TMU CSR Institute zoom session: Understanding Nigeria's Legislated Approach to Impact and Benefit Agreements - In Conversation with Lotanna Nwodo and Ibrahim Yeku

Nigeria's Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) of 2021 and subsequent regulations, like the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Host Communities Development Regulations 2022 requires oil and gas companies to financially support their host communities through a Host Communities Development Trust, HCDT. This trust mandates that a percentage of an oil company's operational expenditure (OPEX) be directed toward development projects in the communities where they operate. The HCDT is a requirement for every company holding a petroleum prospecting license or mining lease, with a portion of their operational costs designated for community development. The fund is intended to support the sustainable development of the communities that are impacted by oil and gas operations in the upstream, midstream, and downstream sectors. It could be said that the HCDT approach represents a distinctive, structured Nigerian approach to the diverse approaches to Impact and Benefit Agreements (IBAs) that are being developed around the world. The purpose of this session is to explore the background leading up to, the terms of, early results from implementation of, and future prospects and challenges associated with the Nigerian Host Community Development Trust approach.

About the Speakers

Lotanna Nwodo has a Bachelors of Law degree (Nigeria) and Masters of Law degree (Harvard) and is Legal Counsel at TotalEnergies Plc, where he provides strategic legal advice on energy law, energy transition, and energy policy for the company’s upstream and downstream operations. He co-authored the Nigeria chapter of Director’s Liability: A Worldwide Review (Third Edition), and has written several scholarly articles. Lotanna is the co-founder of The Bridge Healthcare Access Initiative – a non-profit organisation procuring access to primary healthcare for underprivileged Nigerians through enrollment to health insurance, among other strategies. Lotanna will be speaking in his personal capacity.

Ibrahim Yeku is a distinguished lawyer with more than 17 years of experience, spanning both private legal practice and in-house counsel roles at the law firm of Solola & Akpana and TotalEnergies EP Nigeria Limited. He possesses deep expertise in oil and gas law, complex litigation, grievance management, host community relations, contracts and procurement, and regulatory compliance. He earned his LLB from Lagos State University, a BL from the Nigerian Law School, and an LLM in Compliance and Risk Management from Thomas Jefferson School of Law, San Diego, California. He serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of the Compliance Professional Magazine (Society for Corporate Compliance & Ethics, SCCE) and he is the Country Advisor for the International Due Diligence Organization (IDDO).

About the Moderator

Dr. Kernaghan Webb holds Bachelor's, Masters and Doctorate degrees in law, and is an Associate Professor in the Toronto Metropolitan University Department of Law and Business. He is also the Founding Director of the TMU Institute for the Study of Corporate Social Responsibility. Prof. Webb's extensive law and regulation research and publications have among other things been cited and quoted  (external link) by the Supreme Court of Canada. Dr. Webb has also been employed by or advised governments and inter-governmental bodies, and he has been on the board of directors or otherwise assisted private sector, civil society organizations on regulatory matters. Professor Webb was appointed Special Advisor to the UN Global Compact regarding the development of the ISO 26000 social responsibility standard, he has played leadership roles in the development of international and national social and economic standards, and received international and national recognition for his leadership.

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