By John Masson
U-M Law
Strictly speaking, calling the thing that Nneoma Nwogu created a database is kind of like calling Magna Carta a Dear John letter; technically, it’s accurate, but it understates the true significance.
The African Mining Legislation Atlas (AMLA) is, in fact, a database. It gathers mining law written across Africa, with the goal of leveling a playing field many believe is tilted away from the best interests of Africa’s people.
Now senior counsel at World Bank Group, Nwogu first identified a need for something like AMLA when she was an associate with Hogan Lovells, where she was helping renegotiate mining contracts on the continent. An African èmigrè herself, she came to the negotiating process with a special perspective.
“I am very much aware of the priority given to natural resources on the continent,” says Nwogu, who was born in Nigeria. Despite that priority — or perhaps because of it — Nwogu found it difficult to locate some mining laws, and even more difficult to compare such laws across various African countries.
“The contracts are not always made public, for a number of reasons — some of them valid,” she says. “But laws are supposed to be public.”
Nwogu realized that the knowledge of details that lay buried in mining documents would empower citizens of resource-rich African countries to make better deals with the multinational businesses seeking to extract those resources. So when an opportunity arose in 2013 at the World Bank to help increase the transparency of mining law across the continent by creating AMLA, Nwogu — who began working at the World Bank in 2010 — seized the chance to lead the effort as a sideline to her other duties.
Since the pilot AMLA database came online in October 2014, interested parties have been able to check and compare the mining laws in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone. More countries will be added with the progression of the project, which is being conducted under the auspices of the World Bank and with participation and coordination by the African Legal Support Facility, the University of Cape Town, and other African academic institutions.
“The more we can increase accessibility and openness … the more people become aware of what the rules of the game are,” she says. “You can look at your law and say, ‘Wait, why does the law of one country say that every mining contract requires employment of citizens, and our law is silent on this issue?’ It gives people the information they need to ensure better laws and hold governments accountable.”
For her classmates, Nwogu’s passion on the issue reflects the law student they knew in Ann Arbor.
“It comes as no surprise to me that Nneoma has done something like this,” says Tara Plochocki. “It’s hardly the first time, and certainly won’t be the last.”
When Nwogu presented about AMLA to a group of senior World Bank officials in Washington, D.C., in fall 2014, Plochocki says, there was a sizable contingent of her Michigan Law classmates in the front row, cheering her on.
AMLA was meant to do more than merely gather and present information, Nwogu says. “Africa is very much a continent that identifies itself with its natural resources” while giving scant consideration to its vast human resources, she says. “We wanted the full population of this site to be done by African lawyers and law students.”
Already Nwogu has helped train African lawyers and students to chase down and analyze the relevant legislation and regulations, convert the often cumbersome files to a searchable format, and populate the database.
“By the time they are done with skills development, they’ve encountered multiple laws, and not just the laws of their specific country,” Nwogu says. “When they go home, they can take a comparative approach.”
The most recent 25 students Nwogu helped train came from countries as disparate as Morocco, Guinea, Tanzania, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, and South Africa. Some students came to the training in Cape Town with their professors, and all departed as part of a nascent network of lawyers from across the continent who share an interest in mining law.
“They all left with a mission to work together and to be in touch, doing research and interacting with each other. That is elevating our human resources, creating linkages, and it also helps increase transparency,” Nwogu says. She plans to conduct similar sessions for a couple of years before AMLA is turned over to an African institution to run.
The educational aspect of AMLA points in the direction Africa needs to go if the continent is to achieve its rightful position on the world stage, she says.
“I am personally convinced that the future of the continent is directly tied to education,” she says. “The more you can train people within the academy, the better citizenry you will have.”
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