Maritime piracy in Nigeria: The national security implications

The phenomenon of piracy in modern-day Africa’s maritime sphere brings to the fore a topical issue which is of immense political and economic interest particularly as maritime trade and globalisation reveal a close interface. The increasing tempo of piratic activities in the Gulf of Guinea has metamorphosed in to a serious security threat which must be speedily stemmed. Presently, Nigeria haemorrhages from all angles, with the menace of terrorism in the North, kidnappings and abductions in the centre, the added threat of piracy on her seaways spells doom for the nation’s maritime interests and consequently, her economic and national security. This work examines the socio- economic, political and environmental perspectives of the national security implications of sea piracy in the Gulf of Guinea with specific reference to the scourge in the coastal waters of Nigeria. It argues that unless Nigeria heavily invests in capacity building and provision of modern infrastructural support for her maritime defence sector and more importantly, enthrones good governance then her fate may well become worse than that of the failed state of Somalia where it is reported that $180 million was realised from ransom payments in 2008

An appraisal of the legal framework for combating piracy and other illegal maritime activities in the Gulf of Guinea – a case study of Nigeria

This article appraises the current international and domestic legal framework for the punishment and prosecution of piracy and other illegal maritime activities, with specific reference to Nigeria. Having analysed the dynamics of the scourge in the Gulf of Guinea, the discussion is narrowed down to an examination of the piracy facts and figures for the Nigerian coasts. It argues that the extant framework is grossly inadequate and therefore it calls for intensified efforts at all levels to establish comprehensive and effectual legal frameworks for the criminalisation and punishment of piracy and similar acts

The quest for transparency in investor-state arbitration: Are the transparency rules and the Mauritius Convention effective instruments of reform?

In recent years, critics have questioned the legitimacy of international investment law, particularly investor-State arbitration on the grounds, amongst others, that confidentiality and lack of transparency in arbitral proceedings pose a threat to the basic principles of public law and democracy. In response, minimal transparency measures have been introduced by States, regional international economic organizations and the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) over the last two decades. More recently, the Transparency Rules and the Mauritius Convention were introduced by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) for a more far-reaching impact. These instruments have been widely applauded as the much awaited solution for entrenching transparency and enhancing the legitimacy of treaty-based investor-State arbitration. But will they really establish transparency in investor-State arbitration considering the opt-out provisions in Article 1(1) of the Transparency Rules and Article 3(1) of the Mauritius Convention? In attempting this question,the article examined the concept of treaty based investor-State arbitration, its public character and the possible effect the opt-out provisions could have on the quest for transparency. It posited that a mechanism that allows parties – States and foreign investors – a choice whether or not to apply these instruments in a given arbitration will impede the attainment of the objective of entrenching transparency in investor-State arbitration

Strengthening the legal regime for the recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards in Nigeria

In Nigeria, provisions for the recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards are made under local and international instruments. While these instruments facilitate the smooth enforcement of awards in certain respects, the enforcement process is hampered in other respects by defects in these laws. For example, the absence of statutory time limits for the enforcement of awards under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act (ACA) 1988, and the resulting reliance on Federal and State Limitation Laws, may sometimes mean that an award creditor is denied justice through no fault of theirs. Also, the enforcement process is impeded by the slowness in the disposal of cases by the Nigerian courts. In fact, proceedings for the enforcement of awards have been known to last for twelve years. These problems and a number of others to be discussed in this paper could affect investor-confidence and consequently, the current foreign investment drive by the Federal Government. The paper looks at the various instruments for the recognition and enforcement of domestic and foreign awards in Nigeria against the backdrop of their peculiarities, strengths and weaknesses. It also takes a brief look at the issue of slowness in the disposal of cases by the courts using IPCO (Nigeria) Limited v Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation as a point of reference. Having considered these issues, the paper posits that the current regime for the recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards could be more effective. As Nigeria has continued to rank poorly on the World Bank Ease of Doing Business annual surveys, the paper stresses that one way of improving this rating is by entrenching a more effective framework for the enforcement of awards, particularly as arbitration has become the preferred dispute resolution mechanism in international commercial transactions. The effect of this is that investors will be more willing to invest in Nigeria knowing that in the event of a dispute or a claim they will be able to fall back on our laws and justice system

Infrastructure and structural transformation: evidence from Ethiopia

Roads are instrumental to market access. Electricity is a key technology for modern production. Both have been widely studied in isolation. In reality, infrastructure investments are commonly bundled. How such big push infrastructure investments interact in causing economic development, however, is not well understood. To this end, I first develop a spatial general equilibrium model to understand how big push infrastructure investments may differ from isolated investments. Second, I track the large-scale road and electricity network expansions in Ethiopia over the last two decades and present causal reduced-form evidence confirming markedly different patterns: access to an all-weather road alone increases services employment, at the expense of manufacturing. In contrast, additionally electrified locations see large reversals in the manufacturing employment shares. Third, I leverage the model to structurally estimate the implied welfare effects of big push infrastructure investments. I find welfare in Ethiopia increased by at least 11% compared to no investments, while isolated counterfactual road (electrification) investments would have increased welfare by only 2% (0.7%)

Biodegradation of glyphosate herbicide in vitro using bacterial isolates from four rice fields

Glyphosate is a compound used as herbicide in the control and/or killing of grasses and herbaceous plants. It can be used in no-till agriculture, to prepare fields before planting, during crop development and after crop harvest. Because of its toxicity to non-target organisms, there is need to decontaminate glyphosate contaminated soils and bioremediation is a very useful alternative to conventional cleanup methods. The success of this will depend on isolating bacteria with the ability to degrade glyphosate in achanging environment. The abilities of five bacterial species (Escherichia sp, Azotobacter sp., Alcaligenes sp., Acetobacter sp. and Pseudomonas fluorescens) to degrade glyphosate herbicide under varying environmental conditions were evaluated in this study. The isolates were screened forglyphosate utilization using mineral salt medium containing glyphosate as carbon and/or phosphorus source. Of the five bacterial isolates, P. fluorescens and Acetobacter sp. showed the capacity to utilize glyphosateefficiently and were therefore used for further biodegradation studies. Time course of growth of the isolates on mineral salt medium containing glyphosate showed that both grew significantly (P < 0.05). Microbial growth during the study was monitored by measuring the optical density at 660 nm. The comparative effects of glyphosate as carbon and/or phosphorus source on the growth of the isolates showed that there was significant (P < 0.05) growth in the medium containing glucose and glyphosate. The effects of different concentrations of glyphosate on the growth of the isolates (P. fluorescens and Acetobacter sp) were evaluated. Significant (P < 0.05) growth was observed at lower concentrations (7.2 - 25 mg/ml) of glyphosate. No inhibition of growth was observed at high concentrations (100 - 250 mg/ml), indicating that the isolated bacteria can tolerate up to 250 mg/ml of glyphosate. However, there was subsequent decrease in growth of both isolates as the concentration of glyphosate increased. This study showed that P. fluorescens and Acetobacter sp. exhibited a high capacity to efficiently degrade glyphosate under the environmental conditions studied. Thus, the organisms can be exploited for biodegradation of glyphosate and should be studied for their ability to degrade other organophosphates

11,12-EET stimulates the association of BK channel α and β(1) subunits in mitochondria to induce pulmonary vasoconstriction

In the systemic circulation, 11,12-epoxyeicosatrienoic acid (11,12-EET) elicits nitric oxide (NO)- and prostacyclin-independent vascular relaxation, partially through the activation of large conductance Ca2+-activated potassium (BK) channels. However, in the lung 11,12-EET contributes to hypoxia-induced pulmonary vasoconstriction. Since pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells also express BK channels, we assessed the consequences of BKβ1 subunit deletion on pulmonary responsiveness to 11,12-EET as well as to acute hypoxia. In buffer-perfused mouse lungs, hypoxia increased pulmonary artery pressure and this was significantly enhanced in the presence of NO synthase (NOS) and cyclooxygenase (COX) inhibitors. Under these conditions the elevation of tissue EET levels using an inhibitor of the soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH-I), further increased the hypoxic contraction. Direct administration of 11,12-EET also increased pulmonary artery pressure, and both the sEH-I and 11,12-EET effects were prevented by iberiotoxin and absent in BKβ1−/− mice. In pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells treated with NOS and COX inhibitors and loaded with the potentiometric dye, di-8-ANEPPS, 11,12-EET induced depolarization while the BK channel opener NS1619 elicited hyperpolarization indicating there was no effect of the EET on classical plasma membrane BK channels. In pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells a subpopulation of BK channels is localized in mitochondria. In these cells, 11,12-EET elicited an iberiotoxin-sensitive loss of mitochondrial membrane potential (JC-1 fluorescence) leading to plasma membrane depolarization, an effect not observed in BKβ1−/− cells. Mechanistically, stimulation with 11,12-EET time-dependently induced the association of the BK α and β1 subunits. Our data indicate that in the absence of NO and prostacyclin 11,12-EET contributes to pulmonary vasoconstriction by stimulating the association of the α and β1 subunits of mitochondrial BK channels. The 11,12-EET-induced activation of BK channels results in loss of the mitochondrial membrane potential and depolarization of the pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells

Due process paranoia in arbitral proceedings: Myth or reality?

Arbitration is a means of resolving disputes pursuant to an arbitration agreement. It is driven essentially by the ‘principle of party autonomy’ under which the parties are free to agree on how the arbitral proceedings are to be conducted subject to mandatory legal provisions. The arbitral tribunal is duty bound to maintain a delicate balance between the parties, ensure procedural fairness and publish a legally enforceable award. Any infraction of this duty may lead to applications made to court to challenge the award. This creates apprehension, anxiety and fear in the mind of the arbitrator – due process paranoia. Is the paranoia real or imaginary

Aspects of Garcina kola Toxicity to a Wild Strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae from a Brewery Environment

Bitter cola (Garcinia kola) powder and its ethanolic extract were assessed for their ability to inhibit the growth of a wild strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae isolated from a brewery environment. The iso-alpha acid contents of the G. kola powder, G. kola extract and hop extract were determined as 5.85 mg/l, 6.34 mg/l and 7.65 mg/l, respectively, showing that the iso-alpha acid contents of G. kola extract and G. kola powder compared relatively well with that of hop extract. The antimicrobial activity of both agents, using Humulus lupulus ethanolic extract as control, showed a high dependence on the temperature of assay. At most of the temperatures evaluated (30 – 45 oC), the rates of antimicrobial activity differed. Garcinia kola ethanolic extract and hops extract displayed total inhibition of the wild yeast growth at temperature of 40 oC at concentrations of about 0.039 mg/ml and 0.078 mg/ml respectively. Humulus lupulus extract (hops) had the highest generation time at 450C at a concentration of 0.078 mg/ml. The complete inhibition of the yeast growth by G. kola extract at 40 oC indicated that it had higher antimicrobial activity against this yeast than hops extract. In all the temperatures evaluated both G. kola ethanolic extract and powder compared favourably with hops extract with respect to antimicrobial activity against a wild strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae at various concentrations. These results revealed that the antimicrobial activity of these hopping agents were temperature and concentration dependent