The Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Afe Babalola University, Damilola S. Olawuyi, who is also a professor of law and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, has advised lawyers and law students to be hardworking, committed, and to take advantage of mentorship.

He said this during an interview with Catch up Media and Publicicity, not TheNigeriaLawyer

Olawuyi, who is also an arbitrator with expertise in petroleum, mining, energy, environment and sustainable development law, advised them to build relationships with colleagues within and outside the profession

“As I tell my students, to succeed in anything in life hard work, absolute commitment, and mentoring are very essential. For lawyers and law students, hard work simply means going the extra mile in preparing for tasks, which requires absolute commitment, in terms of having a disciplined and balanced routine that accommodates work and leisure.

“The moment a lawyer becomes unreliable in terms of delivering quality work at all times, then the future becomes precarious. Of course, it is also very important to actively build relationships with colleagues within and outside the profession, in order to widen one’s horizon and knowledge base. Having a wide network of mentors brings boundless opportunities, and opportunities ultimately open the door for professional success.” he said

When asked about the motivation behind his recently published book titled “Local Content and Sustainable Development in Global Energy Markets”, Olawuyi said there have been calls for greater participation of indigenes in resource development and in response to which various countries have produced Local Contents Requirements and Laws (LCRs).

According to him, if those LCRs are not properly designed, they could produce negative effects on social, human rights and environmental outcomes.

“Over the last years, we have seen a geometric rise in calls for greater involvement of indigenes and local communities in resource development activities (such as oil and gas, mining, agriculture, and renewable energy projects). We have also witnessed a rise in localism across the world, i.e ‘buy local’, ‘act local’ and ‘support local’ movements that aim to mobilize support for local industries and locally owned businesses and entrepreneurial ventures in supply value chains. In response, countries have developed local content requirements and laws (LCRs) that stipulate a percentage of goods and services that must be sourced from local industries and individuals.

“However, while LCRs generally aim to boost domestic value creation and economic growth, inappropriately designed LCRs could produce negative social, human rights and environmental outcomes, and a misalignment of a country’s fiscal policies and global sustainable development goals. These unintended outcomes may ultimately serve as disincentive to foreign participation in a country’s energy market.

“In developing this book, I sought to understand how the critical intersections between LCRs and the implementation of sustainable development goals have been handled in frontier global energy markets across the world. The aim was to develop a book that simplifies the scope, content, and guiding principles of effective LCRs. The book is therefore prepared in a user-friendly style to enhance its utility among its primary audience, namely students, corporations, energy ministries, local content agencies, law firms, arbitrators, courts and international tribunals before whom arguments over local content clauses and policies often come for resolution.”

Giving insight into the book, the learned Prof. said the book examines the critical intersections between local content requirements (LCRs) and the implementation of sustainable development treaties in global energy markets including Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Latin America, South America, Australasia and the Middle East.

He added, “With 21 chapters from leading scholars in different parts of the world, the book provides an authoritative exploration of the nature, scope, and contours of LCRs, and how countries avoid misalignments between LCRs, and a country’s wider social, environment, trade, investment, and human rights treaty obligations.

“In doing so, the book outlines the guiding principles of a sustainable and rights-based approach – focusing on transparency, accountability, gender justice and other human rights issues – to the design, application and implementation of LCRs in global energy markets to avoid misalignments.

“Overall, the book aims to enhance an understanding of the relationship among, LCRs, sustainable development, distributive justice, gender justice, social licence to operate, and corporate social responsibility in the energy sector.”

Furthermore, Prof. Olawuyi explained that the book has filled some gaps that were not addressed by several other publications in area of energy law

According to him, while earlier texts have focused on surveying existing laws and policies on LCRs in select countries, the global, multi-dimensional, and intersectional nature of LCRs and sustainable development has yet to receive detailed, book-length exposition.

Therefore, he said, the book fills this gap in three ways: “First, it unpacks the relationship among local content, sustainable development, distributive justice, gender justice, social license to operate and corporate social responsibility in energy markets. Second, it provides a complete survey that covers Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Latin America, South America, Australasia and the Middle East. Third, it provides recommendations on the guiding principles of a sustainable and rights-based approach to the design, application and implementation of LCRs in global energy markets.

“In so doing, the book sheds new light on the oft-neglected social dimension of the design, application and implementation of LCRs, especially the question whether LCRs aid or hinder the implementation of sustainable development treaties in energy markets.”