Dr. Adesegun A. Akin-Olugbade
Dr. Adesegun A. Akin-Olugbade is an international lawyer and a leading finance and corporate governance expert, combining the highest academic qualifications and professional distinctions with excellent legal skills, extensive transactional experience, and corporate management expertise.
He is the Founder and Managing Partner of Luwaji Nominees, a legal, corporate management and financial advisory services firm, and currently serves as Of Counsel at Clifford Chance (CC Worldwide Limited) and International Counsel at ÆLEX.
He is a graduate of King’s College London (LL. B (Hons) 1983, LL.M 1985) and Harvard Law School (LL.M ’88 and SJD ’91), in addition to being the Overall Best Student at the Nigerian Law School in 1984. He has served for over 30 years in the legal profession and financial services sector; having worked at both the technical and executive management level, in the public and private sector, for leading commercial law firms, multilateral development banks and international financial institutions.
He was previously General Counsel and Senior Director at the African Development Bank (AfDB) (2000 -2007) and the first Chief Legal Officer and Head of the Legal Services Department of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) (1993 - 1997). In December 2018, he retired as an Executive Director (the Chief Operating Officer), after serving as the pioneer General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, of Africa Finance Corporation (AFC).
At the AfDB, he was involved in the extensive governance reforms of the institution between 1997-2000 and provided the legal framework for the unprecedented relocation of the multilateral development bank from its Headquarters in Abidjan to the Temporary Relocation Agency in Tunis in 2002. The African Legal Support Facility (ALSF) was conceived by him during his tenure as AfDB General Counsel. His specific areas of expertise include Corporate and Commercial law, International Financial law, Banking Law, Project Finance, Private Equity, Trade & Structured Finance and Corporate Governance.
Adesegun has significant Board-level experience. He was a non-Executive Director and former Chairman of the Governance Committee of Ecobank Transnational Inc. (ETI). He was also a Founding Director and Managing Partner of AFC’s wholly owned subsidiary, AFC Equity Investments Limited, Mauritius. He was a founding shareholder and former non-Executive Director of Asset & Resources Management (ARM) Company, a leading financial services company in Nigeria. He retired as Vice-Chairman of Mouka Limited in March 2023.
He is currently Chairman of Utica Capital Limited Nigeria; Chairman of NSIA Insurance Limited, Nigeria; Chairman of Southern Marine Petroleum Limited; Chairman of Axion Realty & Development Company Limited; Chairman of Iron Horse Real Estate Limited and Chairman, Board of Trustees of Dr. Adesegun Akin-Olugbade Foundation. He is non-Executive Vice-Chairman of the O.B.A. Group of Companies (O.B.A. International Limited, OBA Transport Limited, Ago-Egba Stores Limited and ARC (Nigeria) Limited). He is a non-Executive Director of NG Clearing Limited, West Africa’s Premier Central Counterparty (CCP).
Adesegun is a life member of the Nigerian Conservation Foundation and Trustee of both the African Refugee Foundation (AREF) and the Nigerian Law School Class of 1984.
In 2003, he was invited to be a member of the Committee on International Monetary Law of the International Law Association (MOCOMILA) and joined the World Trade Board as the first African member in 2019.
Adesegun is an alumnus of several Executive Management Programs including the Wharton CEO Academy, the IMD Executive Management Program and the HEC (Montreal) Management Development Program (MDP). He is the recipient of several professional awards and honours.
Adesegun is an Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON), a national honour conferred on him by the Nigerian Government in September 2012.