₦airaland Forum

We are tired of people getting into trouble with registering their companies and running it in Nigeria. So we are giving this opportunity to Nigerian businesses and entrepreneurs to ask ONE question about company registration and how they work in Nigeria.

We will answer! Let's GO!

The Legitng Team

Guys, abeg if you do not understand how companies work in Nigeria yet, please DO NOT try to register companies by yourself. I am becoming tired of the queries and silly mistakes I see people making because of the new CAC self registration process.

Everyday I get complaints from entrepreneurs who decided to do it on their own because 'wetin lawyers dey do sef'. Please do not be penny wise and pound foolish. Companies are unique creations of the law and there is a huge area of knowledge called 'company law' that even many lawyers do not have a grasp of. Do not because of the little amounts you want to save deny yourself of valuable information which a lawyer will provide during the company registration process and the first few years of your company formation.

If you are a smart business person, you should know that a good lawyer is an asset and getting one on your side of the corner as early as possible should be top priority for you (Haba, even lawyers who start companies get lawyers to advise them).

Now I have a man who has been on his company registration process for over two months when it should not take more than a week. For all the money he was trying to save he has wasted more money and time going and coming back from the CAC office and getting queries endlessly because of the information he filled. He came to me when he got tired and I am charging him a lot more than I would have charged him at the beginning because I now have more work to do.

So, this is a public service announcement. If you are serious about registering a company, get a good lawyer in your corner. Registering your company without the guide of a good lawyer is not a smart way to start off and in 2017 is not the way any Nigerian should be registering a Nigerian company.

Many thanks!

#dropsmicandwalksaway

On the 7th of April, the world woke up to the news that United States had ordered its military to carry out a missile attack on Syrian forces which according to the Pentagon led to the firing of 59 Tomahawk missiles at the Al Sharat airfield in Syria.

These Strikes raise two broad legal questions. The first involves international law and when it is lawful for any nation to attack another. The other involves U.S domestic law and who gets to decide-between the President and the US Congress- whether the US should attack another country. This piece speaks only to the question on International Law and leaves the domestic law question to experts in U.S. laws.

So did the U.S. have authority under International Law to attack Syria?

There are only two circumstances in which the use of military force is legal under the UN Charter of 1945, a treaty the United States has ratified: (x) in self defence, or (y) with the authorisation of the UN Security Council. The United Nations did not approve the strike, and well the U.S. Defense Department justified the act as ‘intended to deter the regime from using chemical weapons again,’ which makes it an act of deterrence rather than self defence.

NO, the U.S. by its attack on Syria has violated International law which it is a signatory to. Taking this kind of action even though it may be well-intentioned, with the strategic intent of stopping the atrocious use of chemical weapons against civilians in Syria, unfortunately is illegal under international law.

Okay! So what?

Is the Trump administration in trouble? We doubt it. The U.S. is powerful. While it is the responsibility of institutions like the UN Security Council to deal with lawbreakers in the international community, if one of the lawbreakers is a great power-as in this case one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council- then the chances of enforcement against a country like that are pretty slim.

The truth is International Law relies on countries doing the right thing, respecting their obligations in good faith under international law, and it also relies upon pressure being brought by other countries to call out law-breaking when it happens. This has often led to the deriding comments in some legal quarters that International Law is nor real law as it is not supported by force of coercion.

So far, the U.S. has a lot of international support. Germany, the UK, France, Japan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar and many other countries have made statements supporting the strike action. It is unlikely that there will be strong pressure to sanction the U.S., except from a minority including Russia and Iran who have been staunch supporters of the Assad regime in Syria.

OUR TAKEAWAY

International politics is a space of high level stakes and intrigue. As with domestic law, most times in the interaction of powerful interests, the law seems to take the back seat. The law only seems useful when wielded against weaker countries. The recent calls for the boycott of the International Criminal Court by African countries for perceived bias of the institution against African leaders throws more light on this point.

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS?

culled from http://www.legitng.com/the-trumpal-entry-of-syria-the-international-law-question/