A paper presentation By Prof. Abiodun Amuda-Kannike, SAN, FCIAP, Provost, College of Law, Kwara State University, Malete, via Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria and current President, Institute of Arts, Management and Professional Studies (IAMPS), at the 3rd Entrepreneurship conference / induction /graduation/ award conferment ceremony, held at Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria on Saturday, 3rd August, 2019.
Presenter’s Email address: amudakannikeabiodun@gmail.com Presenter’s Tel No: 08033256756
INTRODUCTION
Entrepreneurship is now the hall mark of nation building. The entire World revolves around entrepreneurship today in order to succeed in all spheres of life activities.[1]
It is therefore important that in our quest to deal with the above topic, there is the need to define in a nutshell the following terms in order to appreciate the presentation.[2]
(i) Entrepreneurship
(ii) Law
(iii) Good governance
(iv) Democracy
(v) Reduction
(vi) Social Vices
(vii) Illegality
(viii) Insecurity
Entrepreneurship: is seen as the introduction of new economic activity which will give rise to a change in a market place or marketing environment.[3] What this connote is that enterprises are created to bring in new innovations.
Furthermore, it has been said that entrepreneurship is not just about innovation only, it also involves, the ability to create products and services within a business model which correlate with the inherent financial risks associated with the success or the failure of an enterprise.[4] It must be understood that the definition of entrepreneurship is a relative concept and a lot of writers and scholars up till today continued to give their own definition. There has been attempts to define entrepreneurship universally but no universally accepted definition has emerged till now.[5] It is not in doubt that because of the interest most people now placed on entrepreneurship, the issue of definition is now becoming more complex but no matter what kind of definition which is given, there exist certain basic characteristics of a successful entrepreneur and they are as follows;[6]
(i) Forward Looking: This means being able to anticipate trends, opportunities, and future organizational challenges.
(ii) Hard Working: This means, an entrepreneur must love to put in more hours in work and also having a sense of satisfaction when accomplishing goals.
(iii) Passionate: The entrepreneur must have true enthusiasm and energy around the work being done.
(iv) Opinionated: The Entrepreneur must be ready and willing to take a stand for how they believe things should be done.
(v) Confidence: The Entrepreneur must be ready to have confidence in the ability of the people who voluntarily said they can perform the act or activity required even if it is very risky or not seen as being possible.
(vi) Resourcefulness: There should be ability to put resources together even on the face of so many unknowns.
(vii) Positiveness: The Entrepreneur must believe there must be success in the venture or ventures.
Law: First of all must be seen as a relative concept as there has been several attempts to have a universally acceptable definition for law but no one has been able to arrive at a generally acceptable definition. This is the first definition of law because several philosophers, scholars, jurist have all attempted the definition but no generally acceptable definition up till now.[7]
Notwithstanding the relative concept of law, we still can give the definition of law flowing from the above paragraph. Law is said to be the system or rules of a particular country or community which it recognize as regulating the actions of its members and which it may enforce by the imposition of penalties. This can be seen in the noun. The synonyms are; rules and regulations, system of laws, constitution, legislation, code, legal code, chapter, jurisprudence, the law of the land. Furthermore, law also refers to a rule defining the correct procedure or a behavior in most activities.[8]
Good governance: In international development, good governance is a subjective term that describes how public institutions conduct public affairs and manage public resources in the preferred way. Also governance is said to be the process of decision making and the process by which decisions are implemented (or not implemented).[9] Just as it is for some other terms, we have mentioned, it has also been said that there exist no consensus opinion acceptable for the definition of good governance. However, it is agreed that, good governance relates to political and institutional processes and outcomes that are deemed necessary to achieve the goals of development.[10]
Democracy: This is said to be a system of government by the whole population or all eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives. It is said to be the government by the people in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.[11]
Reduction: This means the act of making something smaller or to make connote something to be lesser in amount, degree or size. It connote a situation where a thing is made smaller.[12]
Social Vices. This means bad traits, unhealthy and negative behaviors that are against the morality of a society and frowned at by the members of the society.[13] In Nigeria today, the examples of social vices, includes the followings;
(i) Drug abuse
(ii) Thuggery
(iii) Cultism
(iv) Inordinate ambition
(v) Sexual abuse
(vi) Examination malpractices.[14]
Illegality: Theword illegality refers to the state of being contrary to or forbidden by law, especially criminal law, it equally refers to a state of being illegal or an illegal action, it refers to a situation of being against the law.[15]
Illegality can further be defined as being against the rules or the law. Sometimes, just like an individual or the students, you knew the action is illegal but you have to act illegally, in order to change a bad law despite the knowledge of the consequence involved.[16]
Insecurity: This refers to a situation of uncertainty, anxiety about oneself, and lack of confidence. It could further be referred to as a state of being opened to danger or threat or lack of protection.[17]
RELEVANCE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP TO LAW:
There is no doubt that entrepreneurship is relevant to the law in that for an entrepreneur to grow in his or her business, he cannot do away with the law of contract which he or she must come in contact with from time to time.
Therefore, an entrepreneur who is setting up a business must look at the law relating to aspect of the law regulating businesses in Nigeria and what aspect of the law affects his business or activities will be involved in.
The entrepreneur requires knowledge of law;[18] such as;
(1) Business license
(2) Employment laws
(3) Labour laws
(4) Rule of fair hearing
(5) Occupational safety and health law
(6) Workers compensation law
(7) Tax laws
(8) Advertisement and marketing laws
(9) Online business laws
(10) International sales laws
(11) Privacy law
(12) Intellectual property law
(13) Finance laws/ bankruptcy law
It is important to state that an average entrepreneur needs to know the rule of vicarious liability. They do not know that they are responsible for any harm caused by their employees to either themselves or to other persons while they are acting for the company. It is to be understood that an employer will be liable if the employee caused any harm while on the employer duty or duties and within the scope of his authority. Therefore, it is proper to define the employees job descriptions clearly and purchase a commercial general liability insurance policy that covers the employees at work.[19]
The second issue to take note has to do with overtime rules. Long hours overtime usually occur for a start up business. Avoid legal action by avoiding over time involvement of your employees unless you can pay for the overtime. It is better to avoid the litigation costs of being sued in the court from time to time.[20]
The third issue to take note by an entrepreneur has to do with the law dealing with patents, copy rights and trademarks. Certainly in the course of business activities, a perfect product has been produced, there will be logo, website photo including company name. None of the above mentioned acts must affect another person’s intellectual property, because any infringement without consent of existing owner will lead to damages when sued to court.[21]
Furthermore, intellectual property law involves, patents, which is the protection of an invention; copyrights has to do with the protection of artistic and books while trade mark has to do with the protection of brands.[22]
It is not out of place to restate that an entrepreneur should be able to know what constitutes the essentials of a valid contract which are as follows;[23]
(i) Offer
(ii) Acceptance
(iii) Consideration
(iv) Intention to enter into legal relations
(v) Legal capacity of the parties
Contract has been defined as an agreement between two or more parties[24] which leads to consensus ad– idem, giving rise to legal relationship.[25]
RELEVANCE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP TO GOOD GOVERNANCE
Entrepreneurship require government support to thrive and to survive. When there exist good governance, the truth is that it will immediately transform the entrepreneurship activities to a higher level because the government will certainly be involved in creating wealth, encouraging economic activities and assisting the entrepreneurs.[26]
There is no doubt that as a people in Nigeria, our orientation needs to change. How do you look at a scenario we are now discussing about entrepreneurship and good governance and anyone of us get to the corridor of power and jetisson the idea of encouraging entrepreneurship but begins to mismanage the economy and government activities, to the detriment of entrepreneurship development.
The above submission was alluded to by Jack Finni[27] when he stated as follows;
“It is so shocking to see somebody you shared so many things in common with before, to suddenly turn around and behave, as if he is God to be worshiped”
The above question show our kind of orientation. Most of us who are now in support of entrepreneurship today, God forbid may end up not doing anything to encourage entrepreneurship even though we know certainly that entrepreneurship is part of the yardsticks to assess whether there exist good governance or not.
For a government to have been seen to be involve in good governance, there must be basic constitutional concepts and there is no way this basic constitutional concepts will not encourage entrepreneurship.[28] This concepts are as follows;
(i) Sovereignty
(ii) Separation of power,
(iii) Division of governmental powers
(iv) Conventions
(v) Ministerial responsibility
(vi) Rule of law.
There is no doubt that the issue of rule of Law in entrepreneurship development is important as entrepreneurs needs to operate their business using basic legal channels. The entrepreneurs must benefit from a cheap, transparent and fair legal system. The fact that this type of situation of rule of law is beneficial only to large scale entrepreneurs is untenable as far as we are concerned because without the rule of law, no matter how good a society is, it may still end up in doom.[29]
RELEVANCE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP TO DEMOCRACY
Entrepreneur and democracy are closely related as the two has to do with personal freedom. Personal freedom and other freedoms which are recognized by many societies as ideals are related to each other and support each other.[30]
Entrepreneurs as a result of exercising their economic freedom while participating in the market activities as they find it, are important for political freedom which sustains democracy. They are revolutionaries since they use economic freedom as the tools to challenge the present economic, social and political structures.[31]
Entrepreneurs are essential pilot in nurturing democracy since the opportunity to set up entrepreneurial companies is vastly opened to the people at the various stages of economy, even though this may not be completely achievable all the time. Therefore education is important for good entrepreneurial activities in every country.[32] No wonder, Bjorn .G. Tafford stated thus;
“Wide spread education is one of the basic component of a good entrepreneurial environment in any country. Mini company programmes run by students at schools offer special opportunities to learn democratic attitudes, skills and procedures. The main idea is that the mini company represents an arena where business is run according to democratic principles. This arena is made available to pupils and students as they are invited to participate in planning and implementing a business idea. So here the students learn to practice democratic procedures as a lot of real life decisions have to be made.”
Bjon .J. Tafford, while emphasizing on the importance of entrepreneurship to democracy further explained what this entails by further stating that;[33]
“In short, a mini company is an arena for student participation in decision making where the decision makers also enjoy (and possibly suffer) the consequences. In other words: It is a healthy breeding ground for democratic skills and attitudes. In this way a mini company or a student company is a pedagogical tool based on practical experience by means of running a complete enterprise project and on interaction with the external environment.”
It is therefore important to state that the importance of entrepreneurship to democracy can therefore be categorically seen as follows;[34]
(1) Systemic Change
The emergence of democracy as a political system upon which emerged the convergence of social change, political action and institutional building. The entrepreneurs joined others to demand for greater freedom and accountable government.
(2) Social Change
The entrepreneurs have been seen as raising groups within the society which eventually can be seen as a pathway to advancement in life on the merit, different from family, social class, ethnicity, or other criteria’s which often time affect social mobility, and create disaffections. The groups created open doors and gives a broader part of the population the opportunity to participate in the nation economic activities. Entrepreneurship brings democracy to the opportuned and activities for economic participation which would not have been possible if not for entrepreneurship.
(3) Individual Change
An entrepreneur who is an individual is now opportune to be a leader in his own right, he has personal initiative, he is a business leader which prepares him for civic leadership in the society. The mindset of an entrepreneur involves creative thoughts, problem – solving background, independent control of resources and accountability.
Others have however said that entrepreneurship may not argur well for democracy because there is the issue of destructive entrepreneurship which means increasing share of existing wealth without creating new wealth or creating organized crime situation.[35] This will erode productivity and innovation, it will equally give rise to corruption and undue privilege. Furthermore, entrepreneurs who solely depended on the state or political support will always not be in favour of actual democracy but pretended democracy.
It has also been said that by its nature, entrepreneurship is disruptive and unpredictable and does not provide platform for democratization.[36]
ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND REDUCTION IN SOCIAL VICES ILLEGALITY AND INSECURITY.
The majority of the youths as at today are now involved in social vices illegality and insecurity such as, kidnapping, drug abuse, ritual killings, armed robbery, cultism, rape and other activities within the social vices acts. The youths between the ages of 18 and 35 years are involved in this social vices. It has been said that among the causes of this social vices are;[37]
(i) Lack of parental care
(ii) Broken homes
(iii) Poverty
(iv) Peer pressure
(v) Unemployment
(vi) Get rich quick syndrome
(vii) Economic recession
(viii) Pressure from the society.
The above situation will be reduced to its bearest level if not completely eradicated if entrepreneurship is encouraged because, of the adage saying that “idleness is the devil work shop”. When a man is busy, when a man has lot of jobs to attend to and he takes care of his daily needs, the temptations to be involved in social vices will be reduced or will not be there.
We should however not forget that the government of the federation have critical roles to play in ensuring that through entrepreneurship, social vices, ought to be curbed. This role is constitutionally provided for and must be acted upon in order to avoid the devil called “social vices”. The constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in relation to our discussion stated thus;[38]
“ (1) The State shall within the context of the ideals and objectives for which the provisions are made in this constitution.
(a) Harness the resources of the nation and promote national prosperity as an efficient, a dynamic and self reliant economy.
(b) Control the national economy in such a manner as to secure the maximum welfare, freedom and happiness of every citizen on the basis of social justice and equality of status and opportunity;
(c) Without prejudice to its right to operate or participate in areas of the economy, other than the major sectors of the economy, manage and operate the major sectors of the economy.
(d) Without prejudice to the right of any person to participate in areas of the economy within the major sectors of the economy, protect the right of every citizen to engage in any economic activities out side the major sectors of the economy”.
In the Inter-American case of VELASQUEZ RODRIQUEZ VS HONDURAZ[39] the court held that when a state allows private persons or groups to act freely and with impunity to the detriment of the rights of its citizens, it would be in clear violation of its obligations to project the human rights of its citizens. What this means is that there should be state protection of the economic rights of the citizens against the undue multinational and local capitalist exploitation as this may lead to social vices instead of entrepreneurship.
Also in the case of SOCIAL & ECONOMIC RIGHTS ACTION CENTRE VS F.R.N [40]the African commission on Human and peoples rights, sitting in Banjul, Gambia, indicted the Federal of Nigeria under General Abacha for violating similar provisions under the African charter on Human and peoples Rights charter now cap A9, laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004. The commission held that Articles 14 and 16(1) of the charter guarantee right to shelter which obligates the Nigerian Government not to destroy the housing of its citizens and also not to obstruct efforts by individuals or communities to rebuild lost houses. It was also held that the right to food is inseparably linked to the dignity of a human being, hence is essential for the enjoyment and fulfillment of such other rights as health, education, work, and participation in politics. Finally that the charter and indeed internal law require and bind Nigeria to protect and improve existing food sources and to ensure access to adequate food by all citizens.
The government of Nigeria always try to run away from carrying out its functions in relation to the above constitutional duties which they always say, that it is non-justiceable but which always breed social vices, illegality and insecurity in the country. If the government has lived up to its expectations and played its role/duty constitutionally, a lot of those social vices, illegality and insecurity would not have increased, instead entrepreneurship would have increased and the nation economy would have developed.[41]
Furthermore, because the government of Nigeria always try to abdicate its role constitutionally as far as educational objectives are concerned which would have brought knowledge in schools about entrepreneurship, but social vices, illegality and insecurity continue to rise rather than being on the decrease. Entrepreneurship are encouraged by most schools as at now and when the role of government in encouraging same through educational objectives are not encouraged, there is bound to be problem in the society. This role, abdicated by government will be seen later as giving rise to Boko Haram, Niger-Delta Militancy and the civil unrest in most part of Nigeria.
In the case of UNIVERSITY OF ABUJA VS OGUNSAKIN[42] the Court of Appeal of Nigeria, held that all that the government is enjoined to do pursuant to section 18 is to ensure that there are equal and adequate education opportunity(ies) at all levels of the society but that failure in this regard does not confer any person the right to invoke the inherent powers and sanctions of a court of law, to ensure their observance, since the matters listed in the said section are not justiciable by virtue of section 6(6) (c) of the constitution.
It is unfortunate that while appreciating the bold steps taken y the judiciary in India on the justiceability of the fundamental objectives and directives of state principle, the Nigeria court seems to dodge away from doing the proper thing thereby helping the government to develop social vices, illegality and insecurity, with all due respect, when they adopted the decision in ARCHBISHOP ANTHONY OKOGIE’S CASE,[43] in the case of ATTORNEY GENERAL OF ONDO STATE VS ATORNEY GENERAL OF THE FEDERATION[44] when the court stated thus;
“ Whatever is necessary was done in India to see that they (Directive principles) are observed as much as practicable so as to give cognizance to the general tendency of the directives. It is necessary therefore to say that our own situation is of peculiar significance. We do not seek uncertain ways of giving effort to the Directive principles in chapter II under the Exclusive Legislative list. By this, it simply means that all the Directive principles need not remain mere or pious declarations. It is for the Executive and National Assembly working together, to give expression to anyone of them through appropriate enactment as the occasion may demand”.
From the decision of supreme court of Nigeria, they, with all due respect, missed the opportunity to go down history lane as being “revolutionaries” just as the judiciary in India which they mentioned.
The expectation however as advanced by Chief Femi Falana [45]SAN,[46] was that the supreme court should have atleast bend towards boldness by following its own decision in the case of ARIORI VS ELEMO where the court stated;
“ Having regard to the nascence of our constitution, the comparative educational backwardness, the socio economic and cultural background of the people of this country and the reliance that is being placed and necessarily have to be placed, as a result of the background of the courts, and finally, the general atmosphere in the country, I think the supreme court has a duty to safeguard the fundamental rights in this country which from its age and problems that are bound to associate with it, is still having an experiment in democracy ………. The courts in this country, especially this court, being the court of last resort has a duty to safeguard fundamental rights. They have that duty for the reasons I have already given and in particular the reason relating to the stage of development of this country”.
Hon Justice Chukwudifu Oputa, Justice of the supreme court, during his life time, now of blessed memory, advised his brother judges of the supreme court to be involved in judicial activivism in order to do justice to the people and the society. His contention was that they should be willing and ready to fill in the gap between the tempo of change in the society and the amendment in the law or the legal processes for the purpose of effecting the said change as expected by those desirous of justice.[47]
The supreme at least did little judicial activism when in the case of OLAFISOYE VS FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA[48] it stated thus;
“… the non justiceability of section 6(6) (c) of the constitution is neither total nor sancrosant as the subsection provides a leeway by the use of the words “ except as otherwise provided by this constitution”. This means that if the constitution otherwise provides in another section which makes a section of a chapter II justiceable, it will be so interpreted by this section which makes a section or sections of chapter II justiceable. It will be so interpreted by the court.”
Based on the judicial activism commenced above, the court started getting bolder, when the federal High court did wonder in the case of JOSEPH ODAFE & ORS VS A.G. FEDERATION & ORS,[49]the court specifically stated;
“The government of this country has incorporated the African Charter on Human and peoples Rights (cap 10) as part of the law of the country. The court of Appeal in Ubani V Director, SSS (1999) II NWLR (pt 625) 129 held that African charter is applicable in this country. The African charter has entrenched the socioeconomic rights of a person. The court has entrenched the socioeconomic rights of a person. The court is enjoined to ensure the observance of these rights”.
The court did not waste time in continuing its judicial activisms when also in the case of FEMI FALANA VS AG. FEDERATION (NO1)[50], the court stated thus;
“Section 13 of the constitution imposes a duty and responsibility on the government to observe chapter II and any law promulgated pursuant to the said chapter of the constitution, including the Nigerian Education Bank Act”.
The constitution also made provision for social objectives as the role to be performed by the government. This is also important to be performed by the government which will and ought to favour entrepreneurship and to curb, social vices, illegality and insecurity. For ease of reference, we wish to quote the said pro vision of the constitution;[51]
“The states social order shall b e founded on ideas of freedom, Equality and justice and in furtherance of this social order:-
(a) Every citizen shall have equality of rights, obligations and opportunities before the law;
(b) The sanctity of the human person shall be recognized and human dignity shall be maintained and enhanced.
(c) Government actions shall be humane.
(d) Exploitation of human or natural resources in any form what so ever for reasons other than the good of the community shall be Prevented; and
(e) The independence, impartiality and integrity of courts of law, and easy accessibility there to, shall be secured and maintained”
It is also important to make mention of other provisions of constitution such as Sections 17 to 21 of the 1999 constitution. This provision has to do with right to social objectives, educational objectives, foreign objectives, environmental objectives and directives on Nigerian culture.[52]
The fact remain that the government has to be a life to its responsibilities constitutionally in order to curb much of the issues dealing with social vices, illegality and insecurity, as more emphasis has to be placed on the issue of entrepreneurship of the entire nation which should even involve the mature minds and not only the youths alone, even though more emphasis ought to be placed on the development of the entrepreneurial skills of the youths as future leaders of tomorrow as they were calling us, yet the society refused to allow most of us to be leaders.[53]
It should be understood that the militancy in Niger Delta, Ogoni crisis and the killing of Saaro Wiwa, were majorly borne out of lack of encouragement and development of entrepreneurship from the part of the nation which produced oil, the major source of the re venue of the country. The people felt cheated, their environment were polluted, no infrastructural facilities no employment and the tensed atmosphere led to social vices, illegality and insecurity generally from this part of the country until it started spreading like volcanoes to almost all the part of our country, till today.
Today in Nigeria, there is no day you
wake up without hearing about cultism among the youths which is even spreading
to the primary schools, you will hear of stealing and armed robbery, you will
hear of kidnapping, the kidnappers kidnapped the white men, most of them left
Nigeria, they kidnapped big men in Nigeria, they provided more securing f or
themselves and relocated to more safer environment, they kidnapped their kins
men, their kin men decided not to return to the community again for holiday or
to do anything at home any more, they kidnapped whoever they see anywhere on
the road, sea or farm, and later they even started kidnapping for as low as
credit cards of N 10,000 to release their
victims.[54]
The same unemployment saga created easier recruitment for Boko Haram and all other social vices, mostly associated with the Northern part of the country including lack of proper education and entrepreneurial skills for the “Almajiri boys”
It is not in doubt that because the governments are aware of the problem at stake; it has started to encourage entrepreneurship development either solely or in partnership with private individuals or partial encouragement of individuals or groups thus;
(i) The establishment of NDDC to cater for the development of the Niger- Delta region especially as skills acquisition programmes and entrepreneurship are advised to form the bulk of their activities.
(ii) The establishment of skills acquisition programmes by most of the wifes of the state governors.
(iii) In 2000, entrepreneurship studies were introduced into the Nigerian education system especially at higher institutions as a mandatory course.[55]
The government one way or the other, tried to encourage entrepreneurship now through the amended of the Company and Allied matters Act because a single person can incorporate a company like a one man business. The registration procedure has been made easier equally and not cumbersome again as such, most of the activities can even be done online. There are other reforms the new company bill, brought into fore play such as;[56]
(i) Provision for single member/share- holder.
(ii) Declaration of compliance no longer required to be made by a legal-practitioner.
(iii) Replacement of authorized share capital with minimum issued share capital.
(iv) Incorporation of a private company limited by guarantee, the consent of the AGF is no longer required.
(v) Common seal, no longer required nor mandatory for companies
(vi) There is now provision for electronic filing and issue of documents, electronic share transfer and e-meetings for private companies are now available.
(vii) Exemption from Audit and annual General meeting.
(viii) Appointment of a company secretary-optional for private companies.
(ix) Prescription of model Articles for adoption companies.
(x) There is provision for registration for limited liability partnership (LLP) and limited partnership (LP).
(xi) There is reduction in filing fees for the registration of charges.
(xii) There is provision for merger of incorporated Trustees.
(xiii) Corporate governance practice is to improve within the business organizations such as;
(a) Disclosure of persons with significant control in companies.
(b) Restriction on multiple directorship
in public companies
(c) Public companies to display their audited accounts on websites.
(xiv) There exist clear and practical frame work for resolving insolvency.[57]
(xv) More statutory safeguards against oppression of minority share holders.
(xvi) There are new mechanisms for making regulations more effective and compliance a lot easier. This includes;
(a) A more inclusive CAC governing board.
(b) Power of the CAC to initiate investigation of a company.
(c) The CAC has the power to treat any two or more associations having the same trustees as a single association in order to properly supervise them.
(d) Pre-action notice to precede filing of a court case against the CAC.[58]
The government has agreed to create enabling environment that will enable entrepreneurship to develop. No wonder Vice-President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo[59], (SAN) reiterated this issue at the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Forum (TEEF) while he said that the young entrepreneurs will change narrative about Africa and that this generation of Africans are the smartest ever. He further stated thus;
“Here in this room is a great representation of what the private sector can accomplish. It is also hugely inspiring to us, as governments, and I am glad that a number of African governments are represented here, we are challenged to create the enabling environment for all of these young entrepreneurs to thrive ….”
SUMMARY
The topic above is important not only for the entrepreneurs alone but for students of entrepreneurial study because it enabled us to see the relationship between various aspects of the law to an entrepreneur and the usefulness of both to the larger society.
We have in this work been able to examine the role of entrepreneurship to laws such as partnership, registration and formation of companies, companies income tax, bankruptcy, taxation and other aspect of the law as the topic demand.
In order to make the listeners and readers appreciate the work better and for proper understanding of the topic involved, we deemed it necessary to define the following terms;
(i) Entrepreneurship
(ii) Law
(iii) Good governance
(iv) Democracy
(v) Reduction
(vi) Social vices
(vii) Illegality and
(viii) Insecurity.
In addition, we treated each of the terms as they relate to entrepreneurship except when we got to the issue of entrepreneurship and reduction in social vices, where we treated social vices, illegality and insecurity together as they relate to each other.
We looked at relevant case laws, the constitutional provisions in relation to entrepreneurship and reduction of crimes, some basic government policies and laws basically related to the issue of entrepreneurship. The work also examined the relevant provisions of the new company and Allied Matters Bill and the important changes therein.
We did a summary, recommendations and conclusion. The recommendations as could be seen are far reaching and will assist our nation to be more secured, economically viable, and a better nation where dignity is accorded the entrepreneurs.
The footnotes and bibliography will assist the listeners and readers for further readings and research/appreciation of this topic.
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. It is recommended that the constitution of Nigeria should be amended by the National Assembly making both the Federal Government and the State Government to compulsorily create “Ministry of Entrepreneurship” and to function only for the development, monitoring and evaluation of entrepreneurial activities.
2. It is equally recommended that the C.B.N Act LFN, 2004 should be amended and the C.B.N empowered to release certain amount of loans to entrepreneurs yearly with certain amount of money to be given for such purpose in total sum.
3. The government should create more enabling environment for entrepreneurs because, as we were able to see, an idle man is the devil workshop. There is the need to stop unemployment and provide skillful jobs for the populace to avoid being involved in social vices and illegality.
4. It is further recommended that entrepreneurship as a subject should be taught right from primary 1-6, secondary school, JSS1- JSS3, SS1 – SS3 and university from 100 level to 500 level. With this continuous knowledge of entrepreneurship and acquisition of skills, the issue of unemployment, social vices, illegality and insecurity would have been reduced drastically.
5. It is recommended that textbooks, journals and articles which have been written by several authors on entrepreneurship should concentrate more on the relationship of entrepreneurship to law, democracy, good government, social vices, illegality and insecurity. This will enable an average Nigerian to appreciate the link between entrepreneurship and other issues for nation development.
6. It is recommended that there should be more seminars, conferences, meeting points which will deal with topics such as this and not just to be discussing entrepreneurship alone as entrepreneurship must associate with societal problems and successes.
CONCLUSION
We are happy to conclude this topic by saying that entrepreneurship has serious impact with Law, good governance, democracy, social vices, illegality and insecurity.
The success of entrepreneurship is dependent directly or indirectly on the issue of law, good governance, democracy, social vices, illegality and insecurity. No wonder, we have the main theme of this conference/gathering tagged; Entrepreneurship dexterity: The antidote bridge between social vices and security.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A. INTERNET MATERIALS
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4. Jordan for long entrepreneurship more than just innovators; https;//moneyinc.com accessed through the internet on 25/7/2019 at 3am
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6. Good governance; https://en.m.wikipedia.org.Accessed through the internet on 26/7/2019 at 3:30am.
7. Good Governance and Human Rights: https;//www.ohchr.org.Accessed through the internet on 26/7/2019 at 4:30am.
8. Democracy: http://web-archive2017.ait.org.Accessed through the internet on 26/7/2019 at 8am.
9. Reduction; https://www.merriam.webster.com. Accessed through the internet on 26/7/2019 at 2pm.
10. Social vices information parlour.com Accessed through the internet on 26/7/2019 at 3pm.
11. Social vices in Nigeria; https://allafrica.com. Accessed through the internet on 26/7/2019 at 8pm
12. Illegality: https://dictionary.cambrisge.org. Accessed through the internet on 26/7/2019 at 11:30pm
13. Illegality: https//www.vocabulary.com Accessed through the internet on 26/7/2019 at 11:50pm
14. Insecurity; https://en.oxforddictionaries.com Accessed through the internet on 27/7/2019 at 12:02am.
15. Business Laws; https://articles.bplans.com Accessed through the internet on 27/7/2019 at 4:00am
16. Anthony Johnson; Areas of law every entrepreneur ought to know. See https://www.entrepreneur.com. Accessed through the internet on the 27/7/2019 at 5:00am
17. See Jack Finni statement quoted in https://d.nb.info/1051935393/34 accessed on 27/7/2019 at 6am
18. Chantal Hartog & Ors; Institutions and entrepreneurship: the role of law: see https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org. accessed on 27/7/2019 at 7am
19. Bjorn .G. Tafford; Entrepreneurship and Democracy; see; htpps://bravo.hivolda.no/hivolda. Accessed on 28/7/2019. At 2am
20. www.netjournals.org (AERJ). Accessed through the internet on 29/7/2019 at 7:33pm
21. www.mondaq.com. Accessed on 30/7/2019. At 2:10pm
B. CASE LAWS
1. Social & Economic Rights Action Centre VS F.R.N (2002) 2 CHR pg 537
2. University of Abuja VS Ogunsakin Unreported Appeal no CA/A/614/2011 decided by the court of Appeal Abuja on 6/11/2013
3. Archbishop Anthony Okogie’s Case (1981) 2 NCLR pg 337 at 350
4. Attorney General of Ondo State VS Atorney General Of The Federation (2002) 9 NWLR (part 772) pg 222 at 383
5. Ariori VS Elemo (1984) 5 NCLR pg 1 at 14
6. Olafisoye VS Federal Republic of Nigeria 13 (2005) 51 WRN pg 52 (Niki Tobi JSC) of blessed memory.
7. Joseph Odafe & ORS VS A.G. Federation & ORS, (2004) AHRLR
8. Femi Falana VS A.G. Federation (No1) (Unreported) Suit No FHC/L/CS/1121/2011 of 20/6/2014
C. STATUTES
1. Section 16 (1) of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
2. Section 17 of the 1999 constitution
3. Section 18 of the 1999 constitution
4. Section 19 of the 1999 constitution
5. Section 20 of the 1999 constitution
6. Section 21 of the 1999 constitution
D. BOOKS/JOURNALS/PAPER PRESENTATIONS
1. Prof. A. Amuda-Kannike, SAN; The knowledge of the essentials of a valid contract by the Entrepreneur How relevant is it for economic development; A paper presented at the 2nd entrepreneurship conference at Covenant University on Saturday 15th December, 2018.
2. Prof. I.E. Sagay; Nigerian Law of contract, 2nd Edition published by Spectrum Books Limited 2007 pg 1-2.
3. M.O Adesanya and E.O Oloyede; Business Law in Nigeria; published by Evans Brothers (Nigeria publishers) Limited 1984 pg 19.
4. Ese Malemi: the Nigerian Constitutional Law: Published by prinection publishing company, 2012.
5. Rae, D: (2007) Entrepreneurship; from opportunity of action – Macmillian
6. Johnson Jr. F.P (2004) Entrepreneurship And Democracy Entrepreneurs as the revolutionaries of our time. Adapted from a speech at the Russian Venture fair in St. Petersburg on October 8th, 2004.
7. On creating the Environment for entrepreneurial success, CIPE 25 years impact evaluation.
8. William .J. Baumol; Entrepreneurship; productive; unproductive and destructive; journal of political economy vol 98 No 5, October, 1990
9. Start up Genome, Global startup Ecosystem report 2017.
10. 1988 series C No 4 delivered on 19/7/88
11. Chief Femi Falana SAN; “Nigerian Law on Socio Economic Rights; published by Legal Text publishing co, First Edition 2017 pg 4 ”
12. C.O. Oputa “Judicial Activism; A catalyst for Political Development or Instability?”A paper presented at the National Association of Democratic Layers Distinguished Jurist Lecture, 2004 pg 49
E. NEWS PAPERS
1. The Nation News paper of Monday July 29,
2019 pg 8.
[1] The fact is true that globally, entrepreneurship is now much more important than what it was years ago. Most tertiary and non tertiary institutions now place more emphasis on entrepreneurship.
[2] The definition of the various terms will go a long way for anyone to link each term to the others.
[3] Definition of entrepreneur; see U.S census Bureau: https;//www.census.gov/eped/www/eped/www/
Smallu.s.html.vilion. in evitable accessed through the internet on 25/7/2019 at 2am.
[4] Jordan for long entrepreneurship more than just innovators; https;//moneyinc.com accessed through the internet on 25/7/2019 at 3am
[5] The concept of Entrepreneurship in pursuit of a universally acceptable; https//ir-library.ku.ac.ke. Accessed on 25/7/2019 at 4am.
[6] Characteristics of a successful entrepreneur; https://davidcummings.org Accessed through the internet on 26/7/2019 at 2am.
[7] It is to be understand that anyone who defines Law straight away without the concept of relative nature of the definition of law, is wrong and cannot be said to be correct in giving us the definition.
[8] The third New international Dictionary; https://en.m.wikipedia.org. Accessed through the internet on 26/7/2019 at 2:30 am
[9] Good governance; https://en.m.wikipedia.org.Accessed through the internet on 26/7/2019 at 3:30am.
[10] Good Governance and Human Rights: https;//www.ohchr.org.Accessed through the internet on 26/7/2019 at 4:30am.
[11] Democracy: http://web-archive2017.ait.org.Accessed through the internet on 26/7/2019 at 8am.
[12] Reduction; https://www.merriam.webster.com. Accessed through the internet on 26/7/2019 at 2pm.
[13] Social vices information parlour.com Accessed through the internet on 26/7/2019 at 3pm.
[14] Social vices in Nigeria; https://allafrica.com. Accessed through the internet on 26/7/2019 at 8pm
[15] Illegality: https://dictionary.cambrisge.org. Accessed through the internet on 26/7/2019 at 11:30pm
[16] Illegality: https//www.vocabulary.com Accessed through the internet on 26/7/2019 at 11:50pm
[17] Insecurity; https://en.oxforddictionaries.com Accessed through the internet on 27/7/2019 at 12:02am.
[18] Business Laws; https://articles.bplans.com Accessed through the internet on 27/7/2019 at 4:00am
[19] Anthony Johnson; Areas of law every entrepreneur ought to know. See https://www.entrepreneur.com. Accessed through the internet on the 27/7/2019 at 5:00am
[20] Ibid
[21] Ibid
[22] Ibid
[23] Prof. A. Amuda-Kannike, SAN; The knowledge of the essentials of a valid contract by the Entrepreneur How relevant is it for economic development; A paper presented at the 2nd entrepreneurship conference at Covenant University on Saturday 15th December, 2018.
[24] Prof. I.E. Sagay; Nigerian Law of contract, 2nd Edition published by Spectrum Books Limited 2007 pgs 1-2.
[25] M.O Adesanya and E.O Oloyede; Business Law in Nigeria; published by Evans Brothers (Nigeria publishers) Limited 1984 pg 19.
[26] The level of support of government to entrepreneurship is also part of the measurement to assess whether there is good government in a country or not.
[27] See Jack Finni statement quoted in https://d.nb.info/1051935393/34 accessed on 27/7/2019 at 6am
[28] Ese Malemi: the Nigerian Constitutional Law: Published by prinection publishing company, 2012.
[29] Chantal Hartog & Ors; Institutions and entrepreneurship: the role of law: see https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org. accessed on 27/7/2019 at 7am
[30] Rae, D: (2007) Entrepreneurship; from opportunity of action – Macmillian
[31] Johnson Jr. F.P (2004) Entrepreneurship And Democracy Entrepreneurs as the revolutionaries of our time. Adapted from a speech at the Russian Venture fair in St. Petersburg on October 8th, 2004.
[32] Bjorn .G. Tafford; Entrepreneurship and Democracy; see; htpps://bravo.hivolda.no/hivolda. Accessed on 28/7/2019. At 2am
[33] Ibid
[34] Relevance of Entrepreneurship to Democracy; Kim Bettcher; a report on creating the Environment for entrepreneurial success, CIPE 25 year impact evaluation.
[35] William .J. Baumol; Entrepreneurship; productive; unproductive and destructive; journal of political economy vol 98 No 5, October, 1990
[36] Start up Genome, Global startup Ecosystem report 2017.
[37] F.u Chukwumezie; entrepreneurship opportunities ……… see www.netjournals.org (AERJ). Accessed through the internet on 29/7/2019 at 7:33pm
[38] Section 16 (1) of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
[39] 1988 series C No 4 delivered on 19/7/88
[40] (2002) 2 CHR pg 537
[41] Entrepreneurship ought to be encouraged by the government as part of its constitutional responsibility.
[42] Unreported Appeal no CA/A/614/2011 decided by the court of Appeal Abuja on 6/11/2013
[43] (1981) 2 NCLR pg 337 at 350
[44] (2002) 9 NWLR (part 772) pg 222 at 383
[45] Chief Femi Falana SAN; “Nigerian Law on Socio Economic Rights; published by Legal Text publishing co, First Edition 2017 pg 4 ”
[46] (1984) 5 NCLR pg 1 at 14
[47] C.O. Oputa “Judicial Activism; A catalyst for Political Development or Instability?”A paper presented at the National Association of Democratic Layers Distinguished Jurist Lecture, 2004 pg 49
[48] 13 (2005) 51 WRN pg 52 (Niki Tobi JSC) of blessed memory.
[49] (2004) AHRLR
[50] (Unreported) Suit No FHC/L/CS/1121/2011 of 20/6/2014
51 Section 17 of the 1999 constitution
52 Section 18 of the 1999 constitution
Section 19 of the 1999 constitution
Section 20 of the 1999 constitution
Section 21 of the 1999 constitution
53 These name is making the youths to be angry because it seems to be more of deceit than reality as older men are recycled.
54 The issue of kidnapping has been at alarming rate and most of the youths involved when caught will always tell you, they became involved because of unemployment.
55 There was the establishment of Centre for Entrepreneurship Development.
[56] Banwo & Ighodalo: Nigeria: Reforming The Business Climate in Nigeria: Critical Changes Introduced By The Companies And Allied Matters Bill, 2018 see: www.mondaq.com. Accessed on 30/7/2019. at 2:10pm
[57] Ibid
[58] Ibid
[59] The Nation News paper of Monday July 29, 2019 pg 8.
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