Draft:Abiola Sanni

Abiola Sanni is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). and Professor of Commercial Law at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), with a specialisation in Arbitration, Taxation and Commercial Law and Practice. He combines teaching with the practice of law as the founder and Principal Partner of ASCO LP, a firm of transactional lawyers with offices in Lagos and Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nigeria.

Childhood
He was born on the 5th of June 1965.

Education
He obtained his Bachelor's and Master of Law Degrees from Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, in 1989 and 1993, respectively.

Personal Life
Professor Abiola Sanni SAN is married to Princess Olusola Sanni, and the union is blessed with children.

Early Career
In 1991, Professor Abiola Sanni SAN began his teaching career at Obafemi Awolowo University as a Junior Trainee Fellow, rose through the ranks to the position of Lecturer 1 and served as an Acting Head of the Department of Business Law in 1997.

He transferred his service to the University of Lagos (UNILAG) in 1999. In 2002, he won the Fulbright Fellowship for foreign scholars, a 10-month Fellowship at the International Tax Programme of Beasley School of Law, Temple University, Philadelphia, USA. He was also appointed a Research Fellow of the Institute of International Law and Policy of the same University during the same period.

Sanni acquired his Doctorate degree from the University of Lagos in 2010 and was appointed an Associate Professor in 2013.

Leadership
Professor Abiola Sanni SAN coordinated a crop of six young lecturers to publish in 1998 the first book on Legal Methods in Nigeria, titled “Introduction to Nigerian Legal Methods”. He is also the author of Introduction to Nigerian Business Law, the founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Nigerian Revenue Law Reports (NRLR) and African Tax Law Reports (ATLR); the first law reports on tax cases in Africa. He is the coordinator of The Tax Club; a vibrant student advocacy group, a Trustee and President of the “Tax Academician Association of Nigeria” (TaxAAN), a corporate platform for teachers of taxation in Faculties of law, Departments of Accounting and Economics in tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

Professor Abiola Sanni was appointed as a Professor of Commercial Law and occupies the Professorial Chair endowed by Lagos State in the University of Lagos for the Advancement of Taxation and Fiscal Matters.

Professor Abiola Sanni is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN). He has served the CITN in various capacities as a Dean, Faculty of Indirect Tax and a member of the Taxation Standard Board. He is also a Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Chartered Arbitrators and a life member of the Nigerian Society of International Law.

Since 2011, he has been involved in international arbitration under the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Rules as well as domestic arbitration.

Professor Sanni is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Tax Technologies Limited, TaxAide Limited, Miles Drivers Recruitment Ltd, Budding Mothers Club (BMC), a Trustee of the United States Government Exchange Alumni Association of Nigeria (USGEAAN) (the umbrella body for beneficiaries of all exchange programmes sponsored by the United States Government in Nigeria), a Trustee of the Nigerian Law School Alumni Class of 1989-90

Service to the Federal Republic of Nigeria
Professor Abiola Sanni SAN has served the Federal Government of Nigeria in different capacities. He is a member of the 2023 Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reform Committee (PFPTRC), heading the Tax Policy Review Sub Committee, and a member of the Fiscal Committee of Lagos State on the implementation of the recommendations of PFPTRC pertaining to Lagos State. He has been a member of the Tax Advisory Committee (TAC) “Think-Tank” Group for the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) since its inception in 2017 till date. He served as the Chairman of the National Tax Policy Review Committee (NTPRC) from 2016 to 2017.