Osita is a highly regarded commercial lawyer, with more than 17 years’ experience advising global compliance programs that improve risk management and reduce violations, while simultaneously building systems to monitor and detect anti- corruption and compliance failures. As a partner in the firm, he has managed complex cross-border public and private leveraged acquisition and infrastructure financings, leading combined loan and high-yield bond financings structures.

Osita’s knowledge and experience covers the full spectrum of public Interest programmes & policy, Institutional & regulatory compliance, reforms & development and government relations. His  expertise extends to arbitration, negotiation, conciliation, mediation, Public Private Partnership, commercial transaction, MSMEs, real estate, Non-Governmental Organizations, Company Secretarial and Corporate Governance.

In addition to his familiarity with the Nigerian market, Osita also has extensive international experience having worked in the United Kingdom, advising clients on related international laws including UK Bribery Act, 2010, the UN Convention against Bribery, and OECD Anti- Bribery convention.

Expertise:

Dispute Resolution, Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution like Arbitration, Mediation, Conciliation and Negotiation), Public Finance Management, Public Private Partnerships, Energy & Natural Resources, Trade  & Investments. Corporate Governance, Debt Recovery & Insolvency, Aviation,   Maritime, Project Management, Business Development, Government Relations, Public Policy, Intellectual property, Legal & Institutional Reforms, Regulation & Compliance, Sector Entry & Emerging Markets.

Also in the UK, Osita was awarded the Commonwealth Professional Fellowship Programme, London (a three-month training programme funded by the Commonwealth Office and facilitated by the Law Society of England and Wales, International Division).

Throughout his career Osita has displayed strong leadership skills.

Osifo is rated a key member of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), having served in several capacities in the NBA, including roles as the Public Interest Programmes and Policy Adviser to the Section on Public  Interest and Development, SPIDEL, programme, Policy and Strategy Adviser (2016 – 2018), and Executive Director (2006 to 2014), serving with five Presidents of the NBA over a period of eight years, making positive impact in the areas of regulation, representation, and public interest issues; roles in which he led activities of the NBA in 125 NBA Branches spread across 36 States of Nigeria and Abuja. Osita is also a  member  of  Chartered Institute  of  Arbitrators,  Negotiation  and  Conflict  Management Group, NCMG and Business Recovery and Insolvency Practitioners Association of Nigeria (BRIPAN).

His commitment to practice reflects in his tireless service as a member of various project steering, appraisal and implementation committees with some reputable International  Organizations  and  Government  Agencies  like  the MacArthur Foundation, United Nations Development Programmes, Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President of Nigeria on Sustainable Development Goals, and the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria. He has also facilitated a strategic planning retreat for the Infrastructure Concession  Regulatory  Commission,  ICRC,  and provided technical and policy support to Code and Conduct Bureau, the CCB.