Biography: Environment

Mfon Ekong Usoro is the managing partner of Paul Usoro & Co (PUC). She leads the maritime/environment, and the legislative drafting and advocacy sections of the firm. Working closely with industry stakeholders in both the private and public sectors, Mfon has done extensive work in the environment subsector, both at the national and regional levels, especially in the areas of legislative drafting, legal and regulatory frameworks, and policy formulation. She is very familiar with international environmental issues at the levels of ECOWAS, African Union, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

She led PUC's team in drafting the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency Act 2007 (NIMASA Act) – which covers the entire gamut of maritime safety and environmental issues – and its subsidiary legislations. Mrs Usoro speaks frequently on transport, maritime practice, environment and marine pollution issues at conferences, seminars and symposia in and outside of Nigeria. As a member of the oil spill response sub-committee of the national action plan coordinating committee, she actively participated in the development and drafting of the National Oil Spill Contingency Plan that resulted in 2005 in the establishment by the Federal Government of the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), the agency responsible for oil spill response.

On the instructions of UNEP and IUCN in February 2008, she worked with two consultants on the revitalisation of the Convention for Co-operation in the Protection and Development of the Marine and Coastal Environment of the West and Central Africa Region. While on the inter-ministerial bio-safety committee, Mfon prepared and drafted Nigeria's bio-safety guidelines to regulate the biotechnology industry and research institute, which was approved by the Federal Executive Council. She was also appointed a member of the presidential committee on the development of the Integrated Coastal Area Management Plan in 2002 and served as a member of the national committee on the implementation of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutant (POP). She also led a team of consultants in the preparation of the Draft Environment Management Bill 2000 for the Federal Ministry of Environment.

In November 2001, Mrs Usoro was appointed a member of the national committee on preparation for the Partnership Conference on the African Process for the Development and Protection of the Coastal and Marine Environment in Sub-Saharan Africa, held in Abuja in 2002. Serving under the technical subcommittee, her work involved the evaluation and appraisal of concept papers/projects on the African Process, a global environment facility for sub-Saharan Africa facilitated by the advisory committee on pollution of the sea.

Mrs Usoro was the pioneer director general of NIMASA and currently serves as the secretary general of the West and Central Africa Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control.