Legal Trend

President Muhammadu Buhari recently assented to the Nigeria Startup Bill (now Act) 2022. The Act seeks to tackle three main challenges for Nigerian start-ups: lack of an enabling environment, unclear regulatory framework, and inadequate local content support. The Act seeks to provide a legal and institutional framework for the development of startups in Nigeria, provide an enabling environment for the establishment, development, and operation of startups in Nigeria; provide for the development and growth of technology-related talent; and position Nigeria's startup ecosystem, as the leading digital technology center in Africa, having excellent innovators with cutting edge skills and exportable capacity. This post, therefore, intends to make a brief overview of the Act.    INNOVATIONS OF THE NEW ACT  In order not to bore you with an in-depth analysis I will head straight to innovations of the new Act and what tech startups can expect from the Act. To qualify for any i...

Ebun Olu Adegberuwa SAN (As published in the Nigerian Tribune of 02/08/2022) Under and by virtue of section 2 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), ‘Nigeria shall be one indivisible and indissoluble Sovereign State to be known by the name of the Federal Republic of Nigeria’. By section 2 (2) thereof, ‘Nigeria shall be a Federation consisting of States and a Federal Capital Territory’. The concept of a Federation is the coming together of several units to form a common government to actualize certain common purposes. The diversities are harnessed in such a way as to achieve equity, fairness and unity. In a Federation, certain limited resources are pulled together with a defined arrangement which outlines ownership and control thereof. Nigeria’s claim to a federal system of government has been roundly defeated by the antics of successive military regimes, most oftentime executing an agenda that seems always to tilt in favour of some segments of...

INTRODUCTION It is pertinent to mention that an intending purchaser should conduct a search and do necessary due diligence when purchasing land or property to clear any doubts, ambiguities, and confusion. The only way to ensure that the land /property to be purchased in a transaction has a good title is to conduct a complete and thorough search. The main reason for conducting search on a property to be purchased is to ascertain if the property has a defective or good title. Where a property has a defective title, the purchaser is advised accordingly by his solicitor not to go ahead with the transaction. However, where a property has a good title, the intending purchaser is advised to go ahead and make payment for the property. Where an intending purchaser fails to conduct a thorough search before agreeing to buy and part with his money for the land, he would buy nothing as the transaction will be void ab initio. The purchaser’s solicitor must conduct search on the property. Ther...

  By Abdulwahab Dahiru Esq, ACArb.   Bola Adekunle Ahmed Tinubu is a Nigerian Politician and National leader of the All Progressives Congress. He has held various Government Positions including being the Governor of Lagos State from 1999 to 2007. The former governor of Lagos State has emerged as the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC for the 2023 presidential election on 6 th June 2023. This led to a series of calls for the disqualification of Tinubu over alleged discrepancies in his educational qualification submitted along with his presidential nomination form to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Photo credit Punchng.com The crux of these calls led to the main question this article seeks to answer. Is Tinubu Qualified to run for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria? The requirements for the qualification to run for the office of the President in Nigeria are provided for in the 1999 Constitutio...

 Is SANship a burden to Nigeria's justice sector? My experience ................................................ Exactly two weeks ago, I was to appear before Honourable Justice Tijani Ringim of the Federal High Court, Lagos for a vacation matter which was urgent in nature and thus required utmost attention of the court to save the life and property of a client.  I arrived court before 9am. I found out that my matter was listed as number nine(9) out of over fifteen (15) matters listed in the causelist for the day. I heaved a sigh of relief praying that God willing, I should be out of the courtroom max 1pm as I had a flight to catch at 3pm; little did I know that I was in for a rude shock. Five Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN) showed up in court. Two out of the five were together in one matter representing a party with no SAN on the other side. The other three were in different matters. Few minutes after 9am, the judge entered the courtroom and as usual, the SANs' cases were c...

 NBA-YLF have secured a new educational partnership with UK-based online educator Mediator Academy. The partnership will enable NBA-YLF to provide cost-efficient access to online educational programmes in Alternative Dispute Resolution and help young Nigerian lawyers gain much needed skills and knowledge to meet a rapidly developing, skills-based economy. Mediator Academy, based in London and Dublin, design and develop online programmes in the area of ADR and offer short, credentialed courses as well postgraduate programmes with leading universities. Mediator Academy is a Reconsider Course Provider for the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and has become the first organisation in Ireland to be able to offer an internationally recognised qualification in Mediation Advocacy.  The partnership will launch its first course: Foundation Certificate in Commercial Mediation - Nigerian Edition, successful completion of which entitles lawyers to join the CIARb at Associate level and use...