The new leadership of Nigerian Bar Association-Section on Business Law (NBA-SBL) has pledged to modernize how business law is practiced in Nigeria with the aim of bringing transaction standards and engagement with technology and ESG in line with where global business law is heading.
Baba Alokolaro, NBA-SBL’s new chairman, who made the pledge, added that in modernizing the practice, he would also ensure the shift brings the next generation of lawyers coming into this space along with it, not just the practitioners already established in it.
“Beyond that, I want the NBA-SBL’s voice to continue to carry real weight in how the region thinks about investment and regulatory landscape. So, when businesses and investors look at Nigeria, what they will see reflects the seriousness and sophistication of how we actually practice here. That is the NBA-SBL standard and one I am holding myself to,” the new chairman assured.
Alokolaro, the Managing Partner of TNP (The New Practice), spoke when he was sworn in as the 10th chairman of NBA-SBL. He succeeds Ozofu ‘Latunde Ogiemudia.
Over the past two years, Alokolaro served as Vice Chairman under Ogiemudia’s leadership and will now lead the NBA-SBL’s Committee through the 2026–2028 term.
The NBA-SBL is Nigeria’s principal forum for business law policy, practice standards, and cross-border investment dialogue.
Established in 2004 under its foundational chairman, George Etomi, the NBA-SBL has grown to become the envy of the legal community in Nigeria, convening an Annual Business Law Conference that draws principal government officials, regulators, and members of the region’s business law community.
Alokolaro follows a line of chairpersons that includes George Etomi, Mfon Usoro, Gbenga Oyebode, Asue Ighodalo, Olumide Akpata, Seni Adio SAN, Ayuli Jemide, Adeoye Adefulu, and Ozofu ‘Latunde Ogiemudia.
Speaking on his priorities for the section, Alokolaro stated: “Nigerian business law is at an inflection point, and the SBL continues to focus on the real work ahead of it.
As Managing Partner at TNP (The New Practice), Alokolaro leads the firm’s Corporate Finance and Business Advisory Groups. He also served as Head of the Corporate Commercial Africa Service Line at Andersen Global, of which TNP is a collaborating firm.
He holds an LL.B from the University of Warwick (1997) and an LL.M from the University of East Anglia (1998), and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 2001. From 2007 to 2011, he served as General Counsel to the governor of Lagos State, advising on policy, strategic investments, infrastructure development, asset optimisation, and concession arrangements.
His practice spans finance, capital markets, infrastructure, private equity, and mergers and acquisitions, across the power, transportation, manufacturing, financial services, and TMT.
Alokolaro is a member of the Nigerian Bar Association, the International Bar Association, and the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. He previously served as a member of the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce’s Professional Services Group, and was a member of the Governing Board of the Lagos State Law Reform Commission. Before his election as chairman, he served on NBA-SBL’s Executive Council as Vice Chairman
