Climate Change and Human Rights: How? Where? When?

Climate change poses a threat to several internationally recognized human rights, including the rights to food, a livelihood, health, a healthy environment, access to water and the rights to work and to cultural life. Actions taken to mitigate and adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change have to be centred on human rights. In negotiations for a binding international climate change instrument, nation states have been called upon to fully respect human rights in all climate-related actions. As important as this demand is, there is also the need to describe and plan how human rights can be integrated into international, national, subnational and corporate climate change strategies. This paper analyzes a few examples of national, subnational and corporate climate change policies to show how they have either enshrined human rights principles, or failed to do so

From Reaction to Agency: A \u27Subaltern\u27 Response to William Twining\u27s Globalisation and Legal Scholarship

In this essay, it is contended that by welcoming a cosmopolitan discipline of law that encompasses \u27all levels of social relations and legal orderings\u27 (both dominant and peripheral) as well as by suggesting that the intellectual heritage of Western jurisprudence be adapted \u27to the new predicament of global law\u27, William Twining offers a platform to the world’s marginalized legal systems and formations to assert their relevance in the advancement of legal theory. In developing this argument, I will first examine what opportunities exist within Twining’s theorizing to reclaim and de-marginalize non-Western understandings of the law and its social value within the context of pluralism and globalisation. Secondly, I discuss what could be the lessons and implications of his proposals for a globalised legal theory on legal education and scholarship in the less dominant or \u27subaltern\u27 legal systems. I also suggest how scholars from subaltern territories could effectively insert their voices in the diversification and pluralization of global legal theory

Ballot or Bullet: Protecting the Right to Vote in Nigeria

This article analyses the right to vote and what it means to the average Nigerian voter. Its starting position is that the right to vote is nowhere explicitly enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution or its electoral laws. Where, universally speaking, to vote is either a legal or constitutional right, the article argues that in none of those conceptions does such a right exist in Nigeria. Further, it shows how the Nigerian legal and electoral systems inordinately prioritize the rights of political parties and their candidates in elections over and above those of the ordinary voter. It concludes that this issue has to be satisfactorily addressed to meaningfully build upon the gains of the 2011 elections

JONAH (1-3) IN DIALOGUE WITH JUDAIC NATIONALISTIC VIEW OF YAHWEH: THE UNIVERSAL ISSUE

The objective of Jonah’s dialogue with Judaic nationalistic view of Yahweh is to widen the spiritual horizon of his co-religionists. Jonah questions their religious and racist prejudices and finally makes them aware that God cannot be the monopoly or the property of any single religion or race. Jonah makes these important prophetic points about the nature of God without ever losing his sense of humor while creating his outrageous and outlandish story with its many separate plots. One outcome of the dialogue shows that no one has the capability at any point in time to run away from or stay outside God’s presence. To be outside God’s cultic presence means to be trapped more within his structural presence. The universality of God’s presence is an incontestable certainty. Another result of the dialogue reveals that God’s powerful deeds, salvation included, cannot be limited by what is customary in human behavior and tradition. Deliverance belongs to God. Deliverance was offered to Jonah, a self-conceited unrepentant Jew, irrespective of his vain proud attitude and why would it be denied self-reflective Assyrians, non-Jews, who actually are penitently self-flagellating. The study further discovers that obedience to God is the highest currency in prophetic service. Jonah’s experience in the belly of the fish did great magic in accentuating his lesson on obedience and understanding of the universality of God to all people. Obedience to God is maturity in spirituality that engenders, amplifies and teaches universalism, as opposed to bigotry and narrow-mindedness.  Article visualizations

Poverty in the Human Rights Jurisprudence of the Nigerian Appellate Courts (1999-2011)

The major objective of this article is to examine the extent to which the human rights jurisprudence of the Nigerian appellate courts has been sensitive and/or receptive to the socio-economic and political claims of Nigeria’s large population of the poor and marginalized. In particular, the article considers: the extent to which Nigerian human rights jurisprudence has either facilitated or hindered the efforts of the poor to ameliorate their own poverty; the kinds of conceptual apparatuses and analyses utilized by the Nigerian courts in examining the issues brought before it that concerned the specific conditions of the poor; and the key biases that are embedded in and shape Nigeria’s jurisprudential orientation. The line of cases analysed in the article indicate that the Nigerian appellate courts, as elsewhere, possess great capacity, for good or ill, to impact public policy in the field of poverty reduction

Inventing Legal Combat: Pro-Poor \u27Struggles\u27 in the Human Rights Jurisprudence of the Nigerian Appellate Courts, 1999-2011

This article deals with the question whether the jurisprudence of Nigeria’s appellate courts has helped advance or impede the struggles of the poor to assert their human rights in the country. The article begins by defining, delimiting, and situating the concepts “struggle” and “human rights as struggle.” It then moves on to identify and discuss the factors that make the struggles that the poor and the subaltern must wage to realize their human rights a tough one. Following this discussion, the article turns its attention to its main focus, i.e., an analytical examination of the ways in which the corpus of human rights jurisprudence of the Nigerian appellate courts has either aided and/or inhibited the struggles of the poor and the subaltern in that country during the period under study. The latter discussion is sub-divided into two segments: the first is focused on the engagement of these courts with the pro-poor struggles of Nigerian Labour, while the second is devoted to an analysis of the attitude of the courts to other kinds of pro-poor human rights struggles in Nigeria. In both cases, given space and other constraints, only small but representative samples of the relevant cases are discussed

Survey of waste disposal methods in Awka metropolis

Waste disposal methods commonly practiced in Awka metropolis, Anambra state were investigated from August to October, 2013. Data was analyzed with both descriptive statistics of frequency and percentages, and alternate hypotheses were tested using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) at a significance level of 0.05. Respondents in support of open burning were 61.2 %, while 2.9 % took to burying waste as their preferred waste management option. Only about 34.0 % of the waste generated was collected at the dumpsites within the metropolis by the waste management agency, as the participants rely on their preferred waste  management options without any consideration to the associated health and environmental consequences. Statistical analysis revealed that residents of Awka believed that their waste disposal methods were safe and waste collection points were enough. The residents do not shy away from participating in disposal of waste. Majority of the respondents were of the secondary school category that engages in domestic chores

Alteration in antioxidant enzyme activities by nickel-induced hepatotoxicity in wistar rats: ameliorating effect of the aqueous extract of Myristica fragrans (nutmeg)

The ameliorating effect of Myristica fragrans (nutmeg) on lipid peroxidation (LOP), reduced glutathione (GSH), glutathione-s-transferaes (GST), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), Catalase (CAT), Superoxide dismutase (SOD) as well as some liver marker enzymes were examined using a model of NiCl2–induced oxidative stress in rats. Thirty male Wistar rats were used in this study. They were randomized into 5 groups of six rats per group. Animals in group I received distilled water and normal rat feed only. Rats in groups II and III received only 0.75 mg/kg/day and 1.5 mg/kg/day of NiCl2 respectively. All rats in groups IV and V were pretreated with 200 mg/kg body weight and 300mg/kg body weight of the aqueous extract of Myristica fragrans (AEMF) respectively. In addition to the doses of the extracts administered to the above groups, group IV rats received 0.75 mg/kg/day of NiCl2 while group V animals were treated with 1.5 mg/kg/day of NiCl2. All administration was carried out by gastric intubation for 30days. NiCl2 caused significant increase (p<0.05) in the level of MDA formation in the liver, suggesting pro-oxidant induced membrane damage. These were followed by a significant decrease (p<0.05) in the levels of GSH, GPx, GST, SOD and CAT. The aqueous extract of Myristica fragrans (AEMF) in a dose related manner, significantly (p<0.05) reduce the level of MDA as well as the antioxidant markers to a near constant value when compared with the control. Pretreatment with AEMF also led to a significant decrease (p<0.05) in liver marker enzymes (ALT, ALP, AST, LDH, GGT and CK) when compared with the NiCl2 treated rats in a dose-dependent manner. Upon the administration of AEMF, histological examination did not reveal much pathophysiological changes when compared with the control.Keywords: Antioxidant enzymes, lipid peroxidation, liver marker enzymes, NiCl2 and Myristic fragrans (AEMF)Biokemistri 27(4): 144–15

Impact of income level and foreign aid on economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa: the case of Anglophone and Francophone countries

The study examines the impact of foreign aid on economic growth (EG) of 40 Sub-Saharan African countries classified according to their colonial history and the level of income. Domestic capital formation and labour participation served as control variables. For empirical analysis, annual data for the period 1982–2018 are used, and a structural model is estimated using the pooled mean group estimation approach. The results reveal that (1) bilateral foreign aids (bfa) strongly favour the Francophone better than the Anglophone as it exerts strong favourable effect on the former (2) Multilateral aid exerts strong unfavourable effect on the Anglophone but weak on the francophone (3) only bilateral aid is a significant positive determinant of EG in low income countries (LICs) and low middle income countries (LMICs) in the long-run and in upper middle income countries (UMICs) in the short-run. One percent increase in bfa increases EG by 1.829%, 18.95%, 7.998%, 40.19% and 187.2% in the Anglophone, francophone, LICs, LMICs, and UMICs, respectively. These suggest that to significantly increase output productivity in the regions more of bilateral aid is required. To encourage inflow of foreign aid, complementary gross fixed capital formation should be increased and labour productivity enhanced

Challenges of Those in Leadership in The Digitalisation of Nigeria’s Government Organisations

It is becoming increasingly difficult to function without using information and communication technology in all areas of human endeavour. This is because it promotes accountability and openness, which provides citizen-centred administration emphasising easier access to better delivery of government services. Digitalisation is one of the techniques available to government organisations to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of delivering services to the public. This is predicated on the notion that efficient digitalisation of the day-to-day activities of government processes will result in the provision of adequate services to citizens. However, there are various obstacles to effective digitalisation in government organisations in Nigeria. For instance, lack of information technology infrastructure, intermittent power/electricity supply, lack of trained and competent employees, a general aversion to change, etc. Of all the challenges aforementioned, the challenge of those in leadership stands out as a significant component that hinders digitalisation in government organisations in Nigeria. This paper examines the challenges of those in leadership in the digitalisation of Nigeria’s government organisations, as well as proposes suggestions on how to deal with the challenges. Data was gathered from secondary sources such as relevant books, journals and the internet. This paper finds out that the attitude and reluctance to change by leaders in government organisations restrict the adoption and successful digitalisation of their day-to-day activities, which negatively impacts the delivery of high-quality services to the citizens. This paper suggested that the requisite Information Communication Technology infrastructure for digitalisation should be provided by the Federal Government, as the majority of government organisations lack the fundamental infrastructure required to properly digitalise their operations. The government should develop ICT policies that make computer literacy a requirement for hiring and promotion of public or civil servants at all levels, including the federal, state, and local governments