The Concept, Principle, Law and Developmental Practice of Environmental Democracy towards Sustainable Development in Resources-rich Communities of Developing Countries: Focus on Nigeria’s Oil Producing Delta Region

This study explains that environmental democracy is an aspect of Public Participation (PP), of which community participation is also an aspect. On this note, the study examines PP, simply known as ‘participation’, as a concept, principle, as well as a developmental practice, backed by law, in countries around the globe. It demonstrates that PP, particularly, environmental democracy, generates good, sound and long-lasting decisions. It establishes that such decisions protect public interest, enhance social equity, improve the quality of the environment, and promote environmental justice, good environmental governance (GEG), overall good public sector governance (GG) as well as sustainable development (SD), in the course of major natural resources (MNRs) extractive industrial operations (EIOs). EIOs, such as oil and gas, and other mining and mineral resources EIOs in resources-rich communities of developing countries, are exemplified by petroleum resources development operations (PRDOs) in the oil-rich Niger Delta region. Distinguished by its dominant PRDOs, the study features Nigeria as a typical example of a developing country plagued by the resource curse, and that the country is far from achieving SD, particularly sustainable petroleum resources development operations (SPRDOs) and sustainable community development (SCD) in its oil-rich Delta region. The study establishes that genuine environmental democracy, which is globally acknowledged and widely accepted, is that which is stipulated in Principle 10 of Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, 1992, elaborated in the Aarhus Convention, 1998, cemented in the UN Brisbane Declaration on Community Engagement, 2005, and being profoundly canvassed by the International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA: the leading global network on environmental democracy in the realm of Impact Assessment [IA]) and the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2: the worldwide organisation exceptionally advancing and extending the practice of PP). The study recommends that the worldwide landmark degree of environmental democracy, which is regarded as genuine, should be practised in Nigeria to promote SPRDOs and SCD in the oil-rich communities of the Delta region, as well as stimulate greater human wellbeing, and environmentally-sound, ecologically-centred and socio-economically equitable SD in the country, towards the wellbeing of overall nature within the Planet Earth. Keywords: Environmental Democracy, Public Participation (PP), Public Involvement Participation (PI), Community Involvement (CI), Major Natural Resources (MNRs) Extractive Industrial Operations (EIOs), Resource Curse, Sustainable Petroleum Resources Development Operations (SPRDOs), Sustainable Community Development (SCD), Good Environmental Governance (GEG) and Good Public Sector Governance (Good Governance [GG]). DOI: 10.7176/JLPG/94-07 Publication date: February 29th 2020

Natural Right of Blood Descendant-Females of the Founding Ancestors of Bonny Kingdom to Leadership Positions: Spotlight on Queen Kambasa and Legacies of Her Reign

This study emanates from a previous work of the Author on ‘Natural Law as Bedrock of Good Governance’ in Bonny Kingdom. The previous work examined the origin of public sector governance from the beginning of the Kingdom, within the rubrics of the house system. The work established that although the Kingdom’s form of traditional government is hierarchical in form, during the era of its Founding Ancestors, decision-making and decision-implementation processes were characteristically the collective affair of its homogeneous founding kindred group.  The work demonstrates that the Kingdom’s primordial form of governance was public-spirited by nature and thus based on responsible stewardship to its entire people and Kingdom at large. It proves that natural law was the bedrock of the reign of the Founding Fathers, Patriarchs and Premier Monarchs of the Kingdom, namely Ndoli-Okpara, Opuamakuba, Alagbariya and Asimini. That natural law has features, which characterised the reign of the Premier Monarchs; these features include  love, truth, goodwill, selflessness, responsible stewardship, integrity, fair-play, sincerity of purpose, transparency, accountability, harmonious and unanimous decision-making and decision-implementation processes, which amounted to partnership in governance, towards the overall good of the people and the Kingdom. The previous work thus qualifies the reign of the Premier Monarchs of the Kingdom as being fundamentally selfless. The work establishes that based on the landmark form of public-spirited leadership of Bonny Kingdom’s Premier Monarchs, successive Monarchs of the Kingdom, who assumed Kingship on the basis of natural law and its accompanying natural right of succession to leadership, promoted and practised selfless leadership; this was exemplified by the administration of King Halliday-Awusa. The work arrives at the conclusion that the Founding Ancestors, led by the Premier Monarchs, established an admirable and commendable  form of governance that exemplifies how the people and lineages (families or houses) of the Kingdom should relate between and among themselves on the basis of the characteristic features of natural law. It enjoins succeeding generations of the Kingdom, led by its subsequent Monarchs and other members and organs of the apex traditional ruling council, to consolidate on the exemplary leadership qualities of the Premier Monarchs and King Halliday-Awusa, by enhancing and practising traditional government social responsibility (TGSR), towards good traditional governance (GTG) and sustainable community development (SCD) in oil-rich and Christianised Grand Bonny Kingdom. Furthermore, the previous work establishes that natural law-oriented natural right to leadership positions and succession to kingship in primordial Grand Bonny Kingdom was not discriminatory against female blood descendants of the Founding Ancestors of the Kingdom. This gave impetus to Princes Kambasa to desirously and intensively aspire to become a Monarch of the Kingdom. She succeeded her blood-ancestors as Monarch, after the reign of her father, King Edimini. The previous work then remarked that the circumstances of ascension of Queen Kambasa merit to be examined in an independent study, which is capable of contributing to the worldwide knowledge industry; this remark necessitated the present study. Therefore, the aim of this socio-legal and divinely-rooted study is to examine the natural right of blood descendant-females of the Founding Ancestors of Bonny Kingdom to traditional leadership positions, particularly the position of Kingship, using Queen Kambasa as case-study. Keywords: Natural Law; Natural Right; Succession; Kingship (Amanyanaboship); Bonny Kingdom; Founding Ancestors; Founding Fathers, Patriarchs and Premier Monarchs; Good Public Sector Governance (Good Governance [GG]); Good Traditional Governance (GTG); Traditional Government Social Responsibility (TGSR); Female Blood Descendants; Blood Descendants; Reign; Legacy (Legacies); Queen Kambasa; Queen Amina of Zaria. DOI: 10.7176/DCS/10-3-09 Publication date:March 31st 202

Law and Ethics: Ethics Associated with Energy Resources Development Operations Exemplified by Petroleum Development Operations in Nigeria

Energy resources may be described as different categories of fuels used by the humans for heating, generation of electrical energy and other forms of energy conversion processes. These resources are therefore the sources from which energy is derived, produced and supplied for the use of human beings and overall benefit of society. Energy resources are necessary for the day-to-day sustenance and survival of humans and society at large. Energy resources promote the functionality, viability and vitality of other sectors of a country’s economy. The ability of humans to harness energy resources is arguably the most important step in the history of human civilisation. The sources of global energy supply (energy resources) may be considered in two broad categories, namely non-renewable and renewable resources. Petroleum, a focal point of this study, is an example of fossil fuels. Petroleum resources are energy and major natural resources. These resources development operations are extractive industrial operations, which have tremendous negative effects on the environment and inhibit sustainable development. The adverse consequences of petroleum energy and major natural resources development operations affect the oil-rich ethnic minority Delta region and other oil producing areas of Nigeria, as well as the entire Nigerian nation. In the perspective of this study, ethics may be considered as a wide and exploratory subject of discourse, which appears like an elephant that may be described from many standpoints. Obviously, there are certain ethics, ethical issues or ethical conducts (morally good practices) associated with energy and major natural resources development operations in particular and the entire life-cycle of these resources activities in general, which are designed to promote effective energy resource operations, towards affordable, reliable, sustainable and efficient modern energy services to all societies and individuals around the globe. Law is a system of binding modes of conduct, which are formulated to govern behavioural patterns, namely the behaviour of individuals, groups and entities in society. The aim of this socio-legal study is to examine the role of law as a mechanism of social engineering,  positive change and dynamic progress in society, towards providing access to energy services for all (overall public good), by 2030 (the target year proclaimed by the UN) regarding delivery of sustainable modern energy services to all. The study arrives at the finding that law remains a significant and inevitable tool for governing behavioural patterns; nevertheless, in developing countries suffering from energy poverty like Nigeria, law is unfortunately an unresolved necessity in respect of governing energy resources operations for the daily sustenance and survival of humans and society at large. Keywords: Law; Ethics; Energy Resources; Extractive Industrial Operations (EIOs); Petroleum Resources; Non-renewable Resources; Renewable Energy Resources; Sustainable Development (SD); Nigeria; Niger Delta; Bad Political Leadership (Bad Governance); Good Governance; Morality (Morality-in-action: Morally Good Actions); Natural Law (Natural Law School of Thought); Positive Law Theory (Positive Law School of Thought). DOI: 10.7176/IAGS/81-09 Publication date:April 30th 202

The UN Global Compact as a Soft Law Business Regulatory Mechanism Advancing Corporate Responsibility Towards Business Sustainability and Sustainable Development Worldwide

This study arises from a previous work by the author captioned ‘Sustainable Development: A Soft Law Concept Transforming SD-Oriented Initiatives of the UN System into Hard Law Instruments in UN Member-states and Promoting Partnerships around the Globe’. The previous work demonstrates that there are various examples of SD-oriented partnership mechanisms associated with business sustainability, environmental protection, good public sector governance (good governance: GG) and sustainable development (SD), of which the UN Global Compact is one. Thus, the aim of this study is to examine the UN Global Compact as a soft law SD-oriented mechanism fostering and enhancing business sustainability and overall SD, where business organisations that are enlisted to participate at the Compact are operating. The study arrives at the finding that for about two decades of its existence, the UN Global Compact is taking corporate responsibility from the fringes to the mainstream and uniting business towards a better, fairer, kinder, more just, sustainable and peaceful world on Planet Earth. A cardinal business sustainability initiative of the Global Compact is its ten principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption. The study arrives at the finding that the Compact is an inspirational guide on these principles, on the platform of which companies enlisted to participate at the Global Compact are, at a minimum, required to operate in ways that align their operations and strategies to conform to, and thereby promote and actualise development partnerships arising from their operations towards business sustainability and all-embracing SD. This is demonstrated by the thirteen examples of good Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) performances-in-action discussed herein and numerous other exemplary cases of CSR being actualised in the nooks and crannies of the world by businesses enlisted into the Global Compact framework. The study recommends that more and more companies (businesses) should enlist to participate at the Global Compact, while sovereign states, particularly developing countries, should strengthen governance, by enthroning GG, to enhance the SD-oriented initiatives of companies to advance societal goals, in terms of implementing their social responsibility, namely contributing to the wellbeing of their stakeholders, humanity and society at large. Keywords: Global Compact, Business Sustainability; Sustainable Development (SD); Soft Law; Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG); Bonny Kingdom (Ancient Grand Bonny Kingdom [Ancient Ibani Nation]); Partnerships; Principles; Voluntary; Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR); Social Investment; Social Licence to Operate; Good Governance (GG); World (Globe); and Planet Earth. DOI: 10.7176/JLPG/94-05 Publication date: February 29th 202

Primordial Niger Delta, Petroleum Development in Nigeria and the Niger Delta Development Commission Act: A Food For Thought!

The historic and geographic ethnic minority Delta region of Nigeria, which may be called the Nigerian Delta region or the Niger Delta region, has been in existence from time immemorial, as other primordial ethnic nationality areas and regions, which were in existence centuries before the birth of modern Nigeria. In the early times, the people of the Niger Delta region established foreign relations between and among themselves, as people of immediate neigbouring primordial areas or tribes. They also established long-distance foreign relations with distant tribes that became parts and parcels of modern Nigeria. The Niger Delta region, known as the Southern Minorities area of Nigeria as well as the South-South geo-political zone of Nigeria, is the primordial and true Delta region of Nigeria. The region occupies a very strategic geographic location between Nigeria and the rest of the world. For example, with regard to trade, politics and foreign relations, the Nigerian Delta region has been strategic throughout history, ranging, for instance, from the era of the Atlantic trade to the ongoing era of petroleum resources development in Nigeria. Ancient Niger Delta represents a distinct area of primordial African civilisation. So, the existence of the oil-rich ethnic minority Delta region predates petroleum resources development operations in Nigeria, which operations commenced with the discovery of commercial quantities of crude oil in the oil producing communities of the region in the late 1950s. Thereafter, when petroleum resources were discovered in the communities of neighbouring States of the true Niger Delta region, namely Abia and Imo States of the Igbo major ethnic group, and Ondo State of the Yoruba major tribe, these three oil producing States became integrated into the framework of the true Delta region, by virtue of the Niger-Delta Development Commission (Establishment, Etc.) (NDDC) Act, 2000 (as NDDC States). This Act made the Niger Delta region to be synonymous with petroleum resources development. It is significant to highlight that ceaseless agitation of citizens and citizen-groups of the oil-rich ethnic minority Delta region helped to persuade the Federal Government (FG) to take appropriate steps to address the age-long problems of neglect, marginalisation and deprivation of the region. The agitation of interest groups of the Niger Delta region stems from the fact that whereas the region has been the goldmine of Nigeria, it is experiencing paradoxes associated with unsustainable petroleum resources development operations. These paradoxes made the Delta region to become endangered and crises-ridden as well as generated the region’s historic ‘resource control’ movement, which advocates that the region deserve to have maximum benefits from petroleum development operations in its oil-rich communities. Consequently, through the National Assembly, the FG led by President Olusegun Obasanjo had to take key steps, one of which was the enactment of the NDDC Act that formally repealed the Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission Decree (OMPADEC) Decree, No. 23 of 1992, and dissolved the Commission established thereby.  Therefore, the aim of this study is to demonstrate that the true Niger Delta region is distinct and thus improperly categorised with other oil producing States and areas in the context and framework of the NDDC Act. This is a food for thought that warrants serious consideration, analysis and evaluation. Consequently, the study recommends that there is a need for the FG, through the National Assembly, to further amend the NDDC Act, to make its provisions align more with petroleum resources development and that meanwhile the erroneous manner of referring to or considering the Niger Delta region as the ‘Nigerian Niger Delta region’ or the ‘Niger Delta region of Nigeria’, should, at least, be corrected in the parlance of the knowledge industry, by stakeholders of the industry, particularly scholars, beginning with Nigerian scholars.  Keywords: Ancient; Primordial; Niger Delta; Delta; Petroleum Resources; Petroleum Development; Nigeria; NDDC; Ethnic Minority; Ethnic Minorities; Ethnographic, Historic and Geographic; Ethnic Nationality; Ethnic Nationalities. DOI: 10.7176/DCS/10-3-10 Publication date:March 31st 202

Sustainable Development Law and Multidisciplinary Sustainable Development-oriented Efforts towards the Wellbeing of Humans and Overall Resources of Nature

Humanity and society at large are in the age of sustainable development (SD). SD is the engineering force of society in the 21st Century. Individuals, other units and sectors of society are eager to achieve SD. It is an unavoidable paradigm that underpins most, if not all, actions of humans, units of society, and society at large. Increasing ongoing efforts and activities of individuals, other units and sectors, particularly those of governments of sovereign states, demonstrate that there is an all-round global quest for SD. Thus, public sector governments, international institutions, international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and civil society groups within domestic jurisdictions of sovereign states are committed to SD, so as to promote and actualise its achievement. Also, all professions and disciplines of the knowledge industry are committed to SD, albeit realising that to achieve it requires multidisciplinary, multifaceted, multi-sectoral, multi-dimensional, versatile and all-encompassing approaches. The aim of this study is to approach SD from the background of law and examine it as a multidisciplinary subject-matter, so as to sensitise countries and peoples of the world to promote and actualise the wellbeing of the human race and society at large. It emphasises continuous improvement of the wellbeing of the human race, other life forms and natural resources, as well as vibrant harmonious co-existence between all nations and peoples of the globe on our Planet Earth. Keywords: Sustainable Development (SD); Sustainable Development Law (SD Law); United Nations (UN); Wellbeing; Environment; Development; Conferences; Summits; Humans (Humanity/Humankind); Natural Resources; Conservation; Ecosystem; Planet Earth; Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs); Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)  and Natural Resources. DOI: 10.7176/IAGS/81-08 Publication date:April 30th 202

IFC Environmental & Social Performance Standards: Soft Law Project & Company Financing Partnerships towards Good Environmental Governance, Business Sustainability and Sustainable Development in Developing Countries

This study is an outcome of a previous work by the author captioned ‘Sustainable Development: A Soft Law Concept Transforming SD-Oriented Initiatives of the UN System into Hard Law Instruments in UN Member-states and Promoting Partnerships around the Globe’. The previous work establishes that there are numerous examples of SD-oriented partnership mechanisms associated with business sustainability, environmental protection, good public sector governance (good governance: GG) and sustainable development (SD), of which the Sustainability Framework of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) is one. The aim of this study is to examine how the IFC’s environmental and social (E&S) performance standards, as key aspects of the corporation’s sustainability framework, are being implemented as soft law mechanisms in developing countries (also called developing markets) and emerging economies (also known as emerging markets), where the IFC is engaged in financing, managing developmental projects and corporate financing in various ways. The sustainability framework and its component E&S standards are international benchmarked standards that have the potential to boost business sustainability and overall SD in developing markets and economies in transition. The study arrives at the finding that the IFC’s sustainability framework and the E&S standards ingrained in it are engineering the E&S performances of IFC clients engaged in IFC project and corporate financing schemes in developing countries and emerging economies, as well as contributing to business sustainability. These standards are also boosting environmental protection, good environmental governance, corporate social responsibility, social responsibility of host governments and generating SD-oriented partnerships, such as Private Sector Partnerships and Public-Private Sector Partnerships, which contribute to betterment of the welfare of citizens, generic human wellbeing and environmentally-sound and socio-economically equitable growth, prosperity and SD in developing countries. This is particularly so in developing countries where domestic environmental laws, corporate responsibility systems and government social responsibility fall short of the stipulations of the IFC’s sustainability framework and its component E&S performance standards. Keywords: International Finance Corporation (IFC); Sustainability Framework; Project Financing; Corporate Financing; Developing Countries; Emerging Markets; Environmental and Social Performance (E&S) Standards; Sustainability Framework; Soft Law; Business Sustainability; Sustainable Development; Good Environmental Governance (GEG); Government Social Responsibility (GSR); Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR); SD-oriented Partnerships; Private Sector Partnerships; Public-Private Sector Partnerships (PPSPs); Impact-benefits; Human Wellbeing. DOI: 10.7176/IAGS/81-07 Publication date:April 30th 202

Natural Law as Bedrock of Good Governance: Reflections on Alagbariya, Asimini and Halliday-Awusa as Selfless Monarchs towards Good Traditional Governance and Sustainable Community Development in Oil-rich Bonny Kingdom

Oil-rich Ancient Grand Bonny Kingdom, founded before or about 1,000AD, was the economic and political centre of the Ancient Niger Delta region and a significant symbol of African civilisation, before the creation of Opobo Kingdom out of it (in 1870) and the eventual evolution of modern Nigeria (in 1914). The people and houses of this oil-rich Kingdom of the Nigerian Delta region invest more in traditional rulership, based on house system of governance. The people rely more on their traditional rulers to foster their livelihoods and cater for their wellbeing and the overall good and prosperity of the Kingdom. Hence, there is a need for good traditional governance (GTG), more so, when the foundations of GTG and its characteristic features, based on natural law and natural rights, were firmly established during the era of the Kingdom’s Premier Monarchs (Ndoli-Okpara, Opuamakuba, Alagbariya and Asimini), up to the reign of King Halliday-Awusa. Therefore, the aim of this socio-legal and divinely-based study is to sensitise and spur successive apex traditional rulers of the Kingdom, namely the Monarchs (Amanyanapu) and Country Chiefs (Se-Alapu) to promote and practise GTG, based on the ethical relationship between governance, government and service to the people, centred on truth, fair-play, public-spiritedness, responsible stewardship, integrity, hearkening to the voice or voices of reason and abiding by due process. The interrelated, intertwined and harmonious relationship of the past, through the present, to the future, embedded in the subject-matter and discipline of history, is thus important in the context of this study, as same promote the need for GTG, based on traditional government social responsibility (TGSR), premised on the relationship of natural law with good governance (GG) established and nourished by Ancient Grand Bonny Kingdom’s above-stated four Premier Monarchs, and thereafter sustained up to the era of King Halliday-Awusa, in the form of selfless leadership. Such a form and standard of traditional rulership would promote sustainable community development (SCD) in Bonny Kingdom. Finally, from the base and bedrock of divine natural law, the study recommends that an incumbent of the throne of kingship in Bonny should painstakingly promote and practise TGSR, ingrained in GTG, towards all-embracing advancement, prosperity and SCD of oil-rich and Christianised Ancient Grand Bonny Kingdom, in the ongoing worldwide era of globalisation, especially economic globalisation, GG and SD. Keywords: Natural Law; Natural Right; Bonny Kingdom; Amanyanapu (Monarchs/Kings); Founding Ancestors; Founding Fathers, Patriarchs and Premier Monarchs; Aseme (Royal Pedigree: Aboriginal Royal); Duawaris (Founding & Aboriginal Royal Houses); Blood Descendants; Human Rights; Good Public Sector Governance (Good Governance [GG]); Good Traditional Governance (GTG); Traditional Government Social Responsibility (TGSR), Positive Law, Sustainable Community Development (SCD), Sustainable Development (SD); Wari (Ward, Lineage or House); House System. DOI: 10.7176/DCS/10-3-08 Publication date:March 31st 202

Sustainable Development: A Soft Law Concept Transforming SD-Oriented Initiatives of the UN System into Hard Law Instruments in UN Member-states and Promoting Partnerships Around the Globe

This study examines the subject-matter of Sustainable Development (SD) as a soft law concept, which is transforming SD-oriented initiatives of the UN and beyond into hard law instruments in sovereign states of the world, which are UN member-states. It demonstrates that in the process, SD-oriented initiatives, which are increasingly being backed by law in sovereign states, are promoting and enhancing partnerships towards SD in the nooks and crannies of these states. Its aim is to underscore the significance of ongoing global efforts, which are designed to promote the achievement of SD, and how the private sector, peoples, communities, countries, regions and entire global community are taking advantage of the fruits of these ongoing efforts to enter into or consummate various forms of SD-oriented partnership relationships. The study thus exemplifies various forms of partnerships being arrived at in the global march towards SD, as these arrangements go beyond those which are entered into on the platform of the UN, to many more which, consequent upon the continuing UN Conferences aimed at fostering and enhancing SD, are being entered into between and among many domestic and international entities, such as between and among local communities, the private sector, such as multinational companies (MNCs), and relevant institutions and agencies of host governments, as well as bilateral, regional and other international groups and oganisations. These include partnerships between and among entities of the Global South-South and the Global North-South, as well as Public Private Sector Partnerships (PPSPs) between host governments of developing countries, advanced countries, developmental agencies of advanced countries and MNCs, for various forms of development and SD plans, policies and programmes (including projects (PPPs) in developing countries. While underscoring the significant, key, compelling and inevitable roles of public sector governance, especially Government Social Responsibility (GSR), embedded in good, transparent, accountable and responsible political leadership [good governance: GG]), the study advocates and recommends the need for more and more SD-oriented partnership arrangements around the world, in the course of ongoing global efforts to promote and achieve SD, so as to secure the wellbeing of humans and overall nature, towards a fairer, kinder, more just, sustainable and peaceful existence on Planet Earth. Keywords: Sustainable Development (SD); Business Sustainability; Government Social Responsibility (GSR); Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR); SD-oriented Partnerships; Plans, Policies and Programmes (including Projects (PPPs); Public Private Sector Partnerships (PPSPs); Stockholm, Rio, Johannesburg  and Rio (SRJR) Process; Good Governance (GG); Wellbeing; and Planet Earth. DOI: 10.7176/JLPG/94-06 Publication date: February 29th 202