Jurisdictions your role covers: Nigeria and India

What strategies has your legal team adopted to manage disputes and mitigate risks in Nigeria’s dynamic business environment?

The oil and gas sector is inherently prone to high-value and technically complex disputes. It is therefore essential to establish and implement a robust dispute resolution framework.

My professional background is rooted in dispute resolution. At the outset of my career, my practice focused primarily on litigation and arbitration. However, as in-house counsel, the emphasis has evolved towards stakeholder management and proactive contract and project monitoring, with a clear objective of dispute avoidance. By engaging early, monitoring contractual performance closely and maintaining open communication with counterparties, many disputes can be prevented before they crystallise.

That said, disputes are an inevitable aspect of human nature and cannot always be avoided. When they do arise, our initial focus is on negotiation and mediation between the parties, with a view to achieving a commercially sensible and timely resolution. Arbitration and litigation are typically treated as forums of last resort, although there are circumstances where one or the other is the only appropriate or effective mechanism.

In summary, our overarching strategy is threefold: first, to prevent disputes wherever possible; second, where prevention is not achievable, to negotiate or mediate a fair and pragmatic outcome; and third, where resolution cannot be reached amicably, to pursue arbitration or litigation with a clear legal strategy and the strongest representation available.

How is your legal department leveraging technology to improve compliance monitoring, contract management, or governance reporting?

In today’s technology-driven environment, organisations and professionals must either adapt or risk losing relevance. Recognising this, we have embraced technology wholeheartedly. As part of this commitment, I recently obtained certification as a Cybersecurity Analyst, with a focus on the governance, regulation and compliance aspects of cybersecurity. This has significantly reshaped my perspective on key areas of the company’s operations and has also opened up new opportunities for value creation.

At a team level, we have also adopted artificial intelligence tools specifically designed to support legal professionals, particularly in-house counsel. The use of these tools has markedly improved productivity by streamlining routine tasks and enabling the team to dedicate more time and resources to strategic, high-impact work that better serves the organisation.

What role does corporate counsel play in strengthening corporate governance in light of Nigeria’s recent reforms and stakeholder expectations?

Recent reforms represent welcome developments and have, in many respects, strengthened the role of corporate counsel in Nigeria. Guidance and recommendations that were previously framed as matters of “best practice” have now been codified within legislation, regulations and policy frameworks. This formalisation provides clearer standards and makes engagement with stakeholders more straightforward, while also promoting a stronger culture of compliance.

As corporate counsel, we must remain fully abreast of legal and regulatory developments, both generally and within our respective sectors. This includes ensuring internal compliance, updating governance frameworks where necessary and engaging constructively with regulators when appropriate. A failure to do so may expose the organisation to significant legal, financial and reputational consequences.

Accordingly, it is evident that, now more than ever, corporate counsel have a heightened responsibility to safeguard and reinforce sound corporate governance practices.