Biography: Project Finance

Fred Onuobia is the managing partner of G Elias & Co (Solicitors and Advocates), one of Nigeria's leading business law firms. He has several years of experience in corporate and financial work for both private and public sector clients. His most significant project finance work has been in the transport and energy sectors. His record of advising on pioneering transport sector project financings is outstanding: the Lekki Toll Road concession (Nigeria's pioneering and only toll road concession); the concession agreement for a monorail at Tinapa (as lawyers to the financiers); and the Lagos MMA2 new airport terminal (Nigeria's pioneering and only airport terminal concession).

In the energy sector, perhaps his most notable work has been for the lenders in respect of the NNPC – Exxon Mobil NGL Phase II Project Financing. He has advised the lenders on a pioneering electric power IPP (AES Nigeria Barge) and, more recently, on an off-grid IPP for industrial manufacturing offtakers.

He holds a Master of Laws degree from University College London.

Fred Onuobia has published several papers including the following: Insider Trading Regulations in Nigeria: Some Major Shortcomings (1999); The Problems Confronting the Enforcement of Mortgage Securities in Nigeria (2000); Ship Mortgages in Nigeria: Legal Issues (2002); Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Market: Legal and Regulatory Challenges (2006).