Bring on Bitcoin…but Not in Nigeria
Ajibola Oluyede is the visioner and co-founder of TRLPLAW Solicitors and Arbitrators and was Managing Partner of TRLP Solicitors London until 2006. As current Chair of the Board of Partners of TRLPLAW Worldwide, he is a Chief Market Developer and Commercial Litigator. He speaks on how Nigeria and UK relations are holding up and how Nigeria is adopting cryptocurrencies.
You commonly deal with cross border finance related disputes; how do you see the up rise of cryptocurrencies affecting the transaction / compliance with money laundering process in the future, if it were to spread to cross border transactions?
In Nigeria Banks are prohibited by the Central Bank of Nigeria Circular of 17th January 2017 from dealing in crypto currencies. However this does not affect online transactions that are denominated in cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin.
The Nigerian ban unfortunately merely leaves the use of crypto currencies in even cross border transactions involving physical assets based in Nigeria (for example real estate) outside the purview of Nigerian money laundering laws, the reporting and other conditions that enable scrutiny of transactions done with traditional currencies. The issue of compliance with such regulations is therefore still moot in Nigeria as we grapple with an understanding of the blockchain technology that spawned this phenomenon. I think the Central Bank circular was based more on fear of the unknown than an attempt to really understand what the technology means for the burgeoning Nigerian economy. Hopefully the work of the CBN/NDIC committee subsequently set up to study the blockchain technology will result in a different perspective.
How fluid are matters between the UK and Nigeria? From your experience, what could be done that would ensure disputes are resolved with more ease?
Nigeria and the UK are natural trading partners with centuries of trade between them. Both countries have ratified the Bilateral Investment Treaty between them and this protects British investments in Nigeria, as it does Nigerian Investments in Britain. Nigerian has no significant issues with its trade with the UK, which remains one of the top ten Nigerian export destinations.
The proposed Trade and Investments Cooperation Agreement being negotiated between the two nations is expected to grow trade volumes between both countries by over 4.5 billion sterling in 2030. Nigeria’s main export to the UK is crude oil and Britain’s export of goods and services to Nigeria exceeded its imports from Nigeria for the first time in seven years in 2017. That was ascribed to fall in oil prices.
Currently, with the Brexit, it appears that more opportunities for trade and investments are coming up. The British Government through the head of its Department for International Trade (DIT) announced in February 2018 that it was ready to provide UK government guarantees to secure Naira loans by Nigerian banks to Nigerian projects that are importing goods and services (that form not less than 20% of the content of that project) from the UK. The dispute resolution provisions in the Nigeria UK BIT ensure smooth resolution of investment disputes. Most often arbitration clauses in other cross border contracts specify Britain as the venue for arbitration and UK law as the law of the contract. Nigerians do not mind this because as a common law jurisdiction we are familiar with British law.
When representing the Nigerian Creditors in a dispute, you managed to influence the United Kingdom’s Financial Services Authority to withdraw its license; how did you prepare yourself for this?
I represented Nigerian depositors in the London Trust Bank in its CVA, which was prompted by the FSA withdrawal of the banks license. I was already known to most of these depositors and in seeking a lawyer with the grit and knowledge to retrieve their deposits they chose me. When I became aware that the main activity of the bank was trade finance with mainly Nigerian funds we tried to get the FSA to reconsider the withdrawal of the license so that the Bank could continue its lucrative business under a new management. I think we got involved too late in the day. Perhaps if we had been aware of its difficulties with the FSA earlier and made that pitch it would have been acceptable. We discovered that the FSA had actually given the owners an ultimatum to diversify the banks ownership or loose the license. It was their failure to comply that precipitated the FSA’s action.
In the end we tried to continue the trade finance activities of the bank under a new company.
What are three things that are vital to being the best during commercial disputes.
Preparation, preparation, preparation.
What changes are you advocating for, that will enable Nigeria to develop further in 2018?
A proper structuring of the Agricultural economy of the country to open up international markets to Nigerian natural and Organic products. This will involve better regulation, quality control protocols, conformity assessment protocols and certification for goods and services that are required to meet international standards.
We consider our law firm, TRLPLAW, a leading practice in Agricultural law because of our involvement in this advocacy and other very significant transactional work in this area.
We are currently handling, amongst several major assignments in this area, a significant cross border M&A, advising on a major initiative involving joint ventures between Nigerian entities and European entities and statutory framework for operations in an important sector of the agricultural economy which is expected to become a paradigm for the entire Nigerian Agricultural economy. These are bound to boost the Nigerian economy when on stream. I can’t say more than this about these projects at this time.
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Described by a National Newspaper as the “quintessential Lawyer” Ajibola Oluyede has effectively traversed the entire gamut of legal Practice in Nigeria as a litigator. Admitted to the Nigerian Bar in 1981, he began legal practice and quickly earned a reputation as a tough litigator and commercial lawyer with special interest in cross border financial transactions and compliance with money laundering as well as other regulations. Having been pioneer partner in TRLP Solicitors, a London based commercial law firm established in 2002, he has been consulted and acted in respect of high profile matters in the United Kingdom involving the assets of Nigerian political figures.
TRLPLAW is a union, which consummates the vision by various international law firms based in Africa, Europe and America to forge a multinational law practice of the highest quality, capable of delivering excellent, diverse legal services to businesses and businesspersons globally -particularly within frontier and emerging markets.
