Young, suave,
and highly cerebral, Business Lawyer, Barrister Kayode Akinsola unlike the
Barrister next door, is a legal practitioner with a touch of class and
panache.In this encounter with ….at his Victoria Island office in Lagos, he
spoke on issues concerning Business Law in Nigeria, what it entails, Policy
consultancy and its intricacies and sundry business issues, especially those
pertaining to and problems associated
with ease of doing business The Business Package met him.. Excerpts.
The Business
aspect of law seems vague to most people out there, could you shed light on
what it means to be a Business Lawyer?
Business Law
is an aspect of law practice that covers day-to-day activities of our
respective businesses. It is a broad name for corporate and commercial laws, a
business lawyer however attends to legal issues relating to business and
organizations.
What does
it entails to be a Business Lawyer in terms of training needs?
Carving a
niche in the legal profession is what lawyers are really delving to from the
time immemorial. For me, I think such interested lawyer will start paying
attention to corporate law as a course from the law School days; such aspirant
will need to further his education to Business School, attend various courses
that will aid his expertise at offering advice to his Clients.
How does
this aspect of law operates in Nigeria, in terms of regulation?
There are Sections on business law of the
Nigerian Bar Association which actually sees to the growth and development of
such practice.
What is
your view about ease of doing business in Nigeria, especially the Federal
Government’s recent moves?
I think we
are on course, but there are rooms for improvement. The 2018 reports of the
World Bank group for instance shows that some states in Nigeria are still
lacking behind on the ease of doing business. The Federal Government through
the Corporate Affairs Commission has taken some measures to make business
registration less cumbersome, but when you get to each state of the federation,
you will observe that more still need to
be done. These areas are procedures to acquire land and register it, obtaining
construction and business permits as well as enforcement of contracts. Compare
to 2014 reports of the World Bank, the political class might need to set up a
one-stop-shop on these to make their respective States investment friendly.
Are you
saying states are not keying it into the FG’s initiative on ease of doing
business?
Honestly,
Most of the states today are not viable because they fail to embrace the ease
of doing business. 70% of the 36 states in Nigeria cannot operate for six
months without the monthly allocation from the Federal Government. I think
governments at state levels engage more in politics than governance, hence my
suggestion would be that they should begin to look inwardly in order to be more
productive, and ease of doing business will be important in this regard.
What does it mean for someone to be a policy consultant?
Every
organization and governments at all levels have a vision they wish to achieve
within a reasonable time. For corporate entities, policy document is the
operational manual for the company to achieve what it sets out to do, how the
employees and other players will operate will be documented. A policy
consultant is the one to do this work and follow up to ensure compliance. For
governments, a survey will be administered as to those areas they intend to
work upon, and recommendations will be made from our analysis.
How much
understanding do business owners in Nigeria have about this area and why
should anyone engage professionals in policy consultancy?
Many
organizations have folded up because the policy for such system was never
created, or badly executed even before setting up their businesses. A policy
consultant therefore measure up the healthiness of an enterprise and engenders
that corporate objectives are achieved. Like I said earlier, it is not enough
to have a business vision; you will still need to battle with Business Mission,
Company Manual, and Employee Management without rancor, Compliance with
government regulators and so on.
The Nigeria
Business Environment is moving, but at snail speed. Many factors answer for
such rationale, for example, Power is one of the major challenges we have
today. If we solve electricity problems today, our youths will be more engaged.
Ease of doing business is another, which has been highlighted earlier. Others
are high cost of governance (salaries of the political office holders,
duplication of government agencies), bad leadership and lack of awareness.
Do you
think the business aspect of law needs
to be carved out as a separate professional field as may be obtainable in other
parts of the world and why?
Oh yes, if
this is done, it will streamline the specialization in the field of law
practice. For instance, Solicitors work and Business law is fast gaining
momentum, some litigants are no longer interested in going to court, rather
they engage in the alternative dispute resolution because court processes take
time and you might be unsure of what the outcome will look like. Professionals
in the field of corporate law offer advices that safeguard you from legal risk
or exposure.
Pupilage
and proper mentoring has been a major challenge among the lawyers, what do you
have to say to this?
Law
profession is one of the oldest and a respected calling, any lawyer that want
to go far will not undermine the place of Pupilage and Mentoring. Even as the
Managing Partner of a law firm, I still subject myself to mentoring because
there will always be people who would have gone far ahead of you within the
profession. So I encourage pupilage and mentoring among the young lawyers.
You have
consulted for organizations and governments, do you have any political
ambition?
Hmn… I am not
thinking in that line currently but God is the owner of time and season. Thank you.
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