Ridwan ‘Tola Bello

‘Tola has advised on transactions relating to oil and gas, real estate and property, telecommunications, intellectual property, finance and banking, and contracts. Before SMB was established, he practised first at one of Nigeria’s top-tier commercial law firms and then at an arbitration law firm in Paris, France, where he worked on both transactional and dispute-resolution matters, including several ground-breaking matters of significant importance and difficulty.

‘Tola was involved in representing one of Nigeria’s largest oil and gas companies as counsel in an institutional arbitration against a major trader in petroleum products. He has acted as arbitral secretary in a London maritime arbitration between an international vessel and oil storage facility leasing company and an international petroleum exploration company in Nigeria, and has been appointed as an arbitrator in a Nigerian Institute of Chartered Arbitrators (NICArb) arbitration.

He currently serves as Legal Adviser to one of Nigeria’s top entertainment and brand companies and has advised on several commercial transactions. He also advised a transportation and haulage company through a series of investment rounds with its investors, and is currently representing an internet service provider on the sale of its business to one of Nigeria’s leading IT companies.