Flow of Foreign Direct Investment to Hitherto Neglected Developing Countries

neglected developing countries, foreign direct investment, two-part econometric modelling, panel data analysis

Informal networks of corruption: assessing the challenges for public sector whistleblowing in Nigeria

Recently, the Nigerian government adopted its first National Anti-Corruption Strategy—the first since its independence in 1960. While the strategy captures varying forms of corruption, whistleblowing is seen as one of the key strategies identified to confront anti-corruption in the public sector. The adoption of the whistleblowing policy and its on-going implementation however occurs without a legislative framework to protect whistleblowers. This article situates the whistleblower program in the wider socio-political context of anti-corruption in Nigeria, and public governance. The paper critically examines the implications of the legislative gaps for the long-term sustenance of the whistleblower protection program. This paper argues that the whistleblowing program is embedded in the wider socio-political and informal social norms that have historically privileged corruption in Nigeria. To enhance the overall effectiveness and institutionalization of the whistleblowing program in Nigeria, this paper contends that the urgent adoption of a comprehensive legislative protection framework is a minimum requirement. Significant practical steps must be taken to address the complex background of informal social networks of corruption, power dynamics, and social norms that are peculiar to the Nigerian economic and political context

Background: Towards a Critical Assessment of Canadian-Nigerian Bilateral Relations

Although the diplomatic relations between Canada and Nigeria is almost six decades old, the nature of this bilateral relationship has not been the subject of rigorous academic research. While a recent body of research by international relations scholars has taken up the broad critical study of Canadian-African relations, a significant gap exists with respect to studies that focus on the context of Canada’s engagement with individual African countries. Against this background, this paper briefly examines the bilateral trade and investment engagements between Nigeria and Canada. The modest aim is to highlight the existing framework that guides the relations of both countries, highlight some projects, and document some preliminary observations while posing further questions that will deepen our understanding of the socio-legal implications of Canadian-Nigerian bilateral engagements

Symposium on Sustainable Development Goals, Trade, Investment, and Inequality

This Symposium, co-hosted by Afronomicslaw and the Dalhousie Law Journal Blog is an outcome of one of the streams at the 2019 Annual Purdy Crawford Workshop at the Schulich School of Law. The theme of the Workshop which took place from Sept. 26–28 was “The Role of Business Regulation in Advancing the Sustainable Development Goals.” Co-organized by three Schulich School of Law Professors, the Workshop featured three inter-disciplinary and simultaneous streams as well as cross-over plenaries that focused on: “SDGs and Revenue Mobilization” – convened by Kim Brooks, the Purdy Crawford Chair in Business Law; “SDGs, Trade, Investment, and Inequality” convened by Olabisi D. Akinkugbe; and “Business Responsibilities for Human Rights and Environmental/Climate Justice – convened by Sara Seck.” The contributions to this symposium were initially presented as part of “SDGs, Trade, Investment, and Inequality” stream

Background: Towards a Critical Assessment of Canadian-Nigerian Bilateral Relations

Although the diplomatic relations between Canada and Nigeria is almost six decades old, the nature of this bilateral relationship has not been the subject of rigorous academic research. While a recent body of research by international relations scholars has taken up the broad critical study of Canadian-African relations, a significant gap exists with respect to studies that focus on thecontext of Canada’s engagement with individual African countries. Against this background, this paper briefly examines the bilateral trade and investment engagements between Nigeria and Canada. The modest aim is to highlight the existing framework that guides the relations of both countries, highlight some projects, and document some preliminary observations while posing further questions that will deepen our understanding of the socio-legal implications of Canadian- Nigerian bilateral engagements

Overview of the Quarterly Report of the Nigerian Ministry of Industry, Trade & Investment

The present report entitled “Special Economic Zones: Emerging Frontiers for Industrial Growth” covers the period of January – March 2019. The Report is divided into sections that provide important updates on the current steps being taken by the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade & Investment (FMITI) and the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) in thematic areas that include: trade and trade policy, SMEs, investment, industry, the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA) and general news update

Race & International Investment Law: On the Possibility of Reform and Non-Retrenchment

The international investment regime is in flux. The mainstream practice of investment law and arbitration works on the basis of the regime’s foundations in contract and property law. However, critical scholarship in the field has unearthed the coloniality of power that permeates both the practice of international investment law and the current reform exercise led by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Working Group III. These critical scholars warn of the imminent reproduction and entrenchment of the systemic inequities, power asymmetries, and investment law’s investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) regime which is skewed against post-colonial host states. The two books1 under review offer a range of thought-provoking approaches for analyzing the past, present, and future of investment law. This Review Essay categorizes these books into two modes of critical scholarship on international investment law: moderate and radical.2 In Part II, I flesh out the conceptual categories of moderate and radical critique. In Part III, I analyze the books under review through the lens of these two conceptual frameworks. In Part IV, I turn to the question of race and investment law. This Review Essay suggests that race should not be neglected in our analysis of the past, present, and, most importantly, the future of investment law—a core theme that both books under review does not engage with. Part V briefly concludes

Revisiting the Economic Community of West African States: A Socio-Legal Analysis

Recent years have seen a growing scholarly interest in the conditions of emergence of regional trade agreements in Africa. These analyses have advanced our knowledge on a range of technical issues, from specific institutional transformation of regional economic communities such as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to broad legal issues relating to the provisions of the regional trade agreements. Most literature on ECOWAS is, however, informed by legal formalism that interprets the text of the treaties strictly and without context, leading to a dominant interpretation of failure.By contrast, this thesis adopts a socio-legal approach and argues that the dominant narrative’s conceptualization of ECOWAS is narrow and under-representative of the broader contexts of the social relations in which ECOWAS Treaties and their implementation are embedded. The failure narratives do not adequately account for the complex social, historical, and political factors that shape the implementation of the ECOWAS Treaties.By combining socio-legal approach with insights from International Relations on new regionalism, the thesis reconceptualizes regionalism in ECOWAS as a social phenomenon. It approaches the ECOWAS Treaties as embedded in the socio-political relations, power struggles, and social structures of the Community. To differentiate the thesis from existing research on ECOWAS, it incorporates national, regional, and international factors in illuminating the complex and multifaceted confluence of circumstances that shape the implementation of the ECOWAS Treaties. Simultaneously, the thesis enriches our understanding of the theories of new regionalism by deepening the analysis in relation to ECOWAS. Seen from this perspective, the thesis concludes that ECOWAS cannot be regarded as a straightforward failure and that its achievements are not to be found primarily in economic integration but in other socio-political factors that it enabled. Finally, the analysis opens new opportunities for future normative analyses that interrogate the effectiveness of ECOWAS by taking into account the socio-political contexts in which it is embedded

Reflections on the Value of Socio-Legal Approaches to International Economic Law in Africa

In their introductory essay to the 2021 Chicago Journal of International Law Symposium, Daniel Abebe, Adam Chilton, and Tom Ginsburg offer an account of “the rise of the social science approach to international law, explain the basics of the method, and advocate for its continued adoption.” This Essay critically assesses how and why one might use socio-legally inspired methods (analytical, empirical, and normative) for the study of international economic law (IEL) in Africa. It illustrates the empirical method’s importance in understanding one of the most challenging aspects of the study of IEL in Africa: capturing the data and dynamism of informal cross-border trade phenomenon. It argues that, by conceptualizing IEL in Africa as a social phenomenon, socio-legal approaches open IEL in Africa to the application of other social science methods, which enable us to understand the context in which African regional trade agreements are implemented and their contribution to the scholarly field of IEL