As the forthcoming Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) National
Elections continued to wave the breeze of the legal profession
atmosphere, which would ultimately produce the next NBA President
who would steer the leadership of the Bar in the succeeding years
after Mr. Paul Usoro, SAN, presidential aspirants are not equally
relenting in the quest to present what stood them out.
It would be recalled that on Monday, 18th day of May, 2020, Mr.
Olumide Akpata, one of the presidential aspirants had earlier on
announced that he has officially picked up his nomination form to
contest for the Office of the President of the Nigerian Bar
Association (NBA) in the scheduled election to take place come 24th
– 25th July, 2020.
In light of the above, Mr. Olumide Akpata has shared his
profile thus:
I am Home Bred
I was born on 7 October 1972, and I had my early
education in Warri, Delta State. I thereafter attended
King’s College, Lagos from where I proceeded to study
Law at the University of Benin (UNIBEN). I graduated from UNIBEN in
1992, and I was called to the Nigerian Bar on 15 December 1993.
I learnt from (one of) the Best
I served in the National Youth Service Corps
(NYSC), in Kano State, and upon the completion of my service
year, I joined the firm of Dr. Mudiaga Odje & Co. in
Warri, Delta State where I was extremely privileged to cut my
teeth in legal practice under the tutelage of the late, great sage:
Dr. Mudiaga Odje, SAN, OFR, who was one of the most seasoned
Litigators of his time. It was under Dr. Mudiaga
Odje, SAN, that I learned the rudiments of
litigation and courtroom advocacy.
Templars is Born
In 1996, I relocated to Lagos and teamed up with my cousin,
Oghogho Akpata, who had just set up the law firm, Templars, the
previous year, after honing his skills in the firm of F. O. Akinrele
& Co. under the leadership of the legendary Chief Frank Odunayo
Akinrele, SAN.
From 1996 till date, I have worked with
Oghogho, and our colleagues at Templars, in building and
sustaining a world-class, multi-sectoral and full-service law firm
which is now in the 25th year of its existence and
consists of over 100 fee-earners, including two Senior
Advocates of Nigeria.
I am currently Senior Partner and Head of
the Corporate & Commercial Practice Group of Templars, which
comprises the following practice areas: Mergers & Acquisitions;
Capital Markets; Corporate Law; Labour & Employment;
Immigration; Telecommunications, Media, Entertainment and
Technology; and Regulatory Compliance. However, in my
over two decades at Templars, I have practised across the diverse
areas in which we operate, and I have been privileged to lead or
participate in some of the major groundbreaking transactions that
have shaped commercial law practice in Nigeria and indeed the
Nigerian economy.
Some of these include:
- advising the Nigerian Bureau of Public Enterprises on the
restructuring and unbundling of the now defunct state-owned power
monopoly, National Electric Power Authority, ultimately resulting
in the several successor companies to NEPA and the now largely
privatised Nigerian power sector; - advising on the acquisition of National Fertilizer Company of
Nigeria by a group of Nigerian investors in a US$152 million asset
purchase transaction under the privatisation programme of the
Federal Government of Nigeria; - advising General Electric on the strategic acquisition that
heralded the establishment of General Electric’s oil and gas
operations in Nigeria;
- advising American Tower Corporation on its US$1.05 billion
acquisition of telecommunication towers and passive infrastructure
business from Airtel Networks Limited; - advising Azura Power West Africa Limited and its sponsors on
the pioneering development and financing of a circa US$1 billion
greenfield 459MW independent power plant in Edo State,
Nigeria; - advising Google Inc. on the deployment of Google Street View in
Nigeria which is a technology featured in Google Maps and Google
Earth that promote interactive views along many streets in the
world; and - advising Diamond Bank on its merger with Access Bank PLC which
resulted in the emergence of Africa’s largest retail bank (by
customers) and one of the largest lenders in Nigeria.
In addition to my aforementioned roles at Templars, I have over
the years also developed and deployed the requisite skills that are
a must-have for the management of people and resources in an
organisation with a current head-count of over 150 people and which
operates out of different locations in Nigeria. In this regard, I
have, at different times, superintended the activities of the
Operations, Human Resources and Business Development divisions of
Templars.
I am deeply gratified that this model, which we at Templars
continue to adopt in our approach to legal practice, has paid off
handsomely, resulting in our phenomenal growth from a 4-man law
practice in 1995-1996 to a tier one full-service law firm
today.
Indeed, my experience at Templars, which essentially encompasses
the bulk of my career as a lawyer, has afforded me invaluable
insight into, and an in-depth understanding of, all aspects of
legal practice in Nigeria.
I am a BAR Man
I began participating in the activities of the Nigerian Bar
Association (NBA), as soon as I joined the law firm of Dr. Mudiaga
Odje & Co., as a member of the NBA Warri Branch –
as it then was. Upon relocating to Lagos in 1996, I joined
the NBA Lagos Branch.
I became more active in Bar activities upon the creation of the
NBA Section on Business Law (NBA-SBL) in 2004. I am a foundation
member of the NBA-SBL and I worked closely with the
pioneer Chairman of the Section, Mr. George
Etomi, and his team to operationalise the Section
after its inauguration in December 2004 by the then
President of the NBA, Chief Bayo Ojo, SAN. I was also a
member of the Planning Committee which organised the very
first NBA-SBL Conference that was held in Abuja in
March 2006 and which proved to be a
transformational conference that set the NBA-SBL on its
current trajectory.
My active participation in the NBA-SBL led to my election, in
January 2012, as Secretary of the NBA-SBL Council. I was
subsequently elected as Vice-Chairman in August 2014 and then as
Chairman in August 2016, after which I handed over to the
current Chairman, Seni Adio, SAN, in August 2018 albeit I remain a
member of the Council.
My two-year tenure as Chairman of the NBA-SBL was eventful and
impactful. In keeping with its objectives of engendering the
professional development of Nigerian commercial lawyers
and raising the level of business law practice in Nigeria,
the NBA-SBL, under my leadership and with the immense support
of my colleagues in Council, was able to achieve, among
other things, the following:
- expanding the frontiers of legal practice by creating several
additional subject-matter specific committees that were, and
remain, actively focused on new areas of legal practice with each
committee organising periodic seminars and other capacity building
programmes across the country for members, with facilitators drawn
from leading international law firms, Nigerian law firms and
corporate organisations; - organising two world-class NBA-SBL Conferences (2017 and 2018)
at which attendees had incisive and enriching sessions, knowledge
exchange and extensive networking opportunities with lawyers,
clients and prospective clients; - organising, in partnership with the International Bar
Association, a free training seminar for over 100 young lawyers on
the fundamentals of International Legal Business Practice; - setting up SBL Clubs in six universities across the six
geopolitical zones in Nigeria to expand the horizon of law students
and enable them, at a foundational level, to develop appropriate
interest in contemporary areas of law practice; - establishing a partnership with the National Assembly and
the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, with support from the UK
Department for International Development (UK DFID), to create the
National Assembly Business Environment Roundtable (NASSBER) as a
platform for the legislature and the private sector to engage,
deliberate and take action on a framework for improving the
Nigerian business environment. That partnership resulted in a
comprehensive review of the institutional, - regulatory, legislative and associated instruments affecting
businesses in Nigeria; - collaborating with the Presidential Enabling Business
Environment Council on the ease of doing business in Nigeria which
involved the review of extant laws and regulations and the
monitoring of the productivity and response time of Ministries,
Departments and Agencies including the Corporate Affairs
Commission; and - inaugurating the Corporate Counsel Committee for in-house
counsel and setting up a Task Force led by Mr. Ayuli Jemide to
determine the scope of legal work that is statutorily prescribed to
be the exclusive preserve of Nigerian lawyers and to work out
modalities for enforcing such laws.
BARmanship Beyond NBA-SBL…
Besides my activities at the NBA-SBL, I am indeed extremely
proud and grateful to have been an integral part of the NBA in
other capacities such as:
- participating actively in the NBA Section on Legal Practice
where I served as an officer of the Law Firm Management Committee
from 2010-2014; - being an active member of the NBA Lagos Branch from 2005 till
date where I have served on various Committees of the Branch,
including as two-time Secretary of the Building Committee – under
the chairmanship of Alhaji Femi Okunnu, SAN and Dr. Wale Babalakin,
SAN in 2012 and 2016 respectively;
- Serving the NBA, at the national level, in the following
capacities: - working closely with the then President of the NBA, Augustine
Alegeh, SAN and his team from, 2012-2014, on the following
projects:
- Member, NBA National Executive Committee from 2014 till
date; - Secretary, Technical Committee on Conference Planning for the
2015 NBA-AGC; - Secretary, Technical Committee on Conference Planning for the
2016 NBA-AGC; - Co-Chairman, Technical Committee on Conference Planning for the
2019 NBA-AGC; and - representing the NBA on the Council of the International Bar
Association (IBA), from 2014 to 2016;
- the reorganisation and retooling of the NBA Secretariat for
increased efficiency and productivity; - BA/Access Bank collaboration which resulted in a N250M per
annum sponsorship of the NBA’s activities by Access Bank; - NBA/Leadway Assurance collaboration which resulted in the NBA
Members Insurance Scheme and which came at a significantly
discounted premium and at no extra cost to members; and - fund-raising for the completion of the NBA House, Abuja which
was eventually commissioned by His Excellency Prof. Yemi Osinbajo,
SAN, GCON in August, 2016; - actively sponsoring and supporting branches of the NBA across
the country on various initiatives; and - being a frequent speaker at several events organised by
different branches of the NBA across Nigeria.
BARmanship Beyond Nigeria…
My interest in the advancement of the legal profession has also
led me to participate actively in the IBA where, besides
representing the NBA on the Council of the IBA from 2014 to 2016, I
serve/have served in the following capacities:
- Vice-Chairman of the IBA Africa Regional Forum;
- Member of the IBA Presidential Task Force on the Future of the
Legal Profession; - Member of the IBA Credentials Committee; and
- Officer/Member of the IBA Anti-Corruption Committee.
Miscellany/Other Endeavours…
I sit, in non-executive capacity, on the Boards of a number of
private companies, some of which I also chair. I am a member of
several think-tanks, including the Nigeria Economic Summit Group
(NESG) and the United Nations Nigerian Humanitarian Fund (UN-NHF),
of which I am a pioneer member.
I am, without a doubt, a gregarious person and when I am not
advising on a transaction or attending a client meeting, I love to
be in the company of my friends and family or attending social
events. I also love travelling and reading the biographies of
distinguished personalities.
I am a devout Christian and a member of the Redeemed Christian
Church of God.
As the forthcoming Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) National
Elections continued to wave the breeze of the legal profession
atmosphere, which would ultimately produce the next NBA President
who would steer the leadership of the Bar in the succeeding years
after Mr. Paul Usoro, SAN, presidential aspirants are not equally
relenting in the quest to present what stood them out.
It would be recalled that on Monday, 18th day of May, 2020, Mr.
Olumide Akpata, one of the presidential aspirants had earlier on
announced that he has officially picked up his nomination form to
contest for the Office of the President of the Nigerian Bar
Association (NBA) in the scheduled election to take place come 24th
– 25th July, 2020.
In light of the above, Mr. Olumide Akpata has shared his
profile thus:
I am Home Bred
I was born on 7 October 1972, and I had my early
education in Warri, Delta State. I thereafter attended
King’s College, Lagos from where I proceeded to study
Law at the University of Benin (UNIBEN). I graduated from UNIBEN in
1992, and I was called to the Nigerian Bar on 15 December 1993.
I learnt from (one of) the Best
I served in the National Youth Service Corps
(NYSC), in Kano State, and upon the completion of my service
year, I joined the firm of Dr. Mudiaga Odje & Co. in
Warri, Delta State where I was extremely privileged to cut my
teeth in legal practice under the tutelage of the late, great sage:
Dr. Mudiaga Odje, SAN, OFR, who was one of the most seasoned
Litigators of his time. It was under Dr. Mudiaga
Odje, SAN, that I learned the rudiments of
litigation and courtroom advocacy.
Templars is Born
In 1996, I relocated to Lagos and teamed up with my cousin,
Oghogho Akpata, who had just set up the law firm, Templars, the
previous year, after honing his skills in the firm of F. O. Akinrele
& Co. under the leadership of the legendary Chief Frank Odunayo
Akinrele, SAN.
From 1996 till date, I have worked with
Oghogho, and our colleagues at Templars, in building and
sustaining a world-class, multi-sectoral and full-service law firm
which is now in the 25th year of its existence and
consists of over 100 fee-earners, including two Senior
Advocates of Nigeria.
I am currently Senior Partner and Head of
the Corporate & Commercial Practice Group of Templars, which
comprises the following practice areas: Mergers & Acquisitions;
Capital Markets; Corporate Law; Labour & Employment;
Immigration; Telecommunications, Media, Entertainment and
Technology; and Regulatory Compliance. However, in my
over two decades at Templars, I have practised across the diverse
areas in which we operate, and I have been privileged to lead or
participate in some of the major groundbreaking transactions that
have shaped commercial law practice in Nigeria and indeed the
Nigerian economy.
Some of these include:
- advising the Nigerian Bureau of Public Enterprises on the
restructuring and unbundling of the now defunct state-owned power
monopoly, National Electric Power Authority, ultimately resulting
in the several successor companies to NEPA and the now largely
privatised Nigerian power sector; - advising on the acquisition of National Fertilizer Company of
Nigeria by a group of Nigerian investors in a US$152 million asset
purchase transaction under the privatisation programme of the
Federal Government of Nigeria; - advising General Electric on the strategic acquisition that
heralded the establishment of General Electric’s oil and gas
operations in Nigeria;
- advising American Tower Corporation on its US$1.05 billion
acquisition of telecommunication towers and passive infrastructure
business from Airtel Networks Limited; - advising Azura Power West Africa Limited and its sponsors on
the pioneering development and financing of a circa US$1 billion
greenfield 459MW independent power plant in Edo State,
Nigeria; - advising Google Inc. on the deployment of Google Street View in
Nigeria which is a technology featured in Google Maps and Google
Earth that promote interactive views along many streets in the
world; and - advising Diamond Bank on its merger with Access Bank PLC which
resulted in the emergence of Africa’s largest retail bank (by
customers) and one of the largest lenders in Nigeria.
In addition to my aforementioned roles at Templars, I have over
the years also developed and deployed the requisite skills that are
a must-have for the management of people and resources in an
organisation with a current head-count of over 150 people and which
operates out of different locations in Nigeria. In this regard, I
have, at different times, superintended the activities of the
Operations, Human Resources and Business Development divisions of
Templars.
I am deeply gratified that this model, which we at Templars
continue to adopt in our approach to legal practice, has paid off
handsomely, resulting in our phenomenal growth from a 4-man law
practice in 1995-1996 to a tier one full-service law firm
today.
Indeed, my experience at Templars, which essentially encompasses
the bulk of my career as a lawyer, has afforded me invaluable
insight into, and an in-depth understanding of, all aspects of
legal practice in Nigeria.
I am a BAR Man
I began participating in the activities of the Nigerian Bar
Association (NBA), as soon as I joined the law firm of Dr. Mudiaga
Odje & Co., as a member of the NBA Warri Branch –
as it then was. Upon relocating to Lagos in 1996, I joined
the NBA Lagos Branch.
I became more active in Bar activities upon the creation of the
NBA Section on Business Law (NBA-SBL) in 2004. I am a foundation
member of the NBA-SBL and I worked closely with the
pioneer Chairman of the Section, Mr. George
Etomi, and his team to operationalise the Section
after its inauguration in December 2004 by the then
President of the NBA, Chief Bayo Ojo, SAN. I was also a
member of the Planning Committee which organised the very
first NBA-SBL Conference that was held in Abuja in
March 2006 and which proved to be a
transformational conference that set the NBA-SBL on its
current trajectory.
My active participation in the NBA-SBL led to my election, in
January 2012, as Secretary of the NBA-SBL Council. I was
subsequently elected as Vice-Chairman in August 2014 and then as
Chairman in August 2016, after which I handed over to the
current Chairman, Seni Adio, SAN, in August 2018 albeit I remain a
member of the Council.
My two-year tenure as Chairman of the NBA-SBL was eventful and
impactful. In keeping with its objectives of engendering the
professional development of Nigerian commercial lawyers
and raising the level of business law practice in Nigeria,
the NBA-SBL, under my leadership and with the immense support
of my colleagues in Council, was able to achieve, among
other things, the following:
- expanding the frontiers of legal practice by creating several
additional subject-matter specific committees that were, and
remain, actively focused on new areas of legal practice with each
committee organising periodic seminars and other capacity building
programmes across the country for members, with facilitators drawn
from leading international law firms, Nigerian law firms and
corporate organisations; - organising two world-class NBA-SBL Conferences (2017 and 2018)
at which attendees had incisive and enriching sessions, knowledge
exchange and extensive networking opportunities with lawyers,
clients and prospective clients; - organising, in partnership with the International Bar
Association, a free training seminar for over 100 young lawyers on
the fundamentals of International Legal Business Practice; - setting up SBL Clubs in six universities across the six
geopolitical zones in Nigeria to expand the horizon of law students
and enable them, at a foundational level, to develop appropriate
interest in contemporary areas of law practice; - establishing a partnership with the National Assembly and
the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, with support from the UK
Department for International Development (UK DFID), to create the
National Assembly Business Environment Roundtable (NASSBER) as a
platform for the legislature and the private sector to engage,
deliberate and take action on a framework for improving the
Nigerian business environment. That partnership resulted in a
comprehensive review of the institutional, - regulatory, legislative and associated instruments affecting
businesses in Nigeria; - collaborating with the Presidential Enabling Business
Environment Council on the ease of doing business in Nigeria which
involved the review of extant laws and regulations and the
monitoring of the productivity and response time of Ministries,
Departments and Agencies including the Corporate Affairs
Commission; and - inaugurating the Corporate Counsel Committee for in-house
counsel and setting up a Task Force led by Mr. Ayuli Jemide to
determine the scope of legal work that is statutorily prescribed to
be the exclusive preserve of Nigerian lawyers and to work out
modalities for enforcing such laws.
BARmanship Beyond NBA-SBL…
Besides my activities at the NBA-SBL, I am indeed extremely
proud and grateful to have been an integral part of the NBA in
other capacities such as:
- participating actively in the NBA Section on Legal Practice
where I served as an officer of the Law Firm Management Committee
from 2010-2014; - being an active member of the NBA Lagos Branch from 2005 till
date where I have served on various Committees of the Branch,
including as two-time Secretary of the Building Committee – under
the chairmanship of Alhaji Femi Okunnu, SAN and Dr. Wale Babalakin,
SAN in 2012 and 2016 respectively;
- Serving the NBA, at the national level, in the following
capacities: - working closely with the then President of the NBA, Augustine
Alegeh, SAN and his team from, 2012-2014, on the following
projects:
- Member, NBA National Executive Committee from 2014 till
date; - Secretary, Technical Committee on Conference Planning for the
2015 NBA-AGC; - Secretary, Technical Committee on Conference Planning for the
2016 NBA-AGC; - Co-Chairman, Technical Committee on Conference Planning for the
2019 NBA-AGC; and - representing the NBA on the Council of the International Bar
Association (IBA), from 2014 to 2016;
- the reorganisation and retooling of the NBA Secretariat for
increased efficiency and productivity; - BA/Access Bank collaboration which resulted in a N250M per
annum sponsorship of the NBA’s activities by Access Bank; - NBA/Leadway Assurance collaboration which resulted in the NBA
Members Insurance Scheme and which came at a significantly
discounted premium and at no extra cost to members; and - fund-raising for the completion of the NBA House, Abuja which
was eventually commissioned by His Excellency Prof. Yemi Osinbajo,
SAN, GCON in August, 2016; - actively sponsoring and supporting branches of the NBA across
the country on various initiatives; and - being a frequent speaker at several events organised by
different branches of the NBA across Nigeria.
BARmanship Beyond Nigeria…
My interest in the advancement of the legal profession has also
led me to participate actively in the IBA where, besides
representing the NBA on the Council of the IBA from 2014 to 2016, I
serve/have served in the following capacities:
- Vice-Chairman of the IBA Africa Regional Forum;
- Member of the IBA Presidential Task Force on the Future of the
Legal Profession; - Member of the IBA Credentials Committee; and
- Officer/Member of the IBA Anti-Corruption Committee.
Miscellany/Other Endeavours…
I sit, in non-executive capacity, on the Boards of a number of
private companies, some of which I also chair. I am a member of
several think-tanks, including the Nigeria Economic Summit Group
(NESG) and the United Nations Nigerian Humanitarian Fund (UN-NHF),
of which I am a pioneer member.
I am, without a doubt, a gregarious person and when I am not
advising on a transaction or attending a client meeting, I love to
be in the company of my friends and family or attending social
events. I also love travelling and reading the biographies of
distinguished personalities.
I am a devout Christian and a member of the Redeemed Christian
Church of God.