MLJ Volume 36-1.pdf - Robson Hall Faculty of Law

Manitoba Hydro and Electricity Undertakings 55
may not amount to automatic sustainability due to the misapplication of
good laws and policies. 70 It is indisputable that good law aids development.
But modern scholars of law recognize that law is not itself a magic wand
for development. Scholars have shifted emphasis from law to getting the
institutions right. 71 The task of the Nigerian government in its electric
power sector reforms therefore lies in getting the institutions right, as
doing so will also impact on Manitoba Hydro’s undertaking as the TCN
management contractor in the country.
Getting the institutions right is the best way to achieve success in the
Nigerian electricity sector with Manitoba Hydro coming on board as the
transmission manager. Relevance of institutional reforms cannot be
ignored in the unfolding electricity regime of the country. The much
desired foreign direct investment (FDI) and sustainable electricity
governance intended under the EPSR Act may come to naught in the
absence of well-articulated institutional reforms. These are sine qua non to
creating a conducive atmosphere for effective regulation and operation of
electricity undertakings and instilling investors’ confidence in the Nigerian
power sector. 72
The economic and technical sophistications of handling modern
electricity inevitably make technical partners like Manitoba Hydro
indispensable. 73 However, there is a growing recognition of the fact that
70
MA Mohamed Salih, African Democracies & African Politics (London: Pluto Press; 2001)
at 8, quoting Lopez and Stohl 1989 with approval. See also Stephen Wright, Nigeria:
Struggle for Stability and Status (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1998) at 38, where he
describes the Nigerian elites as “personalized and autocratic, [leaving] no room for
opposition or dissent”.
71
See Kevin E Davis, “How Important is the Legal System?”, Nexus (Spring/Summer
2003) 18.
72
See Michael Trebilock, “Law and Development”, Nexus (Spring/Summer 2003) 16 at
17. In carrying out the reforms, Trebilock suggests that:
…developing countries should not focus exclusively on enacting or
adopting appropriate bodies of laws or regulations designed to
vindicate the particular conception of development that motivates
them (like mining). Rather, the empirical evidence suggests that it is
appropriate to emphasis reforms that enhance the quality of
institutions charged with the subsequent administration and/or
enforcement of those laws or regulations.
73
See Marian Radetzki, “Economic Development and the Timing of Mineral
Exploitation” in John E Tilton, ed, Mineral Wealth and Economic Development