Emecheta Ononuju

I am a law graduate of the Nnamdi Azikiwe Unversity, and the Nigeria Law School, with a postgraduate law degree in Oil and Gas Law from the University of Aberdeen.

Now 10 years post-qualification and counting, my career traverses compliance, commercial litigation, company secretarial practice, and in-house legal support services in the oil and gas sector (upstream and downstream), in addition to oil and gas asset acquisition, corporate/project finance and shipping.

Currently as Group Company Secretary, Head of Compliance, and General Legal Counsel at AOS Orwell Group (AOS Orwell Limited; Titan Tubulars Nigeria Limited, and Oiltools Africa Limited), I provide, supervise and implement cutting-edge legal and compliance solutions in various strategic interest-areas, such as oilfield engineering services, process management, Oil Country Tubular Goods (OCTG), machine shop services and power. I draw key strength from my ability to integrate tactical legal-issues-awareness with technical aspects of the job, through cross-disciplinary team work engagement across my years of experience.

My career motivation is founded upon a deep seethed drive to harness my job experience, education and skill in the realization of excellent service delivery in any given position.

General Legal Counsel/Group Company Secretary August 2017 – Present

Legal, Risk and Compliance Manager June 2016 – August 2017

Corporate Counsel with overall responsibility for dispute resolution and litigation management, legal advisory, contracts review, management and negotiation, company secretarial and board administration, financing transactions, enterprise risk management and regulatory compliance.

Other responsibilities include

• Develop and manage Company-wide database of all litigation matters and periodically provide reports and strategies to the Board and to Management for cost-effective resolution of the matters. Liaises with the Company’s approved panel of external lawyers to develop strategies for formulating the Company’s defence or claims against counterparties and for ongoing management of existing matters.

• Manages the legal department of respective companies, and oversees the activities of the legal departments of AOS Orwell Ghana. Direct reporting and advisory responsibilities to Senior Management and a central Board of Directors on key business decisions with overarching legal and regulatory implications. Oversees and fosters career development of in-house counsel, and regularly conducts compliance and legal trainings to support business objectives.

• Responsible for drafting/review, negotiation and execution of various contracts across multilateral service offerings, including, but not limited to drilling and well-control related contracts, process management, machine shop services, oil country tubular goods, supply of OEM goods and equipment, finance, etc. Actively and routinely engaged as focal point in negotiating major Agreements with top hierarchy and representatives of oil Majors, and first class OEMs (Emerson, Detronics, Oilstates, 3P Services, etc.), with outstanding results. Mastery of contract frameworks and templates adopted across jurisdictions by oil industry majors, key service providers, and other stakeholders, with hands-on technical and legal issues awareness across service offerings. 

• Enterprise risk management and review, leading to identification of actual or potential exposure to litigation and reporting of significant litigation risks through established control channels, and in line with respective API and BSI standards.

• Achieved minimum of 40% reduction in legacy litigations portfolio, and minimum of 50% general reduction in litigation portfolio year on year.

MASTERS ENERGY OIL AND GAS LIMITED – Lagos, Nigeria

Deputy Manager, Legal Department September 2013 to March 2015

• Part of the Technical Team which developed the largest Aviation Depot at the Murtalla Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, and which is owned by a Consortium of 7 leading indigenous Oil and Gas Companies. In this regard, negotiated and drafted requisite construction contracts, advised on operational methodology, business structure, regulatory compliance and tax.

• With regard to the Aviation fuel Consortium, negotiated the terms for acquisition of major stake by a top-3 International Aviation Fuel Services Company. In this regard, negotiated and articulated agreements for the funding and development of an aviation-fuel hydrant system at the International Airport, Lagos. Acted as Secretary to the Board of Directors of the Consortium, comprising 7 Chief Executive Officers.

• Acted as Lead Legal Facilitator for the Company`s joint bid (under a Consortium arrangement) for the acquisition of 45% equity in OML 25, owned by SHELL, TEPNL, and NAOC. This bid was eventually won under the Crestar Consortium.

• Negotiated several access to facility agreements (naira and dollar) with financial institutions, involving the employment of Vessels owned by a subsidiary company as primary security. In this regard, negotiated the terms of ship-mortgage and coordinated documentary transfers across flag registry jurisdictions.

• Undertook and facilitated several cross-border negotiations and litigation, resulting in the vacation of orders of arrest on Vessels owned by the Company.

• Articulated claims and defense to suits pending in court or before arbitral tribunals, on account of the Company`s operations. Regularly researched and advised on extant matters of law and practice, and interfaced with external Solicitors towards a robust representation of the company.

STRATEGIC LEGAL SERVICES PARTNERSHIP Ikoyi-Lagos. October 2008 – September 2013

Legal Counsel

• Commercial litigation: trials and appeals (from commencement to judgment).
• Provided robust support for senior lawyers in chambers by way of litigation reports, legal research, legal opinions, editing and reviewing.
• Drafted commercial agreements, skeletal arguments, statements of case, summaries, appeals, statements of claim, applications for summary Judgments, summonses, pleas and counter-claims.

GM KUTTU AND COMPANY Jos, Plateau State. October 2007 – September 2008

National Youth Service

Associate

• Represented Clients in Court and on Appeal on several matters. Case Status reporting to the Principal Counsel, legal research and case documentation.

University of Aberdeen

LLM (Commendation) Oil and Gas Law, 2011.

Distinction in Dissertation; LLM under the auspices of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund 

Nnamdi Azikiwe University / Nigerian Law School 

Bachelor of Laws (LL.B, Second Class Upper Division; BL, Second Class Lower Division)

2001 – 2006; 2006 – 2007