Onyinyechi Akpara

Position: Associate. Contact: Phone: +234 02015155890. Practice Areas: Energy and Natural Resources. 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