JURISPRUDENCE AND INTERNATIONAL LAW

This research examines the economic and political importance of women's right of inheritance under Ibibio customary law in Nigeria. The study aims to analyze inheritance practices across four major Nigerian ethnic groups (Ibibio, Efik, Igbo, and Benin), evaluate constitutional and judicial protections for women's inheritance rights, and identify barriers to implementing these
rights. The research employed doctrinal methodology, analyzing primary sources including the 1999 Constitution, Supreme Court decisions, and statutes, alongside secondary sources such as journal articles, textbooks, and reports. Major findings reveal that all four ethnic groups operate under patrilineal inheritance systems that systematically exclude women from property ownership. The Ukeje v Ukeje (2014) Supreme Court decision declared discriminatory customary practices unconstitutional under Section 42 of the Constitution. However, a significant gap exists between legal protections and social practice, particularly in rural communities where traditional authorities prioritize customary norms over statutory law. Economic vulnerability, educational disparities, religious beliefs, and inadequate enforcement mechanisms perpetuate discriminatory practices. The study recommends comprehensive state legislation domesticating the Ukeje judgment, expanded legal aid services for women, public education campaigns, engagement with traditional and religious leaders, judicial capacity building, and sustained monitoring of inheritance practices. True reform requires coordinated action by government, civil society, traditional institutions, and communities to transform
constitutional rights into lived reality for Nigerian women

The concept of the 'Rule of Law' simply means accountability to the provisions of the law - a state of affairs in governance, in which the law holds sway to the letter, no matter whose ox is gored. In a state where the Rule of Law prevails, the application of the law and its principles in the administration of that state, is effected without recourse to creed, tribe, gender, religion, personal desires or status amongst other things. What matters without more, is the law and Justice. Kingdoms. and states have risen and fallen partly or totally due to the concept of the rule of law. If one looks at history through the eyes of circumspection, one can almost see mankind’s endless battle with chaos and anarchy. A frenzied scramble to infuse order starting from the family to communities and then to larger aggregates of people. Where man’s toil in this direction has failed, anarchy has sprung forth, wars have happened, taking lives and breaking once vibrant states into smaller units or something else entirely. Time has taught us that in the administration of a State, the most useful tool in maintaining the Rule of Law, does not reside exactly in the letters of the Law but in the application of the law. Laws may be vibrant and beautifully couched; properly delimiting roles and actions in a society but if these laws are not applied or properly applied, the letters on paper begin tending towards worthlessness. As Nigeria is the focus of this essay, the pertinent question is whether the administration of government in this country is compliant with the rule of law? Is it? The application of this concept in Nigeria can be likened to a cruise through a pothole-filled street. Again and again, more abrasions on the Rule of Law happen, some, leaving people utterly shocked and wondering desperately how worse the next one is going to be. Certain acts most times by the executive, leave much to be desired and leave Nigerians with the feeling that we are in an authoritarian State. The aim of this essay is to examine the application of the Rule of Law in Nigeria and prescribe cures where needed. To successfully achieve this, a foray will first be undertaken into the meaning and origin of the Rule of Law, thereafter, this writer will examine the perceptions of scholars and pundits on the concept, from here, the Rule of Law will be examined in line with auxiliary concepts after which the firmness of the Rule of Law from a xiv legal standpoint will be examined in Nigeria. While doing this, reference will be made to other states and events within and outside Nigeria to not only help achieve a clean grasp of the issues surrounding the rule of law in Nigeria but also provide time tested solutions to them

Intellectual property rights (IPR) refers to the ideas, inventions, and creative expressions based on which there is a public willingness to bestow the status of property. IPR provide certain exclusive rights to the inventors or creators of that property, in order to enable them to reap commercial benefits from their creative efforts or reputation. There are several types of intellectual property protection like patent, copyright, trademark, etc. Patent is recognition for an invention, which satisfies the criteria of global novelty, non- obviousness, and industrial application. IPR is prerequisite for better identification, planning, commercialization, rendering, and thereby protection of invention or creativity. Each industry should evolve its own IPR policies, management style, strategies, and so on depending on its area of specialty. Pharmaceutical industry currently has an evolving IPR strategy requiring a better focus and approach in the coming era. This work will focus on The Role of Intellectual Property in the Pharmaceutical Industry, critically examining how it has been structured to protect investments, time, money, effort invested by the inventor/creator of an IP, since it grants the inventor/ creator an exclusive right for a certain period of time for use of his invention/creation. Thus IPR, in this way aids the economic development of a country by promoting healthy competition and encouraging industrial development and economic growth. In conducting this research, the researcher will employ the doctrinal research method. This method was considered appropriate because it explains the law through primary internal evidence offered by case law, statutes, and materials derived from both primary and secondary sources.