Africa|Published October 12, 2019

Expert Oil & Gas Lawyer, NJ Ayuk Advises African Countries On Resource Negotiations

The Cameroon-born legal luminary, N. J Ayuk, who has two decades of experience in the oil and gas sector says energy industries are springboards for diversifying and growing the over-all economies of African countries.

Forbes writer Mfonobong Nsehe says Ayuk in his works “offers a road map for the continent doing a better job of using its vast energy resources to improve its peoples’ lives”. This, he adds, is due to Ayuk’s “grasp of the continent’s energy landscape that few can match”.

To Ayuk, “too often, our natural resources create wealth for foreign investors and a select group of African elites while everyday people fail to benefit.”

“When negotiations involving foreign investors’ oil and gas exploration, production, and revenue-sharing took place, Africans were not at the table—or even in the room,” the enterprising lawyer furthers.

To the managing partner of Centurion Law Group – a pan-African corporate law conglomerate, a primary reason why Africa is still on the losing end despite being on the negotiating end now, is lack of preparation. It is in this light that he has dedicated much of his career to proposing models that will enable African States reap benefits from all processes in the sector.

NJ Ayuk is author of <<Billions at Play>> which focuses on how oil and gas revenues could be used to develop Africa if properly managed.

“Billions at Play: The Future of Africa Energy and Doing Deals” is the title of Ayuk’s second book. Citing the case of Cameroon, the experts notes that the country also has a case of missing revenue with a whooping 46% of oil rents money not appearing in government coffers. American business magazine Forbes describes the work as “a comprehensive but entertaining look at Africa’s oil & gas present and future”.

“Ayuk discusses energy projects that have failed to live up to expectations as well as successes that have bolstered countries’ economies and their people’s livelihoods,” it adds.

There is the need, NJ Ayuk notes, to start having honest conversations with companies seeking to exploit energy resources in Africa as a whole.

Please click link below to read more about ‘Billions at Play’