2018 NBA-SBL Business Law Confab: A Blend of Spectacle & Purpose
Day 2 – Friday June 29, 2018. Abuja.
The second day of deliberations and engagements at the 12th annual business law conference of the NBA’s Section on business law was no less lively than the first, as conferees, delegates and critical stakeholders pondered a wide range of issues.
In the opening session of the day, titled, ‘Law Practice in the Time of the African Continental Free Area: Reimagining African Lawyers’ conferees took a hard look, not only at the quality of legal practice on the continent, but also at the quality, scope and direction of legal education in Africa.
Chaired by Jayanth K. Krishnan, a professor of law at the Indiana State University’s Maurer School of Law, Terre Haute, USA, the session saw the human-capacity issues at stake being exhaustively interrogated by a panel consisting of accomplished professionals such as Chike Obianwu, a Partner at the Templars law firm; Yann Alix, Partner and Head of the Africa Group at Ashurst LP (leading multinational law firm and a trusted adviser to corporates, financial institutions and governments worldwide); Toyin Ojo, a senior counsel at the African Development Bank’s African Legal Support Facility; David Ofosu-Dorte, the accomplished Ghanaian lawyer who heads AB & David, a West African business law firm that represents international and local clients and financial institutions seeking to do business across West Africa; and Wole Obayomi, a partner at KPMG (a leading financial services provider).
Legal education – like ALL education – in Nigeria has suffered a dip in quality and currency. As the chair of the SBL, Mr. Olu Akpata has stated in explaining the body’s focus on the training of young lawyers, part of the problem is the currency (or otherwise) of the curricula and mode of legal instruction being employed in our institutions of higher learning.
The current methodology of training, the scope of learning in terms of subject areas, and the direction to which they point these would-be senior lawyers and leaders of the future, the panelists at the SBL conference agreed, were grossly inadequate and in dire need of reform – the intent of which was to create an African lawyer whose success would be defined in terms of his/her ability to create lasting value (both in the service of senior wigs and their clientele); rather than just make money; a lawyer who could navigate the 21st century global marketplace of goods, services (including legal services), information and ideas with confidence and a healthy appreciation of diversities across the African and global landscape – and apply these attributes to their practice at all times, especially in light of current moves towards greater integration, just of polities, entities and markets but also of professional bodies across borders; a lawyer able to use technology to great effect in their work and in the service of their clients; and a lawyer who is quick on the uptake as far as emerging practice areas and their potentials are concerned.
Standardizing Continental Regulations on Consumer Protection and Competition Law
The second session of Friday’s programme was yet another couple of simultaneous breakouts – 6A and 6B.
NEWSWIRE’s correspondent attending the conference reports that conferees at Breakout Session 6A considered the topic, ‘Standardizing Continental Regulations on Consumer Protection and Competition Law,’ under the chairmanship of Hon. Justice Dr. Nnamdi Dimgba of the federal high court in Abuja – himself a widely-acknowledged expert in the field of competition law.
The lead speaker, George Lipimile, a Zambian national, is the chief executive officer in the competition commission of COMESA, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa. The discussion panel had on it the director-general of Nigeria’s Consumer Protection Council (CPC), Babatunde Irukera, as well as Sola Salako-Ajulo, the President of the Consumer Advocacy Foundation of Nigeria and an expert in marketing, media and branding; Lara Granville, the corporate and commercial director at Cliffe Decker Hofmeyr Inc., a leading South African full service law firm specializing in a variety of services including competition law; and Ozofu Ogiemudia, a partner at the law firm of Udo Udoma & Belo-Osagie.
Enabling e-Commerce across the African Continent
Moderated by Gerald Ilukwe, the MD/CEO of KSBC Knowledge Resources Limited, a business and management consulting company, Session 6B was convened to consider the topic ‘Enabling e-Commerce across the African Continent.’
Expectedly, in view of the interest generated by subjects in the digital world of virtual platforms, information systems, online connectivity, and so forth, among the members of ‘Generation Y’, the so-called Millennials and their peers who would shape, and be shaped by, the world order that is now unfolding before us, this session was a lively one indeed– as could be seen from the avalanche of questions and comments that poured forth from the young wigs at the end of the formal presentation and the animated panel discourses.
The tone of the discourse was set by Dr. Aloy Chife, the ND/CEO of SAANA Capital LLC, an innovative company which focuses on investments in early-stage information technology ventures in specific market segments, and innovative ideas potentially disruptive of traditional business models.The panel was a veritable galaxy of young luminaries in the worlds of the internet and software technology, the law and business, such as Agada Apochi, the MD of Valucard – a foremost payment industry solutions provider in Nigeria – who was joined on the stage by Edmund Olotu, the CEO of Tech Advance Limited, a payment applications development company; Rotimi Ogunyemi, an information and technology attorney and managing partner at Bayo Ogunyemi & Co.; and Juliet Anammah, the CEO OF Jumia Nigeria (who joined the conversation via Skype).
According to NEWSWIRE’s correspondent at the event, the discussants put on the table a wide array of issues that the information and communication technology (ICT) revolution has thrown up, and their likely impact on the profile and fortunes of African businesses – especially startups – as they seek to integrate more fully into the interconnected global marketplace. Issues such as privacy and date protection, digital rights, piracy, trust, online shopping, USSDs, etc, and the need to craft the necessary legislation that not only responds adequately to these challenges, but creates the environment that allows e-commerce portals (such as Nigeria’s Jumia) to become truly global in scope, and the youthful economy of Nigeria (a country with over 65% of its citizens below the age of 40) to thrive and connect with their counterparts elsewhere in a manner that is mutually profitable and sustainable.
Also Read: Commencement of Registration Nigerian Bar Association 2018 Annual General Conference/
Institutionalizing Reforms in the Ease of Doing Business in Africa
Session 7A, a plenary, saw a group of 4 key players and stakeholders in the areas of law and institutional reform gather to consider the topic, ‘Institutionalizing Reforms in the Ease of Doing Business in Africa.’ The panel of 2 men and 2 women comprised Prof. Jonathan Aremu, a team leader at the Nigeria Economic Summit Group; Mrs. Fola Olusanya, who is a Partner at the law firm of Jackson, Etti & Edu; Ozim Obasi, who is the Geomarket Counselor, East and Central Africa at Baker Hughes (a General Electric company); and Kofi Abosi, a lawyer, public intellectual and dean of the Law School at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA).
Back in 2009, on his first visit to Africa as US President, Barack Obama had famously declared, ‘Africa does not need strongmen; she needs strong institutions.’ With that statement, the former American leader not only pushing a paradigm of modern political, social and economic governance which is taken for granted in most parts of the world, but its dearth in Africa – a continent teeming with strongmen and weak institutions (where they exist at all), and a pervasive culture of impunity that victimizes the innocent and impoverishes the weak. But as Africa strives to re-discover its democratic self anew, to take its proper place on the global stage, and to compete on a global playing-field that is not always level, Africans are realizing that the paradigm has to change: Africa has to begin trusting its affairs, not in the hands of individuals, but in institutions regulated by the rule of law, governed by a code of ethics, and legitimized by common consent.
Institutionalizing reforms in order to aid business in an interconnected world, according to the panelists at this session of the SBL conference – is an absolute imperative if Nigeria, along with the rest of the continent, are to make reasonable progress on all 12 major pillars of the Global Competitive Index and, even more urgently, meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals 2015-2030.
While noting Nigeria’s improved standing on GCI as far as the Ease-of-Doing-Business index was concerned, the panelists agreed that serious bottlenecks still remain, and more still needs to be done. The SBL’s collaboration with the federal government (both at the level of the Presidency and the National Assembly) was a laudable in this regard, they said, and must be intensified in anticipation of Nigeria’s decision in respect of ACFTA.
Establishing a Framework for Resolving African Commercial Disputes
Session 7B, which examined the question of ‘Establishing a Framework for Resolving African Commercial Disputes,’ was moderated by the former attorney-general of Lagos State, Olasupo Shasore, SAN, who serves as a Partner at the African Law Practice (ALP). He had a star-studded cast of panelists, beginning with the lead speaker, Dr. Emilia Onyeama (a senior law lecturer at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies) who was joined by Tobi Oshobi, SAN, a Partner at the law firm of Babalakin & Co.; Ayodeji Omotoso, a senior partner at CLP Legal; Ben Cisse, an associate vice-president and senior counsel at the African Finance Corporate; Tola Onayemi, the assistant chief negotiator at the Nigerian Office for Trade Negotiations; and Greg Falkof, a Partner at Eversheds Sutherlands LLP.
The panelists explored the various conflict-resolution mechanisms ranging from litigation to alternative dispute resolution (ADR) options, and proposed a variety of safeguards designed to ensure that disputes did not escalate into trade wars and other adversarial relationships that hurt economies or drive walls between them.
The New Practice
Jointly moderated by the pair of Baba Alokolaro, a partner at the law firm, The New Practice, and Joke Aliu, a Partner at Aluko & Oyebode, the last session of the 2018 NBA-SBL Business Law Conference was a lively debate among younger wigs which was laced with wit and crackling intelligence as debaters offered contrasting opinions on four controversial questions, namely:
- Should There be ‘Ladies’ at the Bar?
- Should Nigeria Open Her Borders to Free Trade – as Envisaged by the African Continental Free Trade Agreement – or Shut Them?
- Should Pupillage be Mandatory?
- Should the Legal Profession be Self-Regulated?
On the first question (ladies at the bar) Paul Daudu, a senior associate at the law firm of JB Daudu & Co., and Tope Adeyemi, of the British Nigeria Law Forum, took opposite sides – the former against and the latter in favour of gender-sensitive designations for legal practitioners.
On the second matter (open borders and free trade), Kalu Abosi, a managing partner at Aster Law said yes, while Ikechukwu Ibeawuchi, a business analyst with ACIOE Associates, said no.
While Isaiah Bozimo, a Partner at Broderick Bozimo & Co, was in favour of mandatory pupillage, Cordelia Eke, an assistant director at the Rivers State ministry of justice, offered a spirited rebuttal, bringing the hall to its feet with the question: ‘Instead of making it mandatory, how about making it ATTRACTIVE?’ A question to which, one imagines, that younger wigs somehow relate.
Alex Muoka, a managing partner at the law firm of Alex Muoka & Co., was against the notion of self-regulation in the Bar, while Daniel Bwalla, managing partner at Bwalla & Co., was in favour.
It was left to Okey Egbuchu, chairman of the technical planning committee of the 12th Business Law Conference of the NBA-SBL to bring the curtain down on this year’s edition of the gathering with a heartfelt vote of thanks in which he paid tribute to his colleagues on the committee, as well as the SBL chairman and the guiding spirit of the accomplishments of the Section in the past one year, Olumide Akpata.
Delivering the closing address, the pioneering chairman of the SBL, George Etomi (who was recently named chairman of the Technical Planning Committee of the 2018 Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association, also to hold in Abuja, this time at the International Conference Centre, in August) announced that the theme of that momentous gathering will be ‘Transition, Transformation & Sustainable Institutions.’ The lead speaker, he also disclosed, will be the President of Ghana, HE, Nana Akuffo-Addo.
On that note, the delegates retired for a memorable evening of pulsating music and electrifying stage performance, served hot by one of Nigeria’s most prominent pop artists, Davido.
Davido’s exuberant performance was a counterpoint to the performance of the previous night, in which the spoken word artist, Dike Chukwumerije, treated delegates to an enactment of Nigeria‘s chequered history that was by turns hilarious, poignant, nostalgic and infinitely sad. Titled, ‘Made in Nigeria,’ the performance could well be said to sum up the mission of the NBA’s |Section on Business Law – to build on its proud, often chequered heritage in the quest for a more glorious future.
See photos below:
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