The Role of Arbitration Clauses in Resolving Disputes in Carriage of Goods Across International Borders

For the past decade or so, the uniformity of the law of international carriage of goods by sea has increasingly been undermined by the promulgation of hybrid carriage regimes by several maritime jurisdictions which depart from the established international uniform rules.  This is one of the exemplifications of the increasing disregard for international maritime law propelled by accelerating domestic unilateralism. The aim of this article is to bring to the fore the role of arbitration in resolving disputes between parties in the international carriage of goods in juxtaposition with litigation, and why it is favoured among other alternative dispute resolution mechanisms. This paper argues that in the absence of a uniform set of laws regulating commercial disputes at sea, the inclusion of arbitration clauses in international carriage of goods is the most effective means of resolving disputes among parties. Not only does arbitration save time and cost, but also awards can be enforced on multiple jurisdictions. Keywords: Arbitration, Arbitration Clauses, Dispute solving, International trade DOI: 10.7176/JLPG/83-04 Publication date:March 31st 201

Law and Judicial Application of Digital Forensic Evidence in Nigeria

The development of information & communication technology has left the Nigerian polity to the application of technology infrastructure to daily activities. In essence, disputes arising from these activities may ordinarily not be effectively settled without applying electronic evidence in proceedings before the courts. The skills and knowledge of electronic evidence require the ingenuity of forensic experts or examiners for the purpose of bridging the gap that may arise in the mind of the courts. Does the Nigerian Law accept forensic expert evidence? Is every evidence expert evidence? Are there set down conditions before the courts for forensic expert evidence to be accepted or applied to proceedings before the courts? What nature of cases requires forensic evidence? This paper  will  demonstrate how  information and communication technology has resulted in the application of digital devices by Nigerians and the nature of the impact it  has . Keywords: Digital Forensics Evidence, Forensics Examiners, Digital Forensics Experts, Law, Judicial application DOI: 10.7176/JLPG/96-08 Publication date: April 30th 202

COST EFFECTIVENESS OF QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IN A REINFORCED CONCRETE FRAME CONSTRUCTION COMPANY

The main purpose of this research is to determine cost effectiveness of implementing and maintaining quality management system using existing data from information filled in nonconformity report over a period of 4 years (2011 to 2014). The research uses a single case study research design to fulfill the objectives of the study. The data extracted from the annual account of the reinforced concrete frame construction company were analysed. The findings suggest that the company under study has implemented a quality management system within their organisation. The findings show that the cost of quality conformance increases from 2011 to 2014 except for 2013 which is lower than that of 2011 due reduced working months of the quality manager in that year. For the cost of quality non-conformance, the findings show that about 77% of the total value are not recovered by the company in 2012, while this is reduced to about 18% in 2014 due quality management system put in place by the company. It was also shown that the ratio of profit before tax (PBT) to turnover declined by 2.86% in 2012 and by 17.14% by 2013 while it declined by 10% in 2014 when compared to 2011.  The study concluded that commitment of the company to quality management system has rubbed off the company of some revenues in the form of profit that would have accrued into the cover of the company. However, the implementation of the quality management system is paying off on its own right. The study recommended that one of the areas that researchers need to give proper attention is to conduct more studies on a number construction companies in order to create an industry norm

An Artificial Neural Network Approach to Predicting Most Applicable Post-Contract Cost Controlling Techniques in Construction Projects

The post-contract phase of the construction process remains critical to cost management. Several techniques have been used to facilitate effective cost management in this phase. However, the deployment of these techniques has not caused a reduction in the incidence of cost overruns hence casting doubts on their utility. The seeming underwhelming performance posted by these post-contract cost control techniques (PCCTs), has been traced to improper deployment by construction project managers (CPM) and quantity surveyors (QS). Utilizing the perspectives of CPM and QS professionals, as elicited through a survey, produced 135 samples. The instrumentality of the artificial neural networks (ANN) in this study enabled the development of a structured decision-support methodology for analysing the most appropriate PCCTs to be deployed to different construction process phases. Besides showcasing the utility of the emergent ANN-based decision support methodology, the study’s theoretical findings indicate that CPM and QS professionals influence decisions pertaining to PCCTs choice in distinct phases of the construction process. Whereas QS professionals were particularly responsible for the choice of PCCTs during the initial and mid-level phases, CPM professionals assumed responsibility for PCCTs selection during the construction process close-out phase. In construction cost management practice, the crucial PCCTs identifies more with the application of historical data and all cost monitoring approaches

Impact of organisational characteristics on health and safety practices of construction contractors

The construction industry makes a contribution to occupational accidents and ill health records in Nigeria. This study was designed to evaluate the impact of organisational characteristics on health and safety (H&S) management practices of Nigerian small and medium-sized construction enterprises (SMEs). The study employed a survey using questionnaires with both closed and open-ended questions which were used to examine the significance and incidences of H&S practices of construction. The questionnaire was presented to 436 SMEs which were randomly sampled from the 2219 construction contractors contained in the list of construction contractors registered with Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) in Abuja. Factor analysis was employed to reduce 46 important H&S practices identified to 8 major H&S practices used for further analysis. The use of hierarchical multiple regression analysis was finally employed to establish the relationship between organisational characteristics and H&S practices of the construction SMEs. It was established that all the organisational characteristics have significant relationship with the H&S practices. It was concluded that the organisational characteristics are good predictors of the H&S practices of the construction SMEs.Keywords: Health and Safety, Impact, Organisational Characteristics, Practice