Making Competition Law a Platform for Consumer Protection in Nigeria: A Proposal

by | Oct 9, 2019 | JCLA, JCLA V3 I2 2016

Making Competition Law a Platform for Consumer Protection in Nigeria: A Proposal

Authors Job Odion

ISSN: 2521-2605
Affiliations: Senior Lecturer, Department of Business Law, University of Benin, Nigeria
Source: Journal of Comparative Law in Africa, Volume 3 Issue 2, p. 31 – 56

Abstract

The relevance of competition law to consumer protection has long been identified in developed economies. Although, private enterprise was vigorously pursued in these economies, there was, however, serious emphasis on fair trading and competition in the supply of goods and services to the consumer. [fn1] The idea behind this was to prevent the existence of monopolies in the marketplace. The belief is that when there is competition in the marketplace, the quality of goods and services supplied to the consumer would be high as each manufacturer or supplier would work assiduously to outdo the other. [fn2] The consumer would not only benefit from improved quality of goods and services, he would also get them at fair and reasonable prices. [fn3] Therefore, in this article, we examined the relationship between competition law and consumer protection law and suggest that it is necessary for a synergy to be drawn between these disciplines in Nigeria in order to evolve an effective legal framework for the protection of the consumer. footnote 1: See http://wikipedia.org/wiki/competition_law (accessed on 25 November 2011). footnote 2: See generally Taylor Martyn, ‘International Competition Law: A new dimension for WTO’ http://www.google.com/books (accessed on 25 November 2011). footnote 3: See S. Apinega, ‘The Goal of Anti-Trust Laws and the Concept of Consumer Welfare’ (208-2009) 4 (1) ABU Law Journal 161—174.

La Nature du Droit OHADA

by | Oct 9, 2019 | JCLA, JCLA V3 I2 2016

La Nature du Droit OHADA

Authors Etienne Nsie

ISSN: 2521-2605
Affiliations: Maître de Conférences agrégé de droit privé; Faculté de Droit et des Sciences Économiques Université Omar BONGO Libreville – Gabon
Source: Journal of Comparative Law in Africa, Volume 3 Issue 2, p. 1 – 30

Abstract

The study assumes that OHADA is an organisation of legal integration that cannot be assimilated to an economic integration organisation or a political union. Based on the exegetical method and comparative approach, we conclude that OHADA law is a supranational law which, although not being a community law, produces the same effects. But the study also notes that the nature of OHADA law is inferred from the scope of the Uniform Acts, which postulate that OHADA law is at once national law, cross-border law and international law. From this double exegetical and comparative approach, both lines of the debate can be deduced. To determine the nature of OHADA law, it is first necessary to focus on the legal nature of the organisation. The qualification of the organisation is the basis for the qualification of the law it produces. These two axes infer two critical issues; on the one hand, the superiority of OHADA law over the domestic laws of the member states; and on the other hand, the relations that OHADA has with the rights arising from the organisations of economic and/or legal integration to which the OHADA member states belong.

Women’s Rights in Africa: An Examination of African Human Rights Systems in the Context of CEDAW and the Universalism Versus Cultural Relativism Debate

by | Oct 9, 2019 | JCLA, JCLA V3 I1 2016

Women’s Rights in Africa: An Examination of African Human Rights Systems in the Context of CEDAW and the Universalism Versus Cultural Relativism Debate

Authors Bukola Faturoti

ISSN: 2521-2605
Affiliations: Senior lecturer, Law School, Aberdeen Business School, Robert Gordon University
Source: Journal of Comparative Law in Africa, Volume 3 Issue 1, p. 149 – 176

Abstract

Many African women suffer discrimination on the basis of their gender and other factors like religion, customs, age and marital status. They continue to be victims of harmful practices whose perpetrators are never held to account because the practices have their roots in cultural values and traditions. Any attempt to initiate a change in human rights — in particular, women’s rights — is countered with the argument of the imposition of Western culture on other regions of the world. This argument is based on the premise that human rights should be fashioned along the lines of the cultural beliefs of the people and should never be expected to be universal. By comparing certain provisions of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women with a number of African human rights instruments, this article investigates the influence of cultural relativism — if any — on the formulation of women’s rights under African human rights regimes.