12 Things To Know About New NBA President, Olumide Akpata

Olumide Akpata has emerged as the new President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).

The announcement was made on Thursday by Chairman of the NBA Electoral Committee, Taiwo Taiwo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).

Akpata won the election with over 50 percent of the total votes cast.

His rivals in the election were; Dele Adesina (SAN) and Babatunde Ajibade, who is also a (SAN).

Here are things readers need to know about Akpata.

1. Olumide Akpata is not a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). His emergence disrupts the age-long belief that the leadership of the association is the preserve of SANs.
2. He was born on October 7, 1972, in Edo State.
3. He attended King’s College in Lagos before studying Law at the University of Benin (UNIBEN).
4. He was called to the Nigerian Bar at the age of 21.
5. He started his law practice in Delta State before relocating to Lagos to team up with his cousin, Oghogho Akpata, who had set up law firm, Templars, in 1995.
6. Templars, where he is the Senior Partner and Head of Corporate& Commercial Practice Group, grew from a four-man law firm in 1995-1996, to over 150 work force with two Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN), in 25 years.
7. He played a critical role in some of the major groundbreaking transactions that shaped commercial law practice in Nigeria. This include:

• advising the Nigerian Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE), on the restructuring and unbundling of the defunct state-owned power monopoly, National Electric Power Authority (NEPA), which ultimately resulted in the several successor companies to NEPA;

• advising on the acquisition of National Fertilizer Company of Nigeria by a group of Nigerian investors in a $152 million asset purchase transaction, under the privatization programme of the Federal Government of Nigeria;
• advising American Tower Corporation on its $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 financial of a circa $1 billion greenfield 459mw independent power plant in Edo State;
• advising Diamond Bank on its merger with Access Bank PLC.

8. He is a founding member of the Nigerian Bar Association Section on Business Law (NBA/SBL), which was inaugurated in 2004. He became the NBA/SBL chairman in 2016 for a two-year term.
9. He represented the NBA on the council of the International Bar Association (IBA), from 2014 to 2016, during which he served as vice chairman of the IBA Africa Regional Forum.
10. He sits in non-executive capacity of Boards of private companies in Nigeria, some of which he also chairs.
11. He is a member of several think-tanks, including the Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG), and a pioneer member of the United Nations Nigerian Humanitarian Fund (UN-NHF).
12. He is a member of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG).