Controversies continue to trail allegations of plagiarism against the renowned Professor of Law, Muhammed Tawfiq Ladan, the Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies.
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In a publication dated 27th day of June, 2020 by Global Sentinel News which was sighted by TheNigeriaLawyer, it was heavily alleged that Prof. Ladan has plagiarized several works without due acknowledgment of the sources.
“Findings by Global Sentinel revealed that the Professor has authored about 30 journal articles, over 40 conference/seminar papers and 12 authored and edited books, but a significant chunk of his publications reveal gross plagiarism and copyright infringements.” It reported.
Advancing some instances where the alleged copyright infringements had occurred, it reported:
“An instance of this offence; the university professor alleged to has (sic) infringed, is the copyright of Mrs. Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, author of ‘Law, Reproductive Health and Human Rights’ in 2006, when he reproduced the bulk of her work and made it his own publication in ‘Law and Policy on Health, HIV-AIDS, Maternal Mortality and Reproductive Rights in Nigeria’ which was published in 2007, without authorisation, which was in violation of the copyright Act of 1990. Even the law stipulates that any literary, musical or artistic work can only be reproduced after at least 50 years of the author’s demise.
“Also, pages 8 and 9 of his discussion paper, “The Future of Legal Education in Nigeria” presented at the 2015 annual general conference of the Nigerian Bar Association reveals evidence of copyright infringement.”
However, Prof. Ladan has replied these allegations of plagiarism leveled against him, stating that they do not represent true & correct position of facts.
“First, the write-up contains a lot of misrepresentation of facts”. He said.
Furthermore, the learned Prof. contends that Mrs. Joy Ngozi Ezeilo did not author the book in question but she merely edited same.
“On Law, Reproductive Health and Human Rights (2006):- the book was not Authored by Ms. Joy Ngozi Ezeilo as claimed but Edited by her (See cover page) because it’s a collection of papers presented by different authors, including Ladan, M.T., as part of the international conference proceedings on Reproductive Health and Human Rights held at NICON Hilton Abuja, between 19-22 August, 2003.”
Furthermore, contrary to the allegations, the organization owned the copyright and not Mrs. Joy Ngozi Ezeilo in which he duly acknowledged.
“Ms. J.N. Ezeilo never claimed to be the copyright owner of the book in question, because her organization, WACOL, Enugu, holds the copyright (see the copyright page no. ii)
“WACOL, Enugu and sources were duly acknowledged by Ladan, M.T. (See the Acknowledgment and Preface page (iii) and Endnotes 1 to 160).”
In another development, the learned Prof. contends there is no plagiarized content as alleged in the paper titled “The Future of Legal Education in Nigeria”.
“Second, on the paper, the Future of Legal Education in Nigeria(2015):- Sources of the highlighted paras by the Journalist were duly acknowledged (See Reference/Footnotes 1-37.)”
In addition, he revealed that his discussion paper on “Electronic Evidence from the Perspective of the Bench” contained duly acknowledged references in the endnotes.
“Third, the discussion paper on Electronic Evidence from the Perspective of the Bench (2018):- highlighted paras by the Journalist had their Sources duly acknowledged(See Endnotes 1-15).”
Besides, he stated that contrary to the allegations that he had refused to speak on the matter, he noted that he kept mum as a consequence of non disclosure of information by the journalist that called him.
“Finally, the Journalist claimed that I declined to speak, it was because the Journalist also refused to disclose his/her name and the name /identity of his/her informant. I was equally very sensitive to fraudsters calling unsolicited.”
In a sure rejoinder to Prof. Ladan’s above response, in its publication dated 3rd day of July, 2020, Global Sentinel News, still contends that it is dissatisfied by the defence advanced by the Prof.
“However, further investigations by Global Sentinel, still cast some doubt that Ladan has successfully proven that he did not infringe on the copyright allegation with reference to the book titled “Law, Reproductive, Health and Human Right” in his own book titled “Law Policy on Health, HIV-AIDS, Maternal Mortality and Reproductive Rights in Nigeria”, and other works.
“Although, Ms. Joy Ngozi Ezeilo edited the book, she was also a co-writer of the paper “The Review of the Laws Relating to Reproductive Health Rights in Nigeria and the paper was written by Ayodele V. Atsenuwa and Joy N. Ezeilo, several pages which were copiously used by Ladan in his book.
“Also glaring was that several lines and pages in the book titled “Law, Reproductive, Health and Human Right” were repeated verbatim in the Prof’s book without any form of reference.
“For instance, most aspects of page 154-168 of the book, that is over 13 pages were copied and pasted in his book without any form of paraphrasing or immediate referencing.
“In fact, it is immaterial whether Ms. Joy Ngozi Ezeilo was the editor or author of the book. The act of Prof. Ladan can best be described as academic plagiarism.”
TheNigeriaLawyer recalls that Professor Muhammad Tawfiq Ladan is a renowned scholar and Hubert Humphrey Fellow, USA and a member of the World Jurist Association, USA.
Furthermore,Ladan is a Professor with specialization in Comparative Jurisprudence, Human Rights, Energy, Environmental & Natural Resources Law and Security & Development Laws with the Department of Public Law at Faculty of Law, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria prior to becoming the DG, NIALS.
TheNigeriaLawyer equally recalls that President Muhammadu Buhari appointed him as the Director General of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies in a letter addressed to him dated 18th September, 2019 signed by Boss Mustapha, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
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