes Professor of Race Relations, Professor Wale Adebanwi; members of the Senior Leadership Team of Oxford University here present; distinguished faculty, staff and students; ladies and gentlemen. I consider it a great honour to be invited to deliver this lecture at the world’s leading centre for the study of Africa – the Oxford African Studies Centre. All noble and self-respecting Africans, including my humble self, have reasons to be exceedingly proud of the great work that this Centre has championed since its establishment, most especially its vision to consolidate the rich and important relationship between the continent of Africa and the prestigious Oxford University. Oxford University has, over the past century, nurtured some of Africa’s most prominent leaders. As you know, the long list includes John Kufour, former President of Ghana, Pixley Ka Isaka Seme (1881 – June 1951), the intelligent South African who founded the African National Congress in the early 20th century; Bram Fischer, the antiapartheid activist and lawyer who defended Nelson Mandela at his treason trial; and of course Nigeria’s most famous Oxford University graduate, Dim Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu. It may also interest you to know that on my entourage today is Professor Damilola Olawuyi, an Oxford Doctorate in Law graduate, and a Professor of Law at Afe Babalola University

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/jsdlp.v9i1.8

* OFR, CON, SAN, LL.D, FNAILS, FCI.Arb. President Emeritus and Founder, Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti. This keynote lecture was delivered on 1 May 2018 at the African Studies Centre, School of Interdisciplinary Area Studies, University of Oxford, United Kingdom.

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METHODOLOGY, THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND SCHOLARLY SIGNIFICANCE: AN OVERVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL BEST PRACTICES IN LEGAL RESEARCH

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Rhuks Ako* and Damilola S. Olawuyi**

ABSTRACT

Communicating the results of painstaking legal research efforts is arguably as important as conducting the research itself. Established international publication outlets apply diverse submission guidelines for prospective authors. One common currency, however, is that getting a research paper from conception to publication, as a journal article, book chapter, or forum paper, requires an author to demonstrate a potential contribution to knowledge in the field. This requires a systematic research approach that unpacks contemporary issues in an analytical manner; a clear and concise presentation of ideas with focus on effectiveness; adoption of tested theoretical frameworks to underpin new ideas; and a careful proofreading of manuscript to ensure that a prospective publication meets the expected standards of good quality contribution to theory, practice or policy. This article discusses the indispensable standards and important guidelines that authors should weigh before writing papers for publication, most especially for internationally recognized journals. The authors draw on their experiences as Editorial Board members of national and international journals to unpack key theoretical, methodological and practical issues that legal researchers should consider when developing legal research papers.

Keywords: Legal Research, Methodology, Theory, Pedagogy, Legal Training, Scholarship

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/jsdlp.v8i2.11

* Ph.D (Kent), Senior Fellow, Institute for Oil, Gas, Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development, Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti. Email: rako@ogeesinstitute.edu.ng.

** LL.M (Calgary), LL.M (Harvard), Ph.D (Oxford), Professor of Law and Director, Institute for Oil, Gas, Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development, Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti. Email: dolawuyi@ogeesinstitute.edu.ng.

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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONAL ENERGY RESOURCES: WHAT HAS INTERNATIONAL LAW GOT TO DO WITH IT?

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Catherine Redgwell*

INTRODUCTION

It is particularly apt to be addressing the sustainable development of energy resources before this august audience. As Professor Omorogbe states in her welcome address, the ILA Nigerian Branch Committee, under the auspices of which this Third Annual Conference is organized, replicates the international committee at national level. Indeed, the topic of “Legal Aspects of Sustainable Development” has been the subject of ILA study since the International Committee on the Legal Aspects of the New International Economic Order reconstituted itself as the International Committee on Legal Aspects of Sustainable Development at the 1992 Cairo ILA Conference.1

* BA (Hons), LLB, MSc, Chichele Professor of Public International Law, Fellow of All Souls College, and Co-Director of the Oxford Martin Programme on Sustainable Oceans, University of Oxford, United Kingdom.

1 ILA Report of the Sixty-Fifth Conference (Cairo, 1992), Resolution 12. The Committee was headed by Kamal Hossain (Bangladesh) with Nico Schrijver (Netherlands) as General Rapporteur. Illustrating the complexity of the subject, the Committee immediately established three subcommittees on protection of the environment, good governance and the international economic order, respectively: Report of the Sixty-Sixth Conference (Buenos Aires, 1994) p. 135. Sustainable development was also one of the principles examined by the ILA Committee on the Legal Principles Relating to Climate Change.

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THAT THIS PROFESSION MAY NOT DIE: THE NEED TO FLUSH OUT MISCREANTS FROM THE NIGERIAN LEGAL PROFESSION

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Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad*

ABSTRACT

One of the key hindrances to sustainable development and economic growth in Nigeria is the problem of corruption. For many years, discussions on corruption inevitably focused on political abuse of powers and privileges and wanton disregard of the rule of law. Events of the last decade however sadly reveal that corruption, nepotism, and indiscipline have equally taken prominent places in the Nigerian legal profession, ranging from the bar, bench and the legal academia. Most alarming is the geometric rise in instances of corruption in our higher institutions of learning; ranging from prevalent sharp practices in admissions, examinations, research, teaching, tenure and academic promotions. This paper examines the challenges of endemic and systemic corruption in the Nigerian legal profession. The paper adopts a crosscutting approach to discuss how perennial instances of corruption threaten the nobility and growth of the Nigerian legal profession. It proposes a holistic purging of the bench, practicing bar, and the legal academia to name, shame and expel miscreants, in order to restore the age long discipline and dignity of the Nigerian legal profession.

Keywords: Corruption, legal profession, lawyers, universities, education

* Hon. Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, Ph.D, JSC, CFR, FCIArb, FNIALS, FCLM. Paper presented at the 48th Annual Conference of the Nigerian Association of Law Teachers (NALT), held at the Afe Babalola University, Ado – Ekiti, Ekiti State (31st May – 5th June, 2015),