Criminal Enforcement of Directors’ Occupational Crimes in Nigeria: Issues and Challenges
| Author | Oludara Akanmidu |
| Published date | 01 December 2018 |
| Date | 01 December 2018 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0022018318790137 |
| Subject Matter | Comments |
Comment
Criminal Enforcement
of Directors’ Occupational
Crimes in Nigeria: Issues
and Challenges
Oludara Akanmidu
De Montfort University, UK
Abstract
The issue of enforcement has concerned economists, legal practitioners and criminologists
over the years. Where criminal conduct is concerned, enforcement is often considered nec-
essary to punish current offenders and deter prospective ones. Consequently, this article
critically analyses criminal enforcement of directors’ occupational crimes in Nigeria. It seeks to
discover the obstacles to effective use of criminal enforcement against directors in Nigeria. It
argues that there are several generic- and country-specific problems which affect the criminal
enforcement regime with regard to directors’ occupational crimes in Nigeria. Consequently, in
respect of such crimes, criminal enforcement is unable to effectively deter or punish pro-
spective and current offenders in Nigeria.
Keywords
Criminal enforcement, occupational crime, Nigeria, insider dealing, fraud
Introduction
The concept of white-collar crime developed by Sutherland has been the subject of much scholarly
attention.
1
According to Sutherland, white-collar crime refers to ‘a crime committed by a person of
respectability and high social status, in the course of his occupation’.
2
While Sutherland’s definition of
Corresponding author:
Oludara Akanmidu, De Montfort University, Leicester LE1 9BH, UK.
E-mail: oludara.akanmidu@dmu.ac.uk
1. See E. H. Sutherland, ‘Is “White Collar Crime” crime?’ (1945) 10(2) American Sociological Review 132; J. Braithwaite, ‘White
Collar Crime’ (1985) 11 Annual Review of Sociology; D. Nelken, White Collar Crime (Aldershot: Dartmouth, 1994); G. Slapper
and S. Tombs, Corporate Crime (Pearson Education Limited: Harlow, 1999); H. Croall, Understanding White Collar Crime
(Open University Press: Buckingham, 2001) P.1-25.
2. See E. H. Sutherland, White Collar Crime (Holt, Rinehart and Winston; New York, 1949) at 9.
The Journal of Criminal Law
2018, Vol. 82(6) 457–469
ªThe Author(s) 2018
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DOI: 10.1177/0022018318790137
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