As Nigeria and the UK legal sectors continue to develop close working relationships to facilitate trade and investments between the UK and Nigeria, a UK legal services trade mission has visited Nigeria to discuss possible collaborations and business opportunities post BREXIT.
The mission organised by UK Ministry of Justice, the British Deputy High Commission in Lagos, the UK Department of International Trade and Hook Tangaza (a research and consulting firm for the UK legal services sector) involved a 25-man delegation, which engaged members of the Nigerian legal community for three consecutive days in Lagos.
Speaking about this collaboration, a member of the trade mission organising team Nankunda Katangaza, described the visit to Lagos as an exciting one for the UK legal services sector. She said, “The three-day programme presents an excellent opportunity to strengthen existing relationships and forge new ones.”
The organisers further expressed hope that the mission would deepen the collaborative relationships between the UK and Nigeria legal sectors, with prospects of future businesses and new partnerships.
It would be recalled that on a visit to Nigeria in 2018, the UK Prime Minister, Theresa May launched the ‘UK Legal Services are GREAT’ campaign. The current mission is a build-up to the prime minister’s visit.
Welcoming the delegates to Nigeria, the President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Paul Usoro, SAN, who spoke at the joint seminar organised by the Nigerian Bar Association Section on Business Law (NBA-SBL) UK Legal Services are GREAT, in Lagos, stated that it was important for the partnership between Nigeria and UK legal firms to be a win-win deal.
In his opening remarks, the Chairman of the NBA Section on Business Law (SBL) and Partner, Seni Adio SAN, stated that the collaboration and a possible assent to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement will bring lots of opportunities to African lawyers and by extension, infrastructural development.
The event, which consisted of four panel sessions had an array of discussants who touched on legal and economic issues ranging from ‘Regional Integration and the AfCFTA; new Challenges for Lawyers and their clients; facilitating future UK/Nigeria trade investment with focus on ease of doing business; regulatory issues; risk management; FDIs; Project Finance and accessing capital.
A member of the first panel, Jeremy Cape of Squire Patton Boggs spoke positively, stating that the collaboration between UK and Nigerian law firms will bring loads of opportunities for domestic firms, with objectivity and equality at the fore of every deal.
Buttressing this fact, Aelex partner, Soji Awogbade stated that the regional integration was already working. “What the government needs to do, is to put a cloak around it for it to be strengthened,” he said.
A panelist and member of the UK trade delegation, Oba Nsugbe Q.C. SAN, who is a Nigerian lawyer based in the UK, made a case for knowledge exchange between Nigeria and the UK – a development which he says, would benefit young lawyers from both jurisdictions.
At the Second Session, chaired by Rimini Makama of Microsoft, the panel which had John Naughton, Chief Operating Officer, institutional Protection Services, and Basil Udotal of Technology Advisors, discussed “New Challenges for Lawyers & their Clients- Navigating Technology”, while the third panel discussion touched on “Facilitating Future UK/Nigeria Trade & Investment” with special focus on regulatory issues, risk management, ease of doing business, business immigration and conversations ‘beyond Oil & Gas’.
The third Session which was chaired by Nakunda Katangaza (Hook & Tangaza), had the Vice Chairman of the NBA-SBL and Partner, Detail Solicitors, Ayuli Jemide on it. Others were, Marcia London, Partner at Kingsley Napley, Laura Tainsh, Partner at Davidson Chalmers, and Chinyere Okorocha, Partner at Jackson, Etti & Edu.
The Fourth and last session on Facilitating Future UK/Nigeria Trade and Investment II, with focus on Accessing Finance, Foreign Direct Investment, and Project Finance, was chaired by the President of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, Abimbola Ogunbanj. He was joined on the panel by Yinka Edu, Partner, Udo, Udoma & Belo-Osagie (UUBO), Oliver Mellman, of PJ Legal Europe Limited, Matthew Wood, Partner, Ashurst LLP, and Dr. Tominiyi Owolabi, partner, Olaniwun Ajayi LP.
The panel submitted that there have been good reforms in the capital market in Nigeria like diversification of product offerings in the market, SUKUK, Green bond, Derivative, Netting Rules and many others.
According to Yinka Edu, Fintech was a huge industry, which has gained traction and attracted huge investments; adding that Crowd funding was an aspect of financing yet untapped and which must be adequately explored.
In addition to this, Matthew Woods spoke overcoming financing challenges, stating that Nigeria has a lot to gain if BREXIT falls through.
On his part, Oliver Mellman, enlightened participants on the Financing of Commodities. Highlighting current trends globally, he observed that there was increased focus on renewable lending, lender bias towards established names, and lender bias towards deals involving international trading firms.
Buttressing Woods’ position, he reaffirmed that BREXIT would enable UK firms seek partnerships elsewhere especially in Africa, and also create opportunities for African businesses.
Also speaking on the same panel, Dr. Tominiyi Owolabi, noted that infrastructural development would require a lot of funding in Nigeria and should be at least 70% of the GDP. He added that $30 trillion has been estimated to get infrastructure working perfectly with $30 billion spent annually on it. He gave reasons as to why investments aren’t coming into Nigeria. According to him, investors aren’t just looking for opportunities but bankable opportunities because they need to make money; ease of doing business in Nigeria should also be critically looked into as taking security is still a challenge here; government support and credit enhancement, stressing that the government is still reluctant in this area and lawyers have to enlighten them on the many benefits it has.
He said, “We need to support capacity building in the country and provide support to agencies to create bankable deals.”
The event was closed with remarks from the chairman of the last session, Jean Macaroy, who thanked the NBA-SBL for putting the event together; stating that she was confident that collaborations between Nigerian and UK businesses and law firms will record an all time high after the trade visit.
Nigeria and the UK have a strong relationship which dates back many years, with trade between the two nations worth £4.2 billion in 2017. A recent research shows that this figure is set to double in 2030.
Theodora Kio-Lawson
