Law reform and economic development
The place of sound laws in the smooth running of an economy is well known. A sound legal framework, especially as it relates to the business environment, helps to build investor confidence as prospective investors, whether foreign or local, are always keen to understand the terrain they are wading into, and justifiably so. They want to ensure that laws are not ambiguous and that rules are not arbitrarily changed in the middle of the game. A case in point is Nigeria’s oil and gas industry. Experts say the country has lost massive investments in that critical sector of its economy due to the absence of a clearly defined legal framework, even as the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) continues to gather dust at the National Assembly.
It is with this understanding that countries of the world take seriously the issue of strengthening their legal framework to improve the business environment and, ultimately, support economic development. And lawmaking is an ongoing process, because as time changes, some previously relevant laws may become redundant or outdated. For those laws that directly impact how business is conducted, they may then impede rather than facilitate business and economic development, thereby necessitating reform. But even the lawmaking processes ought to be reviewed periodically to see if they are conducive to law reform.
This is why the 10th annual business law conference of the Nigerian Bar Association’s Section of Business Law (NBA-SBL) opening at the Transcorp Hilton Abuja today is very welcome. Appropriately themed “Law Reform and Economic Development”, the three-day conference, no doubt, raises a lot of hope that it will produce a report that will help the Federal Government as it seeks ways of tackling Nigeria’s numerous economic challenges.
As the country struggles with myriads of economic woes, is pertinent to look at some of its laws as they affect doing business. Indeed, there cannot be a better time than now to explore the nexus between law reform and economic development and highlight the role the one plays in facilitating the other.
With carefully chosen topics that include “Law Reform and Economic Development – Is this the missing link?”, “Vehicles for Doing Business: Is the CAMA fit for a modern growing economy?”, “Africa Rising: Managing Africa’s Economies for the Benefit of Its Peoples”, “Vision for Nigeria’s Infrastructure Development – What do we need to get there?”, “Future Prospects for the Oil and Gas Industry – The challenge of reforming this slippery sector”, “Managing Nigeria’s Economy – Is there a need for institutional reforms?”, “Power Sector Reform – When will the lights come on?”, among others, we are not in any doubt that the organisers of the conference mean business.
The array of speakers and panellists also further give us confidence. With legal and other experts like Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Babatunde Fashola, minister of power, works and housing, Ibe Kachikwu, minister of state for petroleum resources and group managing director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Kemi Adeosun, minister of finance, Femi Gbajabiamila, majority leader, House of Representatives, Lanre Babalola, former minister of power, Filippo Amato, counsellor, head of the Trade and Economic Section of the European Union Delegation to the Federal Republic of Nigeria and ECOWAS, among others on the driver’s seat of the various sessions, we are certain that the deliberations would be very rich indeed.
And with the likes of Aliko Dangote, president, Dangote Group, Okechukwu Enelamah, minister of industry, trade and investment, Audu Ogbeh, minister of agriculture, Kayode Fayemi, minister of solid minerals, among other distinguished personalities moderating the sessions, we can only hope for the best.
While we commend the chairman, 10th SBL Conference Planning Committee, the chairman, NBA-SBL, the NBA president and their team for a job well done, we, however, state unequivocally that it would amount to a waste of resources if the conference turns out to be a mere talk shop.
One way of ensuring that this does not happen is to look at ways of ensuring implementation of the conference report. We are not unaware that reports from previous conferences have been presented to the government and that the SBL has also done some follow-through by engaging with agencies like the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRC), the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), among others. But we believe that more can be done. It is our considered view that it is only when the report from the conference is duly implemented that it would have achieved its aim of aiding economic development through law reform.