development

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TRANSNATIONAL INITIATIVES TOWARDS NATURAL RESOURCE GOVERNANCE IN AFRICA POST-2015

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Timothy M. Shaw*

ABSTRACT

The 21st century is marked by a welcome proliferation of innovative forms of natural resource governance to advance sustainable development. This article sheds light on the background for this quite remarkable and unanticipated shift. It analyses the prospects for AMV advocacy and adoption by emerging state and non-state actors by the end of this decade, both in Africa and beyond. It examines these evolving perspectives and debates vis á vis 21st century globalization. It also identifies the unexpected and unprecedented range of transnational governance initiatives that have been proposed since the turn of the century. These continue to proliferate and compete, being refined in the process as the problematic notion of global governance continues to be a subject of considerable debate. It also extends the range of developmental challenges to include the burgeoning water-energy-food nexus.

Keywords: governance, Africa, economy, development

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/jsdlp.v8i1.9

* PhD, Princeton, is visiting professor at University of Massachusetts, Boston and Adjunct Professor at Aalborg, Carleton University, and University of Ottawa. With degrees from three continents – University of Sussex, Makerere University and Princeton University – he has held visiting positions in China, Japan, Nigeria, South Africa, United Kingdom, Zambia and Zimbabwe as well as in Canada and the US. He continues to edit IPE Series for Palgrave Macmillan/Springer and Routledge.

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REALISING THE AFRICA MINING VISION: THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT-INITIATED INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT THINK-TANKS

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Chilenye Nwapi*

INTRODUCTION

In 2008, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the African Union (AU) established a joint technical taskforce to articulate a mining vision for Africa. The resulting Africa Mining Vision (AMV), which was adopted by African Heads of State and Government in February 2009, was informed by the continent’s recognition of its enormous mineral potential, the importance of mineral resources to Africa’s industrialisation and socioeconomic development, and the fact that in most African countries only very little progress has been made to maximise the opportunities.1

* Senior Fellow, Institute for Oil, Gas, Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development Afe Babalola University, Nigeria. This article is a revised version of a paper presented at the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy’s “Mining, Environment and Society” Conference: Beyond Sustainability – Building Resilience, held in Johannesburg from 12-13 May 2015. The Institute reserved the right to publish that earlier version in its journal.

1 African Union (AU), Africa Mining Vision, February 2009, accessed 8 December 2015.

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REALIZING THE RIGHT TO DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA: AN EXAMINATION OF LEGAL BARRIERS AND CHALLENGES

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Olaitan Olusegun* and Oyeniyi Ajigboye**

ABSTRACT

The United Nations General Assembly has, through several Conventions, emphasized the need for the full realization of the right to development, alongside the rights to food and clean water, the right to shelter and the right to housing. According to the United Nations, if Economic Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR) are violated, the right to development is also violated. However, the realization of ESCRs in Nigeria continues to face challenges, therefore, the realization of development remains germane both in Nigeria and the international community at large. The search for development in Nigeria, therefore, requires the grasping of the conceptualized Right to Development (RTD), and dealing with the barriers and legal challenges, which affect the realization of the RTD. This article, therefore, aims to analyse the content, commitment, and nature of the right to development and examines the barriers to its implementation in Nigeria. The article discusses problems such as governmental corruption, lack of resources, lack of institutional capacity, poverty, internal conflicts, judicial performance, lack of implementation and enforcement of laws, and concludes that the goals of sustainable development in Nigeria cannot be fully realized without a conscious effort towards reduction in corruption which can practically serve as a panacea for achieving meaningful development.

Keywords: Development, Developing Countries, Human Rights, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/jsdlp.v6i1.7

* Lecturer, Department of Public and International Law, College of Law, Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria. Email: o.olusegun @hotmail.com

** Lecturer, Department of Public and International Law, College of Law, Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria. Email: oyeajigboye @gmail.com

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LEGAL STATUS OF SECTIONS 10 AND 12 OF THE NIGERIAN OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY CONTENT DEVELOPMENT ACT (2010) UNDER THE GATT REGIME

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Adewale Adetola Aladejare*

ABSTRACT

The Nigerian Federal Government in 2010 made a regulatory intervention in the Nigerian oil and gas industry by enacting the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act (The “Act”). The Act prescribes in sections 10 and 12 that preference should be given to ‘...goods manufactured in Nigeria’. This paper considers the legal standing of these sections in international trade law against the backdrop of the national treatment principle contained in Article III of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). A comparative analysis is made using Article III to establish that the two sections flagrantly violate the obligations of the Nigerian state as a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and GATT. An unexplored contract alternative to legislation argument is then advanced and recommended.

Keywords: Local content, trade, GATT, WTO, national treatment

* Adewale Aladejare, LL.M (UK), LL.B (Ife) is a lecturer at the College of Law, Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti.