Episode 40 of the LAW Podcast Series features Anthony Idigbe, senior partner at Punuka Attorneys & Solicitors in Lagos, Nigeria.

Dr. Anthony Ikemefuna Idigbe is the Senior Partner at PUNUKA Attorneys & Solicitors. He is also involved with consultancy, business and human capital development through its Canadian affiliate, PUNUKA Consulting Inc.

He has over 39 years of experience in corporate governance, insolvency, business restructuring, arbitration, dispute resolution, privatization, capital markets, mergers & acquisitions, and oil and gas. He has advised clients on several complex transactions. He was licensed to practice law in Nigeria in 1983 and Ontario, Canada, in June 2016, appointed Notary Public in 1989 and elevated to Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) in July 2000. He holds a doctorate in cross-border insolvency from Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. His dissertation was on Norm Life Cycle Theory and the role of INSOL International in shaping the 1997 UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency.

He is a member of the Board of Directors (Trustees) of the Canadian Association of Nigerian Lawyers (CANL) and chairs the Board of Trustees of Dominican University, Ibadan. He is a fellow of the Institute of Directors Nigeria (IOD), INSOL International, the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, London, the Business Recovery and Insolvency Practitioners Association of Nigeria (BRIPAN) and the International Bar Association (IBA). In addition, he is a member of the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators (AIPN), London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA); Lagos Court of Arbitration (LCA), International Chamber of Commerce, Nigeria (ICCN), and International Insolvency Institute (III).

He is an experienced corporate director knowledgeable in global capital market operations and business restructuring. He chaired Capital Hotel Plc (2017 – 2022) and currently chairs Ikeja Hotel Plc and The Tourist Company of Nigeria Plc, all listed on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX). He is also a director of Royal Exchange Plc, listed on NGX and chairs the Statutory Audit Committee of Seplat Energy Plc, listed on NGX and the London Stock Exchange (LSE). He was elected the President of the Asaba Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (ASACCIMA) in 2022 and is the 1ST Deputy President of the Delta State Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (DACCIMA). He holds a Corporate Director Certificate from Harvard Business School, a certificate in Blockchain Law from Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Toronto, Canada, and a Post Graduate Diploma in Digital Business from Emeritus Business School.

Idigbe is the founder of the Capital Market Solicitors Association (CMSA). He chaired the 2017 Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) Legal Profession Regulation Review Committee, which reviewed the regulation of the legal profession in Nigeria. In 2013 he was appointed the National Coordinator for Nigeria, World Bank Global Forum of Law, Justice and Development Project on Treatment of Shareholders' Rights in Insolvency of Companies (2013 to 2014); and in 2012 a Member of the Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force set up by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.

In addition, he chaired the Technical Drafting Committee for the Bill that became the Investment and Securities Act 2007. He recently chaired the review committee for the same law resulting in the Investment and Securities Bill now before the National Assembly. As a consultant to the Bureau of Public Enterprises, he and now Hon Justice Nnamdi Dimgba drafted the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission Bill now Act relating to anti-trust and competition law in Nigeria.

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The LAW Podcast SeriesBy Peter GowersMar 15, 2023