Onyinyechi Akpara

Onyinyechi is an Associate in the firm’s Energy & Natural Resources Practice Group. Her professional background spans commercial transactions, regulatory compliance and corporate governance within the Energy and Finance Sectors.

Onyinyechi holds a Bachelor of Laws (LL. B) from the University of Nigeria, graduating with a Second-Class Upper Division, and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 2017. Prior to joining TEMPLARS, she served as in-house Counsel at Nigeria’s largest electricity distribution company and before that, in legal advisory roles at two financial services and investment management firms.

Her practice focuses on Corporate & Commercial transactions in the power, energy, and finance sectors, where she regularly advises on contract structuring, regulatory permitting, project execution, and governance. 

Relevant Experience

• Part of the Legal Team that negotiated and executed a 100MW Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) between a trading licensee and Nigeria’s largest electricity distribution company pursuant to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission’s Order on the Transition to Bilateral Trading in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry.
• Led the end-to-end drafting and successful execution of multiple Connection Agreements between a leading electricity distribution Company and high demand industrial/commercial consumers (Point load and Maximum demand customers), enabling the direct integration of critical facilities into Nigeria’s largest distribution network.
• Spearheaded the review and final execution of a Supply Agreement with an African owned Data Center requiring a load demand of 1MW (scalable to 3MW) following the restructuring of the commercial arrangement for the transaction.
• Handled the review and negotiation of the transaction documents for an on-lending facility issued by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) under the Federal Government’s Distribution Recovery Program for electricity distribution Companies.
• Part of the Team that provided legal support for vendor due diligence and risk assessments in connection with multi-billion-naira operational and infrastructure projects, including review of corporate standing, financial robustness, and regulatory compliance of potential vendors of a Public Limited Company.
• Advised a Public Limited Company on the structure and legal sufficiency of security documents (guarantees and performance securities) issued by Vendors/EPC contractors to safeguard advance payments and performance obligations on related procurement and operational projects.

Professional Awards

• Recipient of the MD/CEO’s Honorary Award of Excellence, EKEDP (2024)
• Member of the award-winning in-house Energy and Power Team – ESQ Nigerian Legal Awards (2022)

Professional Membership

• Member, Nigerian Bar Association
• Member, Nigerian Bar Association-Section on Business Law (NBA-SBL)
• Member, Lawyers in Energy Network
• Member, NBA-SBL Energy Committee

Expertise

Energy and Natural Resources