The Attorney General Alliance Africa, AGA-Africa has urged lawyers in Nigeria to take advantage of the emerging opportunities in the crypto currency industry to diversify their legal practice.
The group made the recommendation during a two days workshop in Lagos tagged: ‘Digital Asset and Crypto Currency: Legal & Cyber Security Issues’, organised for lawyers and other stakeholder in collaboration with the Lagos branch of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA.
Several speakers at the workshop noted that lawyers need to equip themselves with knowledge of digital assets and crytocurrency so as to be able to diversify their legal practice into the emerging industry.
In his opening remarks, Chairman of NBA Lagos, Mr. Ikechukwu Uwanna noted that many legal practitioners in the country are focused on litigation but insisted that digital asset and crypto currency industry presents a huge opportunity for diversification.
“One of problems with legal practice in Nigeria is that too many lawyers are focus on litigation and court appearances. We need to explore emerging industries and
I believe that there are huge opportunities for lawyers in the digital assets and crypto currency space. The industry in growing and any good lawyer should take advantage of the huge opportunities in the sector.”
Also speaking virtually at the workshop, Head of Africa FinTech Foundry (AFF), Nigeria, Daniel Awe said that World Economic Forum data revealed that projected tokenized digital asset market volume is likely to reach €23.56 trillion by 2027 meaning that
10 per cent of the world’s GDP will be tokenised and on a blockchain.”
Although Awe cautioned that the industry is high risk and often time unpredictable, he noted that lawyers need to gain good knowledge of the sector to able to broaden their practice especially in the area of regulation and drafting of smart contracts.
He further stated that the industry has continued to grow despite local and international attempts to stiffle it, adding that the digital asset market is attracting a lot of investments.
Speaking on the need for clear-cut guidelines for the industry, a global disputes investigator Heather Martin, said that available data revealed that Nigerians are top crypto currency users in the world.
“Nigeria has shown more interest in crypto than any other country in the world. The United Arab Emirates ranks second with the second highest proportion of its population searching for the word ‘cryptocurrency’ and ‘invest in crypto’, she said.
On his part, a Special Agent at Arizona Attorney General’s Office, Roger Geisler, warned that a poorly regulated digital assets industry was a risk to legitimate players and could cause users great financial loss.
Head Media, Entertainment and Intellectual Property Law, PUNUKA Attorneys, Isioma Alexis Idigbe, harped on the need for effective regulation saying that digital asset and crypto currency industry is a reality that everybody must accept.
