Seye Aina becomes first female chairman of BNLF

On June5, 2017, Seye Aina became the first woman to be appointed chair of the British Nigeria Law Forum since its inception in 2001.

BNLF was set up following the ‘African Law Week’ Conference, organised by the British Council in Nigeria. Prof Oba Nsugbe QC, SAN is one of the founding members and past chair of BNLF. The organisation based in London, is now recognised as an influential professional membership organisation for British and Nigerian legal professionals.

Seye is dual qualified, called to the Nigerian Bar in 1985 and also admitted as a Solicitor in England & Wales in 1994. She has senior management/legal experience in local government with expertise in professional regulation and investigating fitness to practise in the Healthcare professions. Her public appointments include an Independent Member of the Professional Conduct Committee of the UK Council of Psychotherapy and also an Independent Member of the Standards Committee of the Greater London Authority. Seye is the founder of Paceworking, a professional network organizing business events. She has also used this platform to support charities such as the Down Syndrome.

Foundation, Nigeria and has organised several events for International Women’s Day. She is also the organising partner of the Nigeria Development and Finance Forum Conferences which are held in the UK, Nigeria and the USA.

Seye is extremely honoured to be elected as the new chair of BNLF, she is a longstanding member of BNLF and served as an executive committee member from 2008 – 2014. During that period the committee organised several events and training programmes in London, Abuja and Lagos. This included a courtesy visit to the then Lagos State Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN and BNLF also hosted a dinner at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja.

She is already in contact with the President of the Nigerian Bar Association Mr A.B Mahmood, SAN who congratulated her on her new appointment. BNLF has been working with a committee of the NBA headed by Chief Idigbe, SAN working on proposals for reforms in the legal profession in Nigeria. In addition to this BNLF committee members were also at the NBA’s Section on Business Law Conference, ‘Law and changing the face of legal practice’. Seye will continue the tradition of working closely with stakeholders in the UK, Nigeria and Africa. As part of a new initiative to set up specialist working groups and a skills database, BNLF is conducting a survey of members. The new chair has also been active with other BME law organisations responding to the Grenfell Tower fire tragedy in London. Seye has a great record of community engagement and working with professionals.

During her tenure she seeks to work hard to enhance the reputation of BNLF, encourage experienced lawyers to share good practise and
knowledge and to improve the opportunities for all members especially women, students and young lawyers.