Inna Ali is a key Senior Associate in the Energy & Natural Resources and Corporate Commercial practice groups, respectively. She also heads the Abuja office.
Inna has an LLM from SOAS, University of London; LLB from the University of Essex, and has been called to the Nigerian Bar. She has extensively advised on various projects within the corporate, infrastructure, energy & natural resources sectors, including project development, corporate advisory, complex regulatory compliance and government relations.
She is an active member of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and has served in several capacities including as Head, External Relations Committee of the NBA Women’s Forum. She has also been a key member of various NBA Committees, including the NBA Annual General Conference Planning Committees; the NBA-Office of the Speaker House of Representatives Joint Working Group for Review of the Electoral Reform Bill 2021, amongst others. Notably, she currently serves on the Advisory Board of LAWSANAID – an initiative that provides an enabling platform for law and aspiring law students with disabilities in Africa.
Inna has written on diverse topics and has publications in international journals, including in the Journal of World Economics as well as the Centre for Policy Studies, United Kingdom. She is an advocate of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, notably SDGs 1 (zero poverty), 3 (good health & wellbeing), 4 (quality education), 7 (affordable and clean energy), and 13 (climate action).
A Selection of Relevant Expertise
- Advising UTM Offshore Limited on the financing of the development of a floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility purposed to process about 175 mmscf/d of natural gas sourced from an oil asset. The FLNG Project is the first floating LNG facility to be developed in Nigeria.
- Advising Sun Africa (a leading solar energy infrastructure developer across Africa) on the development of 961 MWp solar projects and 443 MWh of utility-scale Battery Energy Storage Systems across Nigeria in partnership with the Federal Government of Nigeria.
- Advised Oilserv Limited (as concessionaire) on the development, construction and / or rehabilitation of downstream petroleum infrastructure through a design, finance, build, operate, maintain and transfer model.
- Advised Skipper T&D DMCC on the development and financing of a grid-connected 20 x 100MWpv solar power projects across the 19 Northern States and the Federal Capital Territory (Abuja) of Nigeria.
- Advised Sojitz Corporation, one of the leading conglomerate investment and trading houses listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, in connection with its acquisition of a 25% interest in the holding company of Axela, the largest private sector gas distributor in Nigeria. This transaction marks the beginning of a collaboration between Sojitz and Helios in West African gas downstream businesses.
- Advised African Infrastructure Investment Managers (Pty) Ltd and its consortium on the value-added concession under the Federal Government Highway Development and Management Initiative (HDMI) in connection with the development, operation, maintenance and management of certain Federal Highways in Nigeria.
- Advised Azura Power West Africa Limited and its sponsors on the development and financing of a 459MW gas-fired independent power plant in Edo State, Nigeria for the supply of power to the national grid.
- Advised Engie Group (the world’s largest independent power producer) on its proposed joint development of two separate solar PV projects in Northern Nigeria.
- Advised the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (managers of the Nigerian Sovereign Wealth Fund) and Julius Berger Investments as Project Sponsors on the development and the approximately US$1 billion financing of the Second Niger Bridge project.
- Advised Pan Africa Solar on the development of a hybrid solar and diesel IPP for the Katsina State University, and on a number of other solar projects in Northern Nigeria.
- Advised ExxonMobil and the national oil company, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), on the sale of the 540MW integrated Qua Iboe Power Project (“QIPP”) to a joint venture company of Black Rhino Group, the Dangote Group and NNPC Power (the power sector subsidiary of NNPC).
- Advised on the development and financing of the Abuja Centenary City – a mixed-use real estate development being conducted on a PPP basis.
Professional Memberships
- Member – International Bar Association
- Member – Nigerian Bar Association
Expertise
