Damilola S. Olawuyi, SAN FCIArb

Professor Damilola S. Olawuyi SAN, FCIArb, specialises in environmental law, energy law and extractive industry law.

Professor Olawuyi was formerly an international energy lawyer at Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP, Calgary, where he served on the firm’s global committee on extractive resource investments in Africa.

Professor Olawuyi is a Professor of Petroleum, Energy and Environmental Law at the HBKU Law School, Qatar, and chancellor’s fellow at the Institute for Oil, Gas, Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development (OGEES Institute), Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti, Nigeria. In 2020, he was appointed as an Independent Expert on the African Union’s Working Group on extractive industries, environment and human rights violations in Africa.

A prolific and highly regarded scholar, Professor Olawuyi has published 8 books and over 100 influential peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and reports on energy finance, sustainable development law and extractive resource governance. He has lectured on energy and environmental law in over 40 countries in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and the Middle East. Professor Olawuyi serves on the executive committees and boards of several organisations. He is Vice-Chair of the International Law Association globally.

In recognition of his "substantial contribution to legal scholarship and jurisprudence," Professor Olawuyi was awarded the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (Queen's Counsel equivalent) in the year 2020, aged thirty-seven, therefore becoming the youngest academic ever elevated to the rank. In 2021, he was appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari as a member of the Governing Board of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI).

Expertise

His areas of expertise include:

• Environmental law
• Energy law
• Extractive industry law

Education

• Doctor of Philosophy in Law (DPhil), University of Oxford, United Kingdom (2013)
• Master of Laws (LL.M), Harvard University, United States (2009)
• Master of Laws (LL.M), University of Calgary, Canada (2008)
• Bar Certificate (First Class Honours), Nigerian Law School, Abuja (2006)
• Bachelor of Laws (First Class Honours), Igbinedion University, Okada, Nigeria (2005)

Membership and Appointments

 Appointments

• Energy Lawyer at Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP, Calgary Office (2012-2016)
• Professor of Energy and Environmental Law, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Doha, Qatar (2016-present)
• Chancellor’s Fellow and Director, Institute for Oil, Gas, Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development (OGEES Institute), Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti, Nigeria (2012-present)
• Lead Legal Consultant and Expert, World Bank and Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development Project, Government of Nigeria.  Project name: Regulatory Framework for Environmental Management in Nigeria’s Mining and Minerals Sector (2019-2021)
• Legal Consultant, United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), Project name: Mapping of the Scope of Environmental Law Education in MENA Universities (2021)
• Legal Consultant, United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Project name: Promoting Environmental Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in Qatar (2020)
• Expert Consultant on Environment and Agricultural Law, Shandong Wanzhu Agriculture Science and Technology Co., Ltd. 山东万竹农业科技有限公司 (Zibo City, Shandong Province, China) (2018- 2020)
• Legal Consultant to the Facility for Oil Sector Transformation in Nigeria (FOSTER) Project, funded by the Government of the United Kingdom, Department for International Development (2018-2020)
• Herbert Smith Freehills Visiting Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom (2019)
• Senior Visiting Research Fellow, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, Oxford, United Kingdom (2016)
• Visiting Professor of Energy and Environmental Law, Strathmore University Law School, Nairobi, Kenya (2018-present )
• Visiting Professor of Energy and Environmental Law, University of Cape Town, South Africa (2018-present)
• Visiting Professor of Energy Law, Centre for Petroleum, Energy Economics and Law (CPEEL), University of Ibadan, Nigeria (2016-present)
• Senior Legal Fellow, Center for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL),  McGill University, Montreal, Canada (2009-present)

 Professional Memberships

• Global Vice Chair and Member of the Management Committee, International Law Association (2018- present)
• Independent Expert, African Union’s Working Group on Extractive Industries, Environment and Human Rights (2020-present)
• Member, Governing Board, Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Presidency, Federal Government of Nigeria (2021- present)
• Member, Academic Advisory Group, International Bar Association, Section on Energy, Environment, Natural Resources, and Infrastructure Law (SEERIL) (2019-present)
• Co-Chair, Africa Interest Group, American Society of International Law (ASIL), Washington DC, United States of America (2016-2019)
• Expert Member of the Federal Technical Committee on National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency Bill, Committee on Environment and Habitat, Federal House of Representatives, Government of Nigeria, Abuja (2018-2020)
• Board Director, Environmental Law Center, Alberta, Canada (2015-2018)
• Member, IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law, International Union for Conservation of Nature, Gland, Switzerland (2016-present)
• Member of the Editorial Advisory Board, Review of European, Comparative and International Environmental Law (RECIEL), Wiley (2021-present)
• Member of the Editorial Board, Carbon and Climate Law Review (Lexxion Publishers, Denmark) (2016-present)
• Member of the Editorial Advisory Board, Lexis Nexis, Gulf Legal Advisor (2018-present)

Publications

Selected publications include:

Books and Chapters:

• Damilola Olawuyi, “Environmental Law in Arab States” (Oxford University Press, 2022)
• Damilola Olawuyi (ed), “Local Content and Sustainable Development in Global Energy Markets” (Cambridge University Press, 2021)
• Damilola Olawuyi (ed.), “Climate Change Law and Policy in the Middle East and North Africa” (Routledge, 2022)
• Damilola Olawuyi, “Extractives Industry Law in Africa” (Springer, 2018)
• Eduardo Pereira & Damilola Olawuyi (eds), “Practical Considerations to Negotiate an Enforcement Joint Operating Agreement under Civil Law Jurisdictions” (Netherlands: 2nd Edition, Kluwer Law International, 2020)
• Damilola Olawuyi, “The Human Rights Based Approach to Carbon Finance (Cambridge University Press, 2016)
• Damilola Olawuyi, ‘Advancing Resilience to Price Volatility in Oil and Gas Markets: Current Challenges and Ways Forward in the MENA Region’ in Catherine Banet et al (eds.), Resilience in Energy, Infrastructure, and Natural Resources Law: Examining Legal Pathways for Sustainability in Times of Disruption (Oxford University Press, 2022).
• Damilola Olawuyi, ‘Corporate Accountability for the Natural Environment and Climate Change’, in Ilias Bantekas and MA Stein (eds), Cambridge Companion to Business and Human Rights (Cambridge University Press 2021).
• Damilola Olawuyi, ‘International Cooperation in Oil and Gas: The Role of OPEC and the GECF’ in M.M. Roggenkamp, K.J. de Graaf and R.C. Fleming (eds), Encyclopedia – Energy Law and the Environment (Edward Elgar, 2021).
• Damilola Olawuyi, ‘Enhancing the Benefits of Local Content in Extractive Industry Agreements’ in Dwight Newman and Ibironke Odumosu, Indigenous Industry Agreements, Natural Resources and the Law (Routledge, 2021).
• Damilola Olawuyi, ‘From Energy Consumers to Energy Citizens: Legal Dimensions of Energy Citizenship’ in K Hunter et al (eds) Sustainable Energy Democracy and the Law (Netherlands: Brill, 2021) 101-123.
• Damilola Olawuyi & Amer Tabbara, ‘Decommissioning in Qatar’, in Eduardo G. Pereira et al (eds) The Regulation of Decommissioning, Abandonment and Reuse Initiatives in the Oil and Gas Industry (Kluwer, 2020) 559-594.
• Damilola Olawuyi, ‘Joint Operating Agreements in Qatar’ in Eduardo Pereira & Damilola Olawuyi, Practical Considerations to Negotiate an Enforceable Joint Operating Agreement under Civil Law Jurisdictions (Netherlands: 2nd Edition, Kluwer, 2020) 271-290.
• Damilola Olawuyi and Eduardo Pereira (eds) Palgrave Handbook of Natural Gas and Global Energy Transitions (London: Palgrave Macmillan, forthcoming, 2022)
• Damilola Olawuyi and Victoria Nalule (eds), Energy and Mining Arbitration Law in Africa (London: Palgrave Macmillan, forthcoming, 2022)

Articles:

• Damilola Olawuyi, Sustainable Development and the Water-Energy-Food Nexus: Legal Challenges and Emerging Solutions (2020) 103 (1) Journal of Environmental Science & Policy (Elsevier, London)
• Damilola Olawuyi, Can MENA Extractive Industries Support the Global Energy Transition? Current Opportunities and Future Directions (2020) Extractive Industry and Society Journal (Elsevier, London)
• Damilola Olawuyi, Local content and procurement requirements in oil and gas contracts: Regional trends in the Middle East and North Africa (2019) 37 (1) Journal of Energy & Natural Resources Law (Taylor and Francis, London) 93-117.
• Damilola Olawuyi, ‘Local Content Policies and Their Implications for International Investment Law’ in Julien Chaisse et al, Handbook of International Investment Law (Springer, 2019) 1-21.Damilola Olawuyi, Legal Strategies and Tools for Mitigating Legal Risks Associated with Oil and Gas Investments in Africa 40 (1) OPEC Energy Rev. (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell) (2015).