World Bank Senior Counsel and AUWCL Adjunct Professor Shares Expertise on Mining Laws in Africa
March 29, 2018
On March 28, the Program on International Organizations, Law and Diplomacy and the European Law Association presented the conference on “Comparing Mining Laws in Africa: Natural Resources, Technology and Communities” at American University Washington College of Law.
The conference’s special guest and lecturer was Nneoma Veronica Nwogu, senior counsel at the World Bank and adjunct professor at AUWCL. Nwogu led the creation of the African Mining Legislation Atlas, a database for Africa’s long-term development objectives for the mineral sector. She has also provided legal representation on the Bank’s financing of projects in Burundi, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Niger, and Togo.
During the conference, Nwogu spoke about the negative impacts of mineral extraction, including the industry’s economic, environmental, and societal effects, and stressed the need to develop a more sustainable approach.
“Professor Nwogu’s path-breaking work reveals the interdependence between mining, technology, and law and development in Africa,” said Professor Fernanda Nicola, director of the Program on International Organizations, Law and Diplomacy. “In ‘decolonizing’ comparative law, Professor Nwogu shows the peril and potential of automation in an age when many African countries are seeking to reform their mining legislation.”
Nwogu will be teaching Law of International Organizations this summer at AUWCL, as part of the law school’s group of nine summer programs in Washington, D.C.
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