A CRITICAL EXPOSITION OF JEREMY BENTHAM’S HEDONISTIC PHILOSOPHY AND ITS APPLICABILITY IN NIGERIA

Jeremy Bentham: A Concise Biography Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), is a British philosopher, economist, and jurist, who founded the doctrine of utilitarianism. He was born in London on February 15, 1748. A prodigy, he was reading serious treatises at the age of three, playing the violin at age five, and studying Latin and French at age six. He entered the University of Oxford at 12, studied law, and was admitted to the bar after the footsteps of his father and grandfather; however, he did not practice. Instead he worked on a thorough reform of the legal system and on a general theory of law and morality, publishing short works on aspects of his thought. In 1789 he became well known for his masterpiece

ABSTRACT

The current wave of globalization and technological revolution has tremendous effect on the way people interact, carry out business transactions and store information. The internet has a vital role to play in all these. Though there are numerous advantages associated with the internet today as it has made interaction, business transactions and transfer of data easy, cyber crimes which are criminal acts carried out through the internet or through computer devices are serious threats to use of the internet or computer devices. To make matters worse, there are no comprehensive laws which address cybercrimes in most nations today and law enforcement agencies and the judiciary are not properly “equipped” to handle cybercrimes. For instance, in the course of investigating and prosecuting cybercrimes jurisdiction is always very hard to determine in cyberspace, i.e. the internet. What makes the issue of jurisdiction paramount in investigation and prosecution of cybercrimes is the fact that cybercrimes are borderless crimes as they can be committed from anywhere at any where once the cybercriminal has internet connection or has access to a computer device. The current laws regulating criminal conduct in most nations of the world today are ill-equipped to cope with these emerging cybercrimes. The old standard of classification and investigation of traditional crimes cannot meet up with the fast-changing technological advancements especially in the internet. This consequently creates an avenue for criminal minded individuals to hide behind a computer screen and deceive unsuspecting individuals who are the victims of the cybercriminal. The cybercriminal is usually faceless and his location unknown, making it easier for him to enter and exit the cyber space of the cyber victim with little or no detection. There is therefore the need to encourage the adoption of international law in combating cybercrime all over the world. The Budapest Convention on cybercrime which is the only treaty on cybercrime has numerous advantages which parties to the said convention stand to benefit from. Using Nigeria, the United States of America and the United Kingdom as contact-points of this study, this thesis has also attempted to highlight grey areas in criminal law which affects security of most people in the world today and the internet. Some of the laws considered are: Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act 2004, Criminal Code Act, Cap C 38, LFN 2004, Penal Code law, Cap. 110 law of Kaduna State 1991,the Terrorism (Prevention) Act, 2013, Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act No. 1, 2011 and Money Laundering (Prohibition) (Amendment) Act 2012, the Evidence Act No.18 2011, Advance Fee Fraud and other related Offences Act No. 14, 2006, the Nigeria Cybercrime Act, 2015 and from the United Kingdom, the Computer misuse Act, 1990 the Criminal Justice Act 1978, the Police and Justice Act, 2006 and the Protection of Children Act, 1978. Jurisdiction is discussed, highlighting principles of jurisdiction from Nigeria, the United States of America and the United Kingdom.The effort in this study is not to lay claim, with certainty, to the fact that the Budapest Convention on cybercrime is the ultimate treaty on cybercrime, but to encourage the participation of the comity of nations in the only treaty on cybercrime and enacting cybercrime specific laws in all nations of the world as encouraged by the said treaty. This would encourage international cooperation in the fight against cybercrime.

CHAPTER ONE GENERAL INTRODUCTION

• Background to the Study

Undeterred by the prospect of arrest or prosecution, cyber criminals around the world lurk on the internet as an aim present menace to the financial health of business, to the trust of their customers, and as an emerging threat to nation‟s security.¹

The Internet is one of the truly revolutionary phenomena of our times. It has changed the way we live and work and we have come to rely on it in every sphere of our endeavours. From a population of 20million connected to the Internet in 1998 we now have more than two billion and rising.²It is estimated that this connectivity will now double in the coming years as a result of a number of factors including the introduction of non-Latin script top level domains for Internet addresses, expansion of the Internet‟s generic domain name space and the increasing prevalence of smart phones and tablets with Internet access. While the benefits of this borderless ecosystem have grown exponentially the Internet has also become an irresistible magnet for criminal behaviour. Cyber criminals have become increasingly inventive and gravitate to jurisdictions which offer them most protection because of outdated and or non- harmonized legal regimes and law enforcement agencies which do not have the skills and resources to monitor Internet traffic, to investigate complaints, to prosecute or invoke any intervention that may be warranted. The global and borderless nature of the Internet enables criminals to co- operate and co-ordinate their activities and distribute their assets over several jurisdictions with impunity.

THE ROLE OF AFRICAN UNION (A.U.) IN PROMOTING PEACE AND SECURITY IN AFRICA

Abstract:

Since the transformation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) to African Union (A.U.) various measures were adopted by the newly formed organization to promote peace and security in the African continent, apart from the efforts of the United Nations (UN) whose primary purpose is to promote peace and security all over the world. The role of the newly formed African Union has been expanded to include issue of human right promotion, conflict management, promotion of good governance and the issue of unconstitutional change of government. This is the first time in the history of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) that the issue of “exclusive domain” has been removed from the Charter of the OAU and by including in the new Constitutive Act of the AU the right of the Union to intervene in the internal affairs of a member country where there is arm conflict. Various specialize agencies were created in the new AU Act including African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the African Human Right Commission, the African Human Right Court, all in a bid to provide peace and security in the continent. The reason why African Union is promoting peace and security in the continent is simple: peace and security is a desirable societal objective as opposed to war and conflicts and to mark a departure from the traditional one-level belief by the International Community that African countries are more conflictual in nature. The end of the Cold War has altered the international strategic environment and forced a radical revision of the global power structure disrupting the natural harmony amongst people and replaced them with hostile ideologies. African States were products of colonial designs. Their economies operated in a system of global transactions that seems biased against them. After independent, erstwhile colonial masters continued to influence direction by providing aids, advice and models of development, which at the end of it not viii beneficial. Lack of unity, good governance and a strong economic base has made Africans have a significant share of responsibility for its failure. By late 1980s a continent touted as a “continent of promise” in the independence decade of the 1980s was fast becoming a “global basket case.” All through the 1960s and the first half of the subsequent decade, Africa was perceived as having more opportunities than Asia or Latin America but lack basic social structure. The reverse turned out to be the case as the story of African development was marked more by human and natural tragedies combined with remarkable failure of socio-economic and political management, vast population increase, declining food production rates, debts overhang, unemployment, bad governance, lack of good health facilities and accelerated poverty all contributed to lack of peace and security in Africa. African Leaders and some commentators on African Affairs agreed that some of the provisions of the OAU Charter were major barriers to the promotion of peace and security in Africa. Therefore in September, 1999 in Sirte, Libya, African leaders agreed that the OAU is due for review and by July 10, 2002 in Durban South Africa, the formal launching of the African Union took place to replace it with the former OAU. The idea was not only to change the negative perception of the continent as a continent of conflicts and wars but a holistic approach to promote peace and security.