Biography: Arbitration

Bayo Ojo is the arbitration partner at Bayo Ojo & Co, a firm he co-founded in 1985. He was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1978 after graduating from the University of Lagos in 1977 with an LLB degree. He obtained a certificate in legal drafting from the Royal Institute of Public Administration, London, in 1981 and an LLM (Master of Laws) degree in 1982 from the London School of Economics and Political Science, University of London. He later obtained a diploma in international commercial arbitration from the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, London, and is a chartered arbitrator. He is a solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, England and Wales.

Bayo was conferred with the prestigious rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria in 1999. He is a past chairman of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, Nigeria Branch; former member of the United Nations International Law Commission, Geneva; member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands; member of the panel of arbitrators of the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) Washington.

Bayo has a wide range of experience in oil and gas, aviation, telecommunications, commercial law, litigation, international law arbitration practice and inter-governmental relations. At different times, he has acted as sole arbitrator, member of arbitral panels and as counsel in numerous domestic and international arbitrations.

He was once the attorney general of the federation and minister of justice of Nigeria, during which time he initiated key reforms in the justice sector – including a new arbitration bill and a review of all the investment laws in Nigeria. He has advised the federal government on the exit of Nigeria from the Paris and London clubs. He was also strategically involved in the negotiation of $2.5 billion loan facility from the Chinese government for the Mambila hydro project, railway rehabilitation and rural telephony. Bayo was also involved and advised on the review of licensing round of oil blocks issued in 2005 and several other oil and gas transactions in recent times. As a former member of Nigeria's National Council on Privatization, he has been involved in the privatisation of some government entities.

A former president of the Nigerian Bar Association, he is known for his vibrancy and love for the legal profession. He has also been a member of the Body of Benchers of Nigeria. He previously served as the chairman of the Legal Aid Board of Nigeria for five years and as member of Council of Legal Education of Nigeria. He is currently a council member of the section on energy, environment and natural resources law of the International Bar Association and a patron of the Nigerian Society of International Law.

His recent speaking engagements span various areas of global relevance. He has delivered papers at numerous local and international fora, including an international oil and gas conference in Doha, Qatar, in 2009; a public lecture on the resolution of international disputes at the University of Cardiff, Wales United Kingdom; a paper on privatisation in Africa at the International Bar Association Annual Conference in Amsterdam in 2000; and the keynote addresses at the 14th Commonwealth Law Conference, London, in 2005 and the Conference on International Dispute Resolution for Africa in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2008.

He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, the International Bar Association, the International Insolvency Association, the London Court of International Arbitration, the Swiss Arbitration Association, the Society of Construction Law, the British Institute of International and Comparative Law and the Nigerian Bar Association, and an associate member of the American Bar Association.