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

Corporate counsel in Nigeria now play a foundational governance role, far beyond compliance. As counsel to a cross-border non-profit network, I have led the evolution from basic documentation to a governance ecosystem aligned with CAMA 2020, IFC standards, and donor audit expectations.

I developed a pan-African Governance Registry housing model board charter suite (that operationalizes board independence, conflict of interest etc), succession planning tools, evaluation frameworks, data oversight protocols and safeguarding standards across 13 African countries. These tools operationalise board independence, conflictofinterest management, and fiduciary accountability, enabling proactive oversight in an increasingly complex regulatory environment.

Importantly, these reforms have had measurable impact: board onboarding is now standardised, governance gaps are identified earlier, and donor audit outcomes have materially improved. In this context, corporate counsel serves not only as legal adviser, but as a guardian of institutional integrity and longterm sustainability, a role I have consistently played in transforming underperforming boards into strategic assets.

How do you advise on cross-border transactions and foreign investment, given Nigeria’s complex regulatory and dispute resolution landscape?

To strengthen front-end controls, I designed a Due Diligence Framework for assessing implementing partners, evaluating legal status, governance capability, safeguarding risks, and reputational exposure. This framework enables responsible expansion while protecting donor capital and organisational credibility.

From a dispute resolution perspective, I advise on contextspecific mechanisms, balancing local litigation, regional arbitration, mediation, or donorled resolution pathways depending on enforceability, speed, and reputational risk. This approach ensures disputes are resolved in ways that protect mission, brand, and stakeholder confidence in jurisdictions with uneven enforcement systems.

In this context, the GC role becomes the custodian of institutional trust, building legal frameworks that protect mission, reputation, and stakeholder confidence.

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

Technology is central to how we scale legal oversight across borders. I led the development of a digitised Governance Intelligence Platform, providing a centralised repository for policies, board tools, clause banks, and compliance dashboards accessible across all Member Countries.

Governance reporting will now be data driven, enabling tracking of board compliance, safeguarding indicators, training completion, and policy adoption.

This legal infrastructure enhances transparency, strengthens audit readiness, and allows early identification of governance or compliance risks, positioning JA Africa to meet global governance benchmarks with agility and confidence.