What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

Over the past year, the legal team played a pivotal role in advancing the Company’s corporate and portfolio optimisation initiatives through its involvement in strategic asset disposals, a shareholder-led divestment, investments in new business opportunities, and financing transactions to support expansion. Through its unique blend of legal expertise, commercial acumen, and effective collaboration with cross-functional business units, the team materially contributed to the organisation’s growth trajectory and reinforced the legal function as a strategic enabler of business success.

Across these multiple complex transactions, the legal team demonstrated not only technical expertise but also served as deal drivers, delivering excellent support from inception through execution and post-completion integration.

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

Current business realities and the evolving regulatory landscape demand corporate counsel to play a multi-dimensional and strategic role in embedding corporate governance as an integral part of the organisation’s operational DNA. In this context, corporate counsel is instrumental in interpreting regulatory reforms and communicating their implications to management in clear, practical business terms, while translating legal requirements into value-driven and business-aligned governance practices. This role is particularly critical in Nigeria’s regulatory environment, which places increasing emphasis on sustainability, ESG reporting, and data protection standards.

As the legal conscience of the board, corporate counsel ensures that directors’ decisions align not only with statutory duties but also with broader ethical and governance expectations. In doing so, corporate counsel helps set a tone of integrity and accountability at the highest level of leadership. Furthermore, as stakeholders place greater emphasis on transparency and ethical conduct, corporate counsel plays a key role in shaping disclosure practices, governance reporting, and stakeholder communications.

A corporate governance culture that prioritises business continuity, ethical behaviour, and accountability is essential for sustainable performance. Corporate counsel is central to fostering this culture by championing internal policies on whistleblowing, anti-corruption, and information disclosure, thereby positioning governance as a core business priority rather than a mere checklist item.

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

The team adopts a proactive, commercially driven approach to dispute management and risk mitigation, with early legal involvement embedded in key business decisions and commercial processes. This ensures that potential risks are identified and addressed before they escalate into disputes.

We ensure that commercial agreements are clearly drafted, risk-balanced, and fully compliant with applicable legal requirements, with robust dispute resolution mechanisms embedded to reduce the likelihood of future conflict. We prioritise contract re-assessment, negotiation, mediation, arbitration, and other alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms to achieve efficient, cost-effective outcomes while preserving critical business relationships. When litigation is unavoidable, we pursue a structured, business-aligned strategy in close coordination with external counsel to manage timelines, costs, and reputational exposure.

In parallel, the team maintains proactive engagement with regulators and closely monitors regulatory developments to ensure ongoing compliance, thereby reducing the risk of enforcement actions and regulatory disputes. We also deliver regular training to commercial, operational, and management teams on legal risks, contract management, regulatory obligations, and escalation procedures to instill a culture of risk awareness and minimise the likelihood of disputes arising.

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

Technology is a key enabler of our role as strategic partners to the business. The team uses centralised compliance tracking tools to monitor regulatory obligations, filing deadlines, and reporting requirements across multiple regulators. These systems provide automated reminders, audit trails, and real-time visibility of compliance status, helping to reduce regulatory risk and ensure timely adherence to statutory obligations.

Our contract management process is supported by digital repositories and workflow tools that streamline the process of contract drafting, review, approval, and execution. This improves consistency, reduces turnaround time, and strengthens contractual risk management. We also use tracking systems to monitor key milestones such as expiry dates, renewal timelines, and notice periods, ensuring that contracts are reviewed and renewed in good time and do not lapse unnoticed. In addition, the team leverages secure digital document management systems for efficient handling of board papers, regulatory filings, and transaction documents. Technology also supports our data protection efforts, aligning our legal operations with Nigeria’s data protection requirements.

By automating routine and repetitive tasks, the legal team is able to redirect capacity towards higher value strategic initiatives while improving efficiency, accuracy, and responsiveness.