March, 2016 - Legalnaija

So You Want to Rent a Property In Lagos, Nigeria? Get Familiar with these Terms

by Legalnaija | Mar 7, 2016 | Uncategorized

It’s funny how when renting a new
place, a lot of us painstakingly find the ideal place, immediately pay “to
secure the property” then proceed to move in; all this being done before the
landlord/agent drops off the tenancy agreement, that’s if there is even a
tenancy agreement at all.

The role of the lawyer when
renting new premises is so underplayed; however, we all know that the Legal fee
is a non-negotiable part of the whole transaction. In most instances the lawyer
gets to receive awoof
money, as the agreement sent out tends to be “copy and paste” in nature.

Tenancy in Lagos State is governed
by the Lagos State Tenancy Laws, however the majority of the provisions of this
act may be contracted out of via the tenancy agreement. Please note that this
article was written with yearly tenancies in Lagos State in mind, but some of
the issues highlighted are universal.

Many of the following terms are so
vital, yet they are either not adequately addressed or not even included in the
Tenancy Agreement at all. Unfortunately, the moment those terms not included in
the document become a cause for quarrel. A sweet relationship can turn sour
very quickly. Trust me, beef on one’s doorstep is never advisable.

Eviction
I recently reviewed what I must say is the greatest tenancy agreement I have
ever read. The lawyer who drafted it protected the landlord in all ways possible,
unfortunately to the detriment of the tenant… my client.

What struck me in the agreement
was the clause which dealt with the landlord’s ability to recover the premises,
which was to the effect that:

“if the tenant at any
time fails or neglects to perform and observe any of the covenants and
conditions contained for a period of up to (1) week, whether there has been a
formal notice or not, then the landlord may re-enter the premises,
enjoying same as if this tenancy has not been granted”

And boy did this agreement have A
LOT of restrictive covenants and conditions?!

Obviously you cannot take away the
landlords right to protect himself from nuisance tenants; but in doing so the
landlord should at least be fair. When negotiating the eviction clause, try and
push for 6 months’ notice as this is what is prescribed under the act.

Rent Payable

We all know that as a tenant you
face the risk of being evicted if you are in arrears with your rent.
Unfortunately for some, the moment they are just about settling down in the
house they rented, the landlord comes to inform them that the rent has gone up,
without caring if the tenant has a fixed budget (which has not gone up). The
tenant then cannot afford an increase in rent. Many tenancy agreements do not
address rent review, giving the Landlord the power to bully the Tenant.

One of my friends got a shocking
letter from the landlord telling her that the rent for her shop had increased
from 1.1m to 2.2m within the space of 12 months. The guy had seen her
activities on social media, and had seen the kind of clientele visiting her
shop, he felt “this babe is making money ooh”, and got greedy. As you can
imagine, she was not a happy bunny, but had no choice other than to pay up. She
had already branded her business location and moving was simply not in her
plans for that year.

Ideally when renting a place, you
should try and negotiate that the rent be fixed for a period of 3 years, after
which there may be an upward review of 15-20%. This increase should be
communicated to the tenant 3-6 months prior to the end of the tenancy.

Service Charge

The service charge is an
interesting topic. When I first moved back, I had a little apartment, and I
bought my gen which the gate man helped me to operate. After some time the gen
developed spiritual problems and my gate man developed shakara. At times, he
would switch off his phone when I called him to put on the gen at 3.30am
because NPEA has taken light. Honestly, I believed that service apartments were
the only way forward, but was seriously advised to be very careful.

I must stress that the service
charge is entirely contractual and not regulated by law. Unfortunately, in many
instances landlords will impose a specified service charge, without actually
detailing the services you are being charged for. I am finding increased
instances where the concept of service charge is being abused, and landlords
using this purely as a means of extracting more money from the tenant.

Before paying the service charge
insist on a fully itemized breakdown of exactly what the money is to be used
for. Where the service charge does not include diesel usage, insist that the
landlord provides a monthly estimate of what the likely diesel usage per
apartment per month is likely to be. I know the landlord is not a psychic, but
where you are not the first ever tenant to live in the apartment, they can use
the average monthly usage from the previous year to project the usage for this
year.

Caution Fee/ Deposit
For Damage

Please note: although not the case
in all instances, in MOST instances when accepting the caution fee, the
landlord has no intention what so ever of refunding it, upon the termination of
the agreement. Again this is another way landlords siphon more money from
unsuspecting tenants, and most likely that money is going to be used to
“re-pimp” the place for the next tenant.

I have not seen a single instance
where the tenant vacates premises, leaving it in exactly the same condition as
it was in when the tenant moved in. Most landlords do not want to accept that
there will always be wear and tear, and where they do accept this, they have
now devised this interesting way of hedging against possible losses. In an
event where the landlord insists that you pay a deposit, make sure you take
pictures of everything before you move in so that you can use this as a
reference point in case of a future dispute.

Right to Peaceful
Possession

A friend of mine rented a very
nice property. She was in love with the place, and honestly when I saw it I was
too. The house was amazing. Unfortunately for her, the landlady lived in the
neighboring compound and that was the beginning of the issues. There was a gap
in the fence and my friend would often complain that she would come home from
work to find the landlady on her side purportedly “inspecting” the property.
She ignored it. Things came to a head when the landlady started dictating the
latest time she could open her gate, screaming “Lagos is a dangerous place”.
For months my friend found herself tip toeing around the landlady, because she
just didn’t want the old woman’s trouble…… eventually she called someone to
tastefully seal the gap in the fence and boned.

I must stress that the right to
peaceful possession is a fundamental right and that without it you don’t have a
lease, but a mere licence to occupy space. Once the property has been rented to
a tenant, the landlord no longer has the right to re-enter the premises unless
he has the tenant’s express permission and upon reasonable notice of same.

Conclusion
When moving into a new property always ask the neighbors as many questions as
possible. Ask about the landlord’s temperament; ask about the area; investigate
why the old tenant moved out. Sha
ask as many questions as possible. This is usually a good way of gaging what to
reasonably expect from the property.

However, I must stress that when
renting new premises, even where one has been as diligent as possible, life can
always throw curve balls which are totally unexpected for both the tenant and
the landlord.

In all instances a positive and
understanding mind-set will always go a long way. Try to put yourself in the
shoes of the other party and act accordingly.

By: Ivie Omoregie

Editor’s note: This post was originally published on www.linkedin.com

Legal options available to victims of Medical Negligence in Nigeria- Ahmed Adetola-Kazeem, MCIArb (UK)

by Legalnaija | Mar 7, 2016 | Uncategorized

INTRODUCTION

Due to the low level of public enlightenment in Nigeria as to the rights of
victims in the event of medical negligence and other professional misconducts,
and sometimes because of religious or other social sentiments or prejudices,
victims of medical negligence and other professional malpractice seldom
institute actions in court for redress. There is therefore a dearth
of reported cases emanating from Nigerian courts. There has however been
a steady rise in complaints received by the investigating arms of the various
professional regulatory bodies which upon establishment of prima facie cases
are often charged before the disciplinary organs of the bodies. An
appreciable number of decisions of the disciplinary organs like the Medical and
Dental Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal end up in the appellate courts.

Applying the neighbourhood test, there is no gainsaying the fact that the
doctor or any other health professional in a health facility is a very close
neighbour of the patient who presents in the health facility, to whom the
doctor and other health personnel owes a duty of care. This is
quite apart from the contractual obligation between the patient and the owner
of the health facility, who in many cases in Nigeria, is the doctor himself.

Civil and professional negligence are species of the tort of Negligence,
although each of them attracts different results. Damages
will normally be awarded in favour of the victim of the negligence (or his/her
survivors, heirs or legal personal representatives if the victim is deceased)
against a tortfeasor in the case of civil negligence, whereas a medical or
health personnel adjudged to be guilty of professional negligence would usually
be sanctioned by the appropriate disciplinary organ as laid down in the enabling
statute. The sanction could be admonition, suspension of the practitioner
from the practice of the profession for a specified time or removal or erasure
of the practitioner’s name from the professional register, that is to say,
prohibiting the professional from the practice of the profession.

It is therefore convenient to use instances of what constitute professional
negligence listed in the Code of Medical Ethics in Nigeria 2008 as templates to
illustrate medical negligence

TYPES OF ACTS OR OMISSIONS THAT WOULD AMOUNT TO MEDICAL
NEGLIGENCE

Rule 29.4 of the Code outlines examples of what acts or omissions
constitute professional negligence as follows:-

1.
Failure to attend promptly to a patient requiring urgent
attention when the practitioner was in a position to do so;

2.
Manifesting incompetence in the assessment of a patient;

3.
Making an incorrect diagnosis particularly when the
clinical features were so glaring that no reasonable skillful practitioner
could have failed to notice them;

4.
Failure to advise, or proffering wrong advice to a
patient on the risk involved in a particular operation or course of treatment,
especially if such an operation or course of treatment is likely to result in
serious side effects like deformity or loss of organ, or function;

5.
Failure to obtain the informed consent of the patient
before proceeding on any surgical procedure or course of treatment when such
consent was necessary;

6.
Making a mistake in treatment e.g. amputation of the
wrong limb, carelessness that results in the termination of a pregnancy,
prescribing the wrong drug, or dosage in error for a correctly diagnosed
ailment, etc;

7.
Failure to refer, or transfer a patient in good time,
when such a referral or transfer was necessary;

8.
Failure to do anything that ought reasonably to have been
done under any circumstance for the good of the patient;

9.
Failure to see a patient as often as his medical
condition warrants or to make appropriate comments in the case notes of the
practitioner’s observations and prescribed treatment during such visits. It
also includes failure to communicate with the patient or with his relatives as
may be necessary with regards to any developments, progress or prognosis in the
patient’s condition.

The victim of Medical Negligence has a number of options for redress; he
may pursue civil claims against physicians or other health care providers for
alleged “torts”, that is, breaches of duty that result in personal injury, or
file a complaint with the regulatory body (e.g. the Medical and Dental Council
of Nigeria). He could also report to the Police who would conduct Criminal
Investigation and where the investigation reveals gross negligence,
recklessness or wanton disregard for life of the victim, the police can
prosecute or forward the case file to the office of the Attorney General of the
State for possible prosecution in deserving cases.

The tort of negligence is defined as the omission or failure to do
something which a reasonable and prudent man would do or doing something which
a reasonable and prudent man would not do. Negligence is the failure to
exercise that care which the circumstances demand, i.e. absence of care
according to the circumstances. See Ojo v. Gharoro (2006)
10 NWLR (pt.987) 173 @ 234(F-H). It is also defined broadly as
the breach of a legal duty to take care, which breach results in damage
undesired by the defendant to the plaintiff.

The tort has three elements, viz:-

1.
A duty of care owed by the defendant to the plaintiff.

2.
Breach of that duty by the defendant.

3.
Damage to the plaintiff resulting from the breach.

To establish the existence of a duty of care, the law has laid down the
foreseeability test in the popular case of Donoghue v. Stevenson
(1932) AC 592 In that case, Lord Atkin
formulated the Neighbourhood principle, which enjoins that a person
–“must take reasonable care to avoid acts or omission which you can reasonably
foresee would be likely to injure your neighbour”. My neighbours are “persons
who are so closely and directly affected by my acts that I ought reasonably to
have them in contemplation as being so affected when I am directing my mind to
the acts or omission which are called in question”.

Nursing staff, like medical practitioners, owe a duty of care to the
patients in their care, although decided cases on nurses liability for
negligence are relatively few. But this principle, as applied to medical
practitioners has been applied to Nurses in those few cases. A nurse must
attain the standard of competence and skill to be expected from a person
holding the post. It has also been held that a midwife delivering a child must
display the skill of a registered midwife and it is not enough that she
attained the standard of the ordinary registered nurse with minimal obstetric
experience.

As regards Pharmacists, the cases have established that the standard of
care demanded of them is high reflecting their status and their position as
having the “last opportunity” to safeguard a patient from a dangerous drug. A
Pharmacist does not discharge his duty by dispensing as written on the
prescription presented to him. He should recognize and check with the Doctor
where a dangerous dosage of a drug is prescribed21.

VICARIOUS LIABILITY OF HOSPITAL AUTHORITIES

The victim of a tort which occurs in the course of the torfeasor’s
employment can sue the employer for that tort on the basis of the principle of
vicarious liability. Because of the age along distinction between
contract of service and contract for services, it was thought that this
latitude would not be extended to victims of negligent acts or omission of
consultant surgeons and physicians, these being persons with considerable
degree of independent judgment, who are virtually free from the control of the
Hospital authorities. The celebrated hospital cases have long exploded
that erroneous belief. Today, Hospital authorities are vicariously liable
for the negligence of their employees be they nurses, physiotherapists,
pharmacists, laboratory technologists or even senior consultants.

The only exception is where the consultant does not act as the employee of
the hospital or clinic as, for example, where the patient contracts privately
with a consultant for necessary treatment or surgery and then contracts
separately with the hospital or clinic for nursing and ancillary care.
The usual problem in such an instance is that of establishing whether any
negligence was the fault of the Consultant or that of the hospital staff.
In Roe v Ministry of Health (1954) QB 66 it was held
that if one or two persons must have been negligent, they cannot both defeat
the Plaintiff by silence or blaming each other.

In the same vein, the mere fact that the medical practitioner or consultant
is a part-time employee over whom the Hospital authority has limited power as
in the case of the consultants in the Teaching Hospitals in Nigeria who are
permanent employees of the Universities, rendering clinical services to these
institutions for a stipend called clinical supplementation is not enough to
ground a waiver of vicarious liability of the Hospital authority. In the
case of Cassidy v Ministry of Health(1951) 2 QB 343 the
English Court of Appeal stated that the relevant consideration in such a
situation is whether the Doctor was engaged for the purpose of the treatment by
the Hospital authority or by the patient. If the patient did not engage
the Doctor by himself and consequently did not pay him his fee directly, such a
Doctor must still be regarded as an employee of the Hospital authority for
whose tort the Hospital authority must be vicariously liable. It follows
that there is no clear-cut distinction between full-time and part-time
consultants.

The correct position will therefore appear to be that once a Hospital
authority has accepted a patient for treatment, it comes under a duty to treat
the patient with reasonable care and skill and any breach of that duty is
actionable regardless of who may be responsible for that breach.

PROFESSIONAL DISCIPLINE OF ERRING MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS

The Medical Profession in Nigeria is regulated by the Medical and Dental
Council of Nigeria (MDCN). The MDCN in furtherance of its statutory functions
as provided for in Section 1 (2)(c) of the Medical and Dental Practitioners Act
(MDPA), Cap M8 , LFN 2004, codified the rules of professional conduct for
Medical and Dental Practitioners in its Code of Medical of Ethics in Nigeria
(2008). There are two organs responsible for the discipline of Medical and
Dental practitioners.

Section 15(3) of the Medical and Dental Practitioners Act establishes
the Medical and Dental Practitioners Investigation Panel (“The Investigation
Panel”) which is saddled with the responsibility of conducting preliminary
investigation into any case where it is alleged that a registered person has
misbehaved in his capacity as a medical practitioner or dental surgeon amongst
other functions. The Investigation panel after investigation will determine
whether or not a prima facie case has been established against the
practitioner. If a prima facie case is established against the practitioner,
the Investigation Panel will frame a charge against him before the Medical and
Dental Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal (“the Disciplinary Tribunal”)

The Disciplinary Tribunal established by section 15(1) of the MDPA is
charged with the duty of considering and determining any case referred to it by
the investigation panel. Where the Disciplinary Panel finds a practitioner
guilty of in-famous conduct in any professional respect, in line with the
provisions of section 16(2) of the MDPA, the Disciplinary Tribunal may order
the Registrar to strike the person’s name off the register; or suspend the
person from practice by ordering him not to engage as medical practitioner or
dental surgeon for a period not exceeding six months; or admonish the
practitioner. The drawback however, is that the provision for suspension was
pegged at six months, it would have been better if it was made flexible because
some offences are not grave enough to attract striking out the practitioner’s
name from the register but deserve more than six months suspension.

MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE WITH CRIMINAL CONSEQUENCE

Criminal law does not generally punish negligence. This is because section
24 of the Criminal Code says that no person can be criminally responsible for
his unwilled acts or omission or even the accidental consequence of his willed
acts. But that section is subject to the express provisions of the Code
relating to negligent acts or omission.

Where medical treatment results in the patient’s death in consequence of
the gross negligence of the Medical Doctor, a charge may be sustained against
him for manslaughter as was the case in R v.
Akerele (1941) where a Medical Practitioner who applied overdose
of sobita on a number of children which led to their death was held (by WACA,
although later reversed by the Privy Council on technical ground) to have been
criminally negligent and accordingly convicted for manslaughter. This is
because under s.303 of the Code, every person, except in case of necessity,
undertakes to administer surgical or medical treatment has a duty to have
reasonable skill and to use reasonable care in administering the treatment and
if any negative consequence results to the life or health of the patient as a
result of his breach of this duty, he is held to have caused such consequence.
However, because negligently causing death is the crime of manslaughter, such a
doctor will be found guilty of manslaughter.

His possible defences though are contained in Sections 297 and 313 of the
Code. Section 297 provides that a person is not criminally responsible for
performing in good faith and with reasonable care and skill a surgical
operation upon any person for his benefit, if the performance of the operation
is reasonable having regard to the patient’s state at the time and to all
circumstances of the case. Section 313 makes the original assailant and not the
Medical Practitioner responsible even if death of the victim results from the
treatment, provided the treatment was reasonably proper under the circumstances
and was applied in good faith.

The criminal liability of a medical practitioner who has exhibited gross
negligence in the management of a patient now enjoys universal
acceptance. The case of Dr. Conrad Murray, Michael Jackson’s personal
physician, who was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter i.e. criminal
negligence, is a case in point. It was established during trial that Dr.
Murray administered a lethal dose of anesthetic profonol on Michael Jackson in his
house and left him without medical supervision. The Court described
Dr. Murray’s conduct as reckless and he was sentenced to two years imprisonment

In Nigeria, one of the grounds for the discipline of a medical or dental
practitioner is conviction by a court which has the power to impose
imprisonment for an offence (whether or not an offence punishable with
imprisonment) which in the opinion of the Disciplinary Tribunal is incompatible
with the status of a medical practitioner or a dental surgeon as the case may.
See Section. 16(1) Medical and Dental Practitrioners Act, Cap.M8 LFN
2004.)

Other offences which could make a Medical Practitioner liable during his
course of duty once the elements of the offences are proved are abortion,
adultery (in the north), rape, murder and manslaughter.

One question that would agitate the mind of a legal practitioner who
represents a medical or dental practitioner facing a charge for medical
negligence before the Disciplinary Tribunal is whether prosecution of a
practitioner before the Disciplinary Tribunal can be pursued simultaneously
with civil claim for damages in the courts.

Quite often, parties to a complaint of professional misconduct also proceed
to court in respect of the same subject matter. Sometime, the complainant
proceeds to court to claim damages for the negligence, while also laying a
complaint before the Medical and Dental Practitioners Investigating
Panel. Sometime also the practitioner complained against proceeds to
court seeking a restraining order against either the complainant or the
Tribunal. The question is whether the civil claim in the courts can be a bar to
an investigation by the Investigating Panel, or trial by the Disciplinary
Tribunal.

Ordinarily, the complainant would be at an advantage to await the result of
professional disciplinary action before proceeding to the civil court for
claims for damages. But as it happens quite often, due largely to a
period of interregnum between the dissolution of one Council and the
composition of another, complaints before the disciplinary organs of the
professional bodies last much longer than three years before they are
resolved. Of course after a period of three years, a claim based on
negligence would in most jurisdictions be caught by limitation.

On the other hand, some counsel argue that once a Suit has been instituted
in the High Court on the same subject matter, the matter becomes sub judice
such that no investigation by the Investigating Panel or trial by the
Disciplinary Tribunal ought to proceed. If the position taken by Counsel
who so argue were to be correct, such cases would linger for a very long time
as to lose their deterrent value, or even discourage the complainant from
further pursuing the matter.

The matter is more straight forward where criminal prosecution is
instituted against the practitioner because conviction by the court is by
itself a ground for the Disciplinary Tribunal exercising disciplinary action
against the practitioner.

CONCLUSION

The essence of this article is to draw the attention of the public to
incidences of medical negligence and professional malpractice with particular
reference to the current approach in tackling these in Nigeria.

It is believed that with more enlightenment on the part of Nigerian
citizens and residents as to their right against unfair treatment by medical
institutions and practitioners, many cases will spring up in the regular courts
in addition to complaints being lodged with the professional regulatory bodies.
This will ensure that medical personnel are more careful while carrying out
their duties.

Ahmed Adetola-Kazeem is a Counsel at Gani Adetola-Kaseem
(SAN) LP

Editor’s notes: this post was originally published on www.linkedin.com

BOOK YOUR TABLES FOR NIGERIAN LEGAL AWARDS 2016

by Legalnaija | Mar 7, 2016 | Uncategorized

snapshot of over 500 top lawyers and business executives who were guests at the Nigerian Legal Awards 2015

To book your
place at the award dinner, please email to awards@esqlaw.net and copy
award@esqlaw.net and esqnigerianlegalawards@gmail.com or call lere on
08035269055 or Funmi on 08169309575

Enterprenuership and the Law by Kayode Omosehin

by Legalnaija | Mar 7, 2016 | Uncategorized

Credits – www.entreprenoobz.com

Nigeria is the next great
investment destination of Africa. Entrepreneurship will no doubt be the drive
of the economy of the continent. Entrepreneurs are known for surviving in
almost uncertain ventures and can forge on against all odds. But forging on with
caution in legal matters will be sound wisdom in commerce. With many Nigerian
entrepreneurs now new to building a business, the need for legal advice becomes
imperative and should therefore form part of any curriculum in entrepreneurship
training.

Entrepreneurs need lawyers to grow
their business with less troubles from regulators and competitors. Information
technology has deluded so many into joining the band wagon of “wetin
lawyers dey do sef” (meaning “what do lawyers even do to make them
indispensable”). Some people are searching Google to get templates on
contracts and almost every other thing about their business. The consequences
of such approach can be very grave! I have listened to many clients, local and
foreign, brooding over regulatory sanctions imposed on their business, how sad
it is to them that they are getting sued by competitors for everything, how
much issues they have to deal with in terms of their copyright, product
liability etc. These are known attributes of a business which disregards the
use of legal advice.

Appreciating the need for legal
advice and how to put it to effective use forms part of the skills of an
entrepreneur. A foreign investor wisely paid about $20k for a legal fee to
review a two-page agreement. Apart from typographical correction and
rearrangement of the contents, the lawyer only added few words. The same
decision may be looked upon by other businessmen as being profligate. Four
years after, the business relationship went sour between the partners. Interestingly,
those few words added by the lawyers have now saved the investor an
embarrassing lawsuit of $2.5billion.

There are a host of start-ups
towing the “do-it-yourself” alternatives instead of seeking standard
legal advice. They are carried away with the impression that technology has
some sort of omnipotence to solve even the legal matters in business. That
cannot be. Whilst Google and other search engines can provide hints and
templates for contract drafting, it cannot do so in a way that guarantees less troubles
for the business. Legal service may be cheap or expensive but can be your only
surest way out of some soul-crushing mistakes that can mar your business
career.

Focusing on legal issues early in
business is key and is especially helpful to entrepreneurs on diverse issues
such as founders agreements, tax management, intellectual property, employee
contracts and handbook and other regulatory issues. If you fail to hire a
lawyer at the beginning of a business, you may have to do so sooner or later, sometimes
at a greater cost. A business man once said “if you end up in a lawsuit,
then you are in the business of managing a lawsuit.” A word is enough for
a businessman!

Kayode Omosehin Esq.

Lagos, Nigeria
Editor’s note: this article was originally posted on www.linkedin.com on 1st March, 2016.

Lere Fashola on how law firms can make their Nigerian Legal Awards entries standout and get the judges’ positive nod.

by Legalnaija | Mar 7, 2016 | Uncategorized

The Nigerian
Legal Awards (NLA) is not based on sentiments, not on how much you pay,
relationship with ESQ, size of the firm nor volume of the transactions that you
do. It is based on specifics as contained in your submission.

You are
called to explain in short words what it is that you have achieved for your
client and how this has impacted or is likely to impact on their business.
Since words are the most important tools of advocacy and lawyers are expected
to be men of words, the Award judges are looking forward to seeing in your own
words how legal service that you deliver is in tandem with commercial
realities.

Our judges
are usually very busy and have limited time to devout to reading long epistles
but trust me, they do study the entries carefully, often burning through the
midnight oil in the process as they juggle with their busy schedules.

Given that
well over half of the Nigerian Legal Awards judges are heads of the African
Practice Group of the major International Law Firms or CEOs of major companies
with years of interaction with Nigerian Lawyers, while leading teams or
companies, this presents law firms with the opportunity to tell a select group
of partners or prospective clients how well they are doing. Conversely, if they
submit ill-thought out entries they may end up damaging a valued relationship.

This is a
very important business

Nigerian
legal awards is not for joke. It is indeed a very serious business. If you’re
not going to take the process of entering awards seriously, then leave them
well alone. Boilerplate entries obviously modeled on directory submissions
where the only variation is the name of the awards entered – and sometimes even
that detail is overlooked – will simply reduce the value of your nomination.

Choose the categories you enter carefully:

Generally,
some categories attract more entries than others. This should be expected as
some areas of the economy are usually more active than the others. In the past,
the Oil and Gas Team Award was the most popular category attracting higher
number of entries. Other popular practice area categories were Banking, Finance
or Restructuring Team of the Year and Dispute Resolution Team of the Year and
the Capital Market Team of the Year.

Competition
is obviously a good thing and the steady rise in the number of entries for the
Nigerian Legal Awards has no doubt helped raise the standard of the shortlisted
entries, a phenomenon several judges remarked upon last year. That doesn’t mean
you shouldn’t enter the most hard-fought categories, just that you need to
enter the competition with your eyes open, aware that you will need to have an
exceptional entry to succeed. Conversely, it will surely pay off to focus on
some of the less popular categories to see whether they clearly show your
leadership strength within the league.

“All over
the world, there are similar respectable ceremonies that grant prizes but this
offer another flavour as it is specifically for Nigerian lawyers and because
most Nigerian firms are playing at home, in front of their public, their
audience, their clients, their colleagues, their neighbours, their bosses, the
acknowledgement is even greater. As we stick very closely to the new trends in
the market, we are able to see before anyone else and spot the new “kids on the
block”, see how the “old guys” are doing in their traditional areas of practice
or in new areas in which they are developing and see what innovations the new
players are bringing to the game as well as the influence of the international
players in the market.” Lere Fashola stated.

Criteria are
important

Study the
criteria and make sure the entry addresses all the points. All evaluations and
nominations are done online. Judges will be given a score sheet that lists the
criteria and invites them to mark each entry against them. Each Criterion has a
maximum score of 10 points. We therefore expect that each nomination will
adequately address all the criteria fully. The score that you get for one
criterion may not count for the other. so you have to do justice to all and in
short words.

There will
also be a day roundtable for judges where we invite the judges to meet and
debate who should win the Law Firm of the Year Award. The final decision on the
winner of the award will be decided at the one day judges’ conference where
judges will meet to justify their votes.

Shortlisted
nominees will be informed before the award ceremony. The final decision on the
award winners will be made by the judges when they meet, and their decision
will be final.

Dare to be
different

Your
submission must be precise and address the issues. It should be easy to read
and understood and should state specifically what is significant about what you
have done. Be different and see this as an opportunity to market to a new or
prospective client who may end up needing your services.

Remember its
about the clients

All that the
judges are looking for is how your service is helping the businesses to grow.
It is expected that the solutions that you offer must be in tandem with
commercial realities. Show to the judges what it was that you were called to
help the client solve and how this is impacting or likely to impact on their
businesses.

Write in
plain English and avoid jargon

No law firm
or legal department can succeed without being able to communicate effectively
and this should be reflected in the quality of the submission itself. Lay out
can also help. For example, sub-headings that speak to the criteria will
reinforce the message that the entry has been well-structured. It is not part
of the entry criteria for entries to be well designed. But submissions from law
firms that have not been sent to a design department are becoming increasingly
rare.

Does your firm need to be big before you can win?

The Nigerian
Legal Awards is not based on the size of your firm nor the volume of the
transactions that you do. The past award has seen a firm win the award on the
strength of the very first deal they did under a specific category. All the
judges are concerned with is whether the deal is novel, does it set new
standards, the turnaround time, positive benefits to the clients business, how
professional you were in delivering this service

APPALLING DIVISION by Jacinta Obinugwu

by Legalnaija | Mar 7, 2016 | Uncategorized

Over the years, the most general definition of International Law is that International law is a set of rules which are established by customs or treaties and as such is widely recognized and binding on states in relating to one another.

However, the manner in which International law is derived from general principles of law has been subject to a number of debates. Asides understanding the fact that international policies became widely accepted by states after the Second World War, there has been series of debates as to the existence and glorious formation of International law. The Traditional understanding is that international law was born out of European experience.

According to Third World Scholars, the concept of International law can be regarded as a predacious system which particularly legitimizes, reproduces and keeps in existence the subordination of Third World countries by the west.

In discussing the marginalization created by International law between developed states and non-developed states, a major focus will be Article 22 of the African Charter on Human Right which sets forth the right of peoples to economic, social and cultural development “with due regard to their freedom and identity and in the equal enjoyment of the common heritage of mankind and Article 20 which declares the right of all peoples to existence and unquestionable right to self- determination which simply means that they shall freely determine their political status and shall pursue their economic and social development according to the policy they have freely chosen.

However ‘REAL’ the above provision might seem, a major concern is the fact that International law claims to support the promotion of human rights pursuant to Article 22 of the African Charter on Human & Peoples right (Right to development) by building walls of engagement between developing states and developed states in relation to investment and economic trade. But in actuality, it fails to look into the practices and actions of international organisations, trade and economic laws which consistently violate human rights.

In creating a legally binding document to regulate internal and external affairs between states and improve economic development, one might choose not to look

beyond the surface in the sense that developing countries seem to be on the loose end of the rope because these policies don’t guide developed countries or seek to

improve its economic growth rather it tends to paralyse growth and systematically

extort the system for its benefits.

There’s little or no objection that today’s

generation has been dominated by globalization, faced with an uneven division of man’s creation in the fields of science and technology, his ability to unravel difficult situations and problems created by nature has become monumental, his failure to eradicate distorting problems of poverty and destitution that befalls the world remains a myth as Society has created a clear demarcation between rich and poor Nations.

According to Anand Ram in his book titled “Confrontation or Cooperation? International Law and the Developing Countries. Dordrecht: Nijhoff, 1987 the

clear gap between the rich and poor should no longer be regarded as circumstances

beyond control but as a chasm.

On one hand we have nations filled with over 600 million individuals whose citizens live in a conducive environment with its per capital income ranging between $3,000 to $6,000, these countries produce majority

of the worlds manufactured products and consume the finest resources in order to

maintain a high standard of living.

While on the other hand, there are more than one hundred countries harbouring over two million citizens, who strive to earn a living via cheap labour. Clearly, over 30% of the world’s poorest states forge on less than $50 per capital income.

Majority of those who reside in these countries suffer from lack of nutrition, air borne diseases and many health hazards leaving their life expectancy 25 years less than those who reside in modernized worlds. There is the general notion that western industrialized countries are responsible for the level of poverty in third

world countries. The long period of western domination and imperialist exploitation kept economies of these countries stagnant and resources extracted are used for the benefit of developing western territories. Unfortunately exploitation is still carried out on poor countries through sophisticated mechanisms and plots, this only goes to show that colonization although dead, still breeds amidst the new global world order.

In conclusion, from a realist perspective, is somewhat safe to say that the universality of International law is indeed a farce and a plague with nothing to offer the so called ‘Developing Countries’.

by Jacinta Obinugwu

Assistant Programme and Publications Coordinator for the LLM Research Conference 2014.

Masters in International Law with International Relations, Kent University
LLB Honours in Law, Nottingham Trent University.

Electricity Customer Rights and Obligations

by Legalnaija | Mar 3, 2016 | Uncategorized

Credits – www.tori.ng

NERC stands for Nigerian
Electricity Regulatory Commission and by its name, it’s obvious that they are
empowered to oversee everything that has to do with how you and I get our
electricity. The Commission derives its powers from the Electric Power Sector Reform
(EPSR) Act, 2005 to ensure an efficiently managed electricity supply industry
and mandates the commission to ensure that electricity investors recover costs
on prudent investment and provide quality service to customers.

As electricity users, we
have certain rights and obligations and it’s important we are all familiar with
them so as to aid your panel discussions and deliberations as regards
electricity supply. The following are your rights as an electricity customer –

·
It is your right to electric service and
accurate electric meter/billing.

·
All new electric connections must be done
strictly on the basis of metering before connection. That is, no new customer
should be connected without a meter first being installed.

·
Customer who elects to procure meter under
the Credited Advance Payment for Metering Implementation (CAPMI) scheme must be
metered within 60 days, failure in which the electricity customer will neither
be billed nor disconnected by the electricity distribution company.

·
It is your right to transparent electricity
billing. Unmetered customer should be issued electricity bills strictly based
on NERC’s Estimated Billing Methodology.

·
It is your right to contest any electricity
bill. Any unmetered customer who is disputing his/her estimated bill has the
right not to pay the disputed bill, but pay only the last undisputed bill as
the contested bill go through the dispute resolution process of NERC.

·
It is your right to be notified in writing
ahead of disconnection of electricity service by the electricity distribution
company serving you.

·
It is your right to prompt investigation of
complaints arising from your electricity service.

·
It is not the responsibility of electricity
customer or community to buy, replace or repair electricity transformers, poles
and related equipment used in supply of electricity.

·
All complaints on your electricity supply
and otherbilling issues are to be sent to your nearest Business Unit of the
electricity company serving your premises. If your complaint is not satisfactory
addressed you can forward your complaint to the NERC Forum Office within the
coverage area of your electricity distribution company. Electricity customers
also have the right to appeal the decision of the Forum at the commission
(NERC).

AdedunmadeOnibokun

@adedunmade/twitter

dunmadeo@yahoo.com

When a Police officer can arrest without a warrant

by Legalnaija | Mar 3, 2016 | Uncategorized

Most people want to know
when the police can arrest you without a warrant. It’s been a topic among many
citizens and I hope this blog post can help shed some light on the issue. The
provision of the law with regards to arrest without a warrant can be found in
the Police Act and the Criminal Code.

Section 24 of the Police
Act, provides that a police officer can lawfully arrest without warrant in the
following cases –

1. Any
person whom he finds committing any felony, misdemeanour or simple offence;

2. Any
person whom he reasonably suspects of having committed or of being about to
commit any felony, misdemeanour or breach of the peace;

3. Any person whom another has charged with
having committed a felony or misdemeanour;

4. Any
person whom another suspects of having committed a felony or misdemeanour ;

5. Any
person whom another has charged with having committed a simple offence.

It should be noted that a
felony means an offence on conviction for which a person can, without proof of
his having been previously convicted of an offence, be sentenced to death or to
imprisonment for three years or more, or which is described by law to be a
felony.

A misdemeanour is an
offence, which on conviction; a person may be punished by imprisonment for not
less than six months but not more than three years.

A simple offence is an
offence which is neither a felony nor a misdemeanour. It is just any category
of offence which on conviction a person cannot be sent to terms of imprisonment
up to six months.

According to the above, it
seems a police officer can arrest without an arrest warrant every time.

AdedunmadeOnibokun

@adedunmade/twitter

dunmadeo@yahoo.com

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