The Director General of the Higher Regional School of Magistracy (ERSUMA) hereby informs the public that:

In accordance with Decision No. 028/14 / ERSUMA / DG of 11 August 2014 to set up a Scientific committee in charge of selecting two (2) candidates for the Best Thesis Award in business law and Community law for 2014;

Having regard to the Scientific Committee composed of:

Chairperson :

• Professor Ndiaw DIOUF, Professor in Law, Former Dean of the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences of the Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar (Senegal),

Members:

• Professor Roger MASAMBA, Full University Professor, Chairperson of the National OHADA Commission for the Democratic Republic of Congo, Professor at the Kinshasa University (DRC); and
• Professor Léopold Isidore MIENDJIEM, Professor in law, Head of Department at the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences of the University of Dschang (Cameroon).

To better perform their duties and in accordance with Article 7 of Decision No. 028/14 / ERSUMA / DG, the members of the Scientific Committee adopted a work plan specifying the timetable and laying down the rules to be followed for the selection of the two best theses.

In a bid to ensure transparency in the selection, a dual assessment system was adopted for each file.

In line with this principle, the Chairperson appointed two (2) Rapporteurs for each file from amongst the members of the selection committee while avoiding, as much as possible, any conflict of interests. He ensured that no member of the committee is appointed to assess the file submitted by the candidate whom he directed or with whom he works in any capacity. No designated member declared a conflict of interests, and therefore, the distribution proposed by the Chairperson was confirmed.

The distribution of files was done as follows:

• Professor Ndiaw DIOUF: 7 files;
• Professor Roger MASAMBA: 7 files;
• Professor Léopold Isidore MIENDJIEM: 6 files.

With regard to the actual evaluation of theses, it was provided that it would focus both on form and substance. Each Rapporteur was expected to allocate marks taking into account the following:

• Quality of writing (spelling and grammar, syntax, punctuation);
• Compliance with standards of presentation of academic and scientific works (balance between the parts of the thesis, presentation of bibliography, titles of parts and subsections, etc.).
• Originality of the work;
• Relevance of the topic;
• Scientific contribution of the thesis

Each Rapporteur, after examining the thesis, prepared a report highlighting its strengths and weaknesses and allocated marks.

The score given by the Committee to each file is the average of the two marks allocated by the two Rapporteurs.

Based on the assessment components mentioned above, the Scientific Committee proposed to the Director General of ERSUMA the award of the best thesis for 2014 to the following candidates:

1st award: Willy TADJUDJE (Republic of Cameroon), Doctor of Law from the University of Luxembourg in Switzerland and the University of Yaounde II-Soa in Cameroon. He defended in Luxembourg a doctoral thesis on the topic: “Pour un droit des sociétés coopératives et mutualistes en OHADA. Contribution à l'élaboration d'un droit de l'économie sociale et solidaire”. The Scientific Committee awarded the 1st prize with a score of 16.12 / 20.

2nd award: Arouna Saley SIDIBE (Republic of Mali), Doctor of Law from the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis. He defended his doctoral thesis on the topic: “Le sort des créances postérieures en droit français et en droit de l'OHADA”.The Scientific Committee awarded the 2nd prize with a score of 14.87 / 20.

The Director General endorsed these proposals and expressed sincere and warm congratulations to the recipients. He informs the public that the two award-winning theses will be published online at the ERSUMA digital library and could be downloaded without cost at: .

The Director General further reminds that the 1st prize consists of a sum of one million (1,000,000) CFA francs and the 2nd prize, a sum of seven hundred and fifty thousand (750,000) CFA francs. Each recipient will also receive a kit comprising publications by ERSUMA as well as some series of the Revue Penant.

Porto-Novo, 5 December 2014

The Directeur General
Félix ONANA ETOUNDI