Jovia is a supervisor and reviewer of the African Petroleum Legislation Atlas (APLA) ensuring quality checks are made towards content on the platform. She is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya, a member of the Law Society of Kenya, and the ICJ (Kenyan Chapter). She holds a Bachelor of Laws (LL. B) from the Uganda Christian University, a Postgraduate Diploma in Law from the Kenya School of Law and a Master of Laws (LL. M) in Oil and Gas Law from the University of Aberdeen.
Jovia is a legal researcher at the Strathmore Extractives Industry Centre and Extractives Baraza and is in charge of stakeholder engagement and social media co-ordination. Jovia’s over 6 years’ experience as a legal officer and Senior Associate at various law firms in Uganda and Kenya has seen her practicing environmental law, conveyancing and commercial law, ADR and gender advocacy.
James is one of the supervisors for the African Petroleum Legislation Atlas (APLA) Pilot Project. He is an accomplished legal researcher at Strathmore Extractives Industry Centre (SEIC), based at Strathmore Law School, Nairobi. His areas of experience include, inter alia, business and human rights, natural resources law (minerals and mineral oils), environment and land law, law and gender, indigenous law and conflict resolution, and sustainable development. With over five years’ experience as a researcher, James has developed excellent skills in research methodologies, project design and implementation, project monitoring and evaluation (M&E), curriculum development, policy design, and stakeholder mapping and engagement. James is passionate about sustainable exploitation and utilization of natural resources and is appreciative of the importance of action research in policy making. He holds a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from the University of Nairobi.
Director SEIC, Project Lead and Oversight APLA Pilot Project (Strathmore)
Laura is an accomplished professional holding a wealth of experience in project management, stakeholder engagement, policy design, curriculum design, research and capacity building in the Energy and Extractives Sector. She holds a B.Eng in Chemical Engineering from Sheffield University and an Msc. in Oil and Gas Engineering from Aberdeen University.
Laura currently the Director at Strathmore Extractives Industry Centre (SEIC), housed at the Strathmore University Law School. SEIC is a semi-autonomous research centre involved in evidence based and impact driven research, capacity building, policy development and stakeholder engagement in Africa’s extractives industry.
She is also the Project Lead and Oversight of the African Petroleum Legislation Atlas (APLA) Pilot Project at the Strathmore University. Together, SEIC and the ALSF aim to develop the APLA Platform with the objective to support African countries in maximizing petroleum resource benefits through:
(i) promoting transparency, accessibility and comparison of Africa’s petroleum laws;
(ii) facilitating the preparation, revision and implementation of petroleum laws;
(iii) providing a living database that will catalyse research and policy debates on legal and regulatory issues; and
(iv) promote the development of local legal expertise on African petroleum laws.
Laura is an expert in the energy and extractives sector and has distinguished herself through her work in the sector, which centres on gender in the extractives industry, local content, Environment, Health and Safety in the Petroleum Sector, transparency and accountability, youth and innovation, SME development as well as different capacity building initiatives.
Laura also sits as a board member for the Society of Petroleum Engineers – Kenyatta University Chapter.
She is passionate about local content and is always working to bridge the gender gaps within the energy and extractive sectors.
Dr. Arron Tchouka Singhe is an energy strategy expert, and key advisor to African countries on policies and strategies to maximize the benefits of exploitation of their oil & gas resources. He currently serves at Chief Oil Sector Officer at the African Development Bank and has previously held technical, managerial and business development positions in research institutions, petroleum industry and strategic management consulting. He holds a PhD and MSc in Petroleum Engineering from Clausthal University of Technology in Germany and an MBA from Robert Gordon University in the UK. He earlier obtained a first degree in Petrochemical Engineering from the Rivers State University of Sciences and Technology in Nigeria.
Arron serves as a member of the APLA Secretariat, mandated with coordinating the creation of the platform, overseeing content management, and training the Legal Research Team.
Mr. Mohamed Stevens is a Legal Counsel at African Legal Support Facility (ALSF) hosted by the African Development Bank. His role involves providing capacity building and advisory support in the energy and extractive sector to governments in the Content. He holds a Post Graduate Certificate in Petroleum Development and Operations from PETRAD – The International Programme for Petroleum Management and Administration (Stavanger, Norway). He also holds a LLM in Petroleum Law and Policy and International Dispute Resolution and Management from the Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy (CEPMLP) University of Dundee (Scotland). He earlier obtained a Post Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice and a Graduate Diploma in Law from BPP Law School (England and Wales).
Mohamed serves as the Project Officer and a member of the APLA Secretariat, mandated with coordinating the creation of the APLA platform, overseeing content management, and training the Legal Research Team.
Fred Kabanda is the Manager, responsible for Extractive Resources at the African Natural Resources Centre of the African Development Bank.
Fred has formal training in petroleum engineering, geology and management. Before joining the Bank, he worked with the Government of Uganda as Assistant Commissioner in the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development. He also previously lectured in the Department of Geology and Petroleum Studies at Makerere University.
He has worked with extractive sectors for over 25 years and been involved with data acquisition, licensing, policy setting, regulation of company operations and general natural resources management.
Dr. Abdoul Karim Kabèlè Camara is a Legal Counsel at the African Legal Support Facility (ALSF) hosted at the African Development Bank (AfDB). His role involves the management of advisory services of complex commercial transactions and capacity building projects of civil servants across Africa in the extractive sector.
Dr. Kabèlè Camara is an Advocate registered at the Guinean Bar. He holds an LLM degree (Diplôme d’Etude Approfondi – DEA) in Private Law from the University of Cheikh Anta Diop (Senegal); an LLM degree in African Business Community Law from the “Institut de Droit Communautaire” – IDC (Côte d’Ivoire) with distinction; and a dual LLM degree in Mineral Law and Policy and in Petroleum Taxation and Finance (with Distinction from the Centre for Energy, Petroleum and Mineral Law and Policy (CEPMLP) University of Dundee, United Kingdom. Finally he holds a PhD degree from CEPMLP on “Shared Used of Mining Infrastructure Development and Regulation in Sub-Saharan Africa”.
Dr. Kabèlè Camara is the task manager and project coordinator and member of the APLA Secretariat. He oversees the creation of the APLA platform, its content management and the training of the Legal Research Team (LRT).
Christine Njane is currently pursuing an LLB degree at Strathmore University Law School in Nairobi, Kenya. She is part of the Legal Research Team for the APLA Pilot Project charged with collating petroleum legislative and regulatory documents for Ghana, analysing the laws and populating the APLA Platform. Since 2018, Christine has served as a member of the Strathmore Law Clinic, which is a student-run organisation that facilitates access to justice through providing free legal information. In 2018, she won the best clinician award, which has since seen her rise through the ranks of leadership from the Under-Secretary General of the Human Rights Unit in 2019 to the Secretary General in 2020. Additionally, she is an intern at the Strathmore Institute for Family Studies and Ethics, whose primary focus is family-based research. She also volunteers at the Strathmore Community Outreach Program through mentoring of high school students. Her research interests include human rights, particularly children and women rights and governance.
Khalil Badbess is a fourth year LLB student at Strathmore University Law School. As a researcher in the APLA Legal Research Team, he has been involved in compiling relevant legislation for Ghana and analyzing and categorizing relevant provisions according to thematic areas.
He currently sits as Editor-in-Chief of the Strathmore Law Review, a peer-reviewed legal academic journal. In his capacity as Editor-in-Chief, he also serves as a sitting member of the Yash and Jill Cottrell Ghai Writing Prize Selection Committee (2020-2021). Additionally, he has worked on an in-house project at Strathmore University where he helped develop a database for African Union documents.
Khalil is passionate about legal academic writing and firmly believes that law and legal research should be used to create a better Africa. In addition to his scholarly interests in legal theory and public law, he has developed a keen interest in petroleum law.
Nduta Muhindi is an L.L.B candidate at Strathmore University Law School in Nairobi, Kenya. Some of her legal practice interests include: (a) oil and gas, (b) arbitration, and (c) regional integration. As one of the Legal Research trainees for the African Petroleum Legislation Atlas (APLA) Pilot project, she is part of the very talented and dedicated team that collated, analysed and uploaded the petroleum legislative and regulatory instruments on the APLA Pilot Platform. Aside from the work done on the APLA Pilot Platform, she is also an intern at the Strathmore Centre for Law and Policy which focuses on regional integration as well as constitutional law and national security matters. This entails research work, policy drafting and formulation and the planning and coordinating of conferences, roundtables, and fire-side charts. Moreover, Nduta works with the Strathmore Law Clinic which is a student run organisation that is dedicated to furthering access to justice for all through provision of accurate legal information. The Strathmore Law Clinic does this by focusing on Human rights, Criminal Justice and Entrepreneurship.
Butera Michael is a legal researcher carrying out research at APLA platform by locating petroleum and related legislation, and conducting comparative research on specific topics across different countries' petroleum legislation with an aim of providing a living database that will catalyse research and policy debates on legal and regulatory issues in Africa.
Butera is a Strathmore law school scholarship recipient, he is a current Publishing Editor of the Strathmore Law Review, Senior Clinician at Strathmore Law Clinic and has worked as a legal researcher at Center for Intellectual Property and Technology Law (CIPIT).
He is dedicated at working with research institutions that aim at improving Africa’s legislation and legal system as a whole, his work ethics, punctuality, ambition, commitment, hardworking and reliability are the key ideals that drives him. He is positive and Enthusiastic about Africa’s development.
He likes reading African Literature and he is a firm devotee of Africa decolonization project. He is interested in Third World Approach to International Law and Economics, Traditional Knowledge and African Philosophy.
Ryan Mwaniki is an LLB candidate at Strathmore University which is located in Nairobi, Kenya. He is also a Research Assistant at the Strathmore Centre for Law and Policy as well as a member of the Strathmore Law Clinic. Some of his practice interests include: Oil and Gas, Corporate Law, Labour Laws and Arbitration. His previous legal research experience includes assisting with the creation of a training manual on Labour Law for expert training in Somalia which was part of the Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) Project in Somalia that was conducted by the International Labour Organisation in collaboration with other partners. Similarly, he has worked as a research assistant in a Commonwealth project that involved analysing the steps taken by the Kenyan Judiciary to digitize the court system in order to improve access to justice. As part of the APLA Legal Research Team, he has been involved in compiling petroleum and related legislation for Chad, conducting comparative analysis on specific thematic topics related to the country’s primary legislation, and populating the APLA Platform.
Vianney Sebayiga is an incoming 4th year student at Strathmore Law School. He is currently serving as the Academic Executive of the Strathmore University Student Council 2019/2020. His interest in research started in 2018 when he joined the Strathmore Law Review (SLR), an annual peer reviewed, student-edited academic journal. At the SLR, he gained analytical editorial and writing skills. He served as a Senior Editor and Board member till February 2020. Growing up in Uganda, he observed the barriers to access to justice ranging from lack of accessible legal information to limited access to courts. These early years motivated him to join the Strathmore Law Clinic (SLC), a student run institution which seeks to further the access to justice. Vianney has participated in various SLC projects in Kibera, the largest slum in Africa. He is a Senior Clinician at the SLC. In addition, he is an intern at the Strathmore Dispute Resolution Centre. As an LRT, he has undertaken research by analysing the Nigerian petroleum laws. Similarly, he has participated in the training on the use of the APLA Platform. When Vianney is not busy researching, he enjoys listening to music, playing football, watching movies, and taking walks.
Bertha Odawa is an LLB law student in her fourth year at Strathmore University Law School. As part of the legal research team for the African Petroleum Legislation Atlas (APLA), she has worked on the petroleum laws for Chad. Her tasks included: collecting, categorizing, and analysing the laws as well as uploading the laws on the Pilot Platform
During her period as a student at Strathmore, she was an editorial assistant at the Strathmore Law Review from 2017-2018, a research and writing co-ordinator at the Human Rights Unit of the Strathmore Law Clinic in 2018 and a legal intern at the Strathmore Centre for Law and Policy from the year 2019.
She enjoys research and is passionate about mental health, language, literature, and writing. In her free time, she involves herself in learning a new language, picking up a good book or writing a post on her blog and sometimes trying out her culinary skills.
Wambui Kelemba is an LL. B student at Strathmore University Law School - Nairobi, Kenya. She is also a Senior Editor for the Strathmore Law Review. Her previous legal research experience includes compiling court decisions based on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) from East Africa. This was for a project by the Special Envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General on Disability and Accessibility in collaboration with Strathmore University Law School. She has also worked on a legislative drafting project under the World Bank Somalia Core Economic Institutions and Opportunities (SCORE) Program, which involved developing an Insurance Bill for the regulation and supervision of conventional insurance and takaful business in Somalia. As part of the APLA Legal Research Team, she has been involved in compiling petroleum and related legislation for Nigeria, conducting comparative research on specific thematic issues related to the country’s primary petroleum legislation, and populating the APLA Pilot Platform.