Kashim Musa Tumsah
MFR – LL.B, BL, LL.M
Co-Founding Partner/Chairman
(Resources Law, Boundary Disputes and Management, Policy and Strategy)
A University of Maiduguri Law graduate 1988 (Upper Second Class) and a Nigerian Law School Award winner (1989), as well as a recipient of the Laslo Gambos Bursary Award from the Centre for Petroleum, Mineral Law and Policy Studies, University of Dundee, Scotland, UK., 1991 (CEPMLP). Mr. Tumsah trained in Resources law and Policy (with Distinction) with bias in Oil & Gas. He is a member of Association of International Petroleum Negotiators (AIPN), and of Energy Institute UK, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and International Bar Association (IBA) amongst many other professional associations. He has over 32 years post call experience at the Nigeria Bar.
Mr. Tumsah, a former diplomat served amongst others as Member/Secretary to the Nigerian Technical Committee on International Boundary Negotiations (1997-2005) leading to the demarcation/delimitation of Nigeria’s international land and maritime boundaries. He was also counsel and secretary to the Nigerian Legal/Expert team to the International Court of Justice in the Nigeria-Cameroon Boundary Dispute case in addition to participating in the resolution of many internal boundary disputes in Nigeria. Mr. Tumsah was also the pioneer Legal Adviser of the Nigeria-Sao Tome and Principe Joint Development Authority (JDA) and was later appointed to serve as the Executive Director, Finance and Administration and Secretary of the Board and Joint Ministerial Council of the JDA (Oct. 2010 – Jan. 2018).
In addition to the experiences above, Mr. Tumsah also accomplished the following:
- Conceptualized, drafted, and managed the Treaty and all the Agreements, Regulations and Laws in operation in the JDZ.
- Actively participated in the conceptualization and establishment of the Nigeria – Sao Tome and Principe, Joint Development Zone (JDZ) and the Joint Development Authority (JDA).
- Prominently and actively participated in the negotiations of the Block 1 Production Sharing Contract on behalf of the JDA with Chevron-Texaco, ExxonMobil and Dangote EER (DEER) and management of the Production Sharing Contracts in the JDZ..
- Actively participated in the negotiations for the International Unitization of Zafiro/Ekanga Oil Fields between Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea.
- Participated in the conceptualization and drafting of the treaty on the establishment of the Gulf of Guinea Commission and all its administrative instruments.
Mr. Tumsah, as a recognized expert and resource person on Management of trans-boundary resources, was conferred in 2004 with the Nigerian National Honour of Member of the Order of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (MFR) for his role in the negotiation and delimitation of Nigeria’s Land and Maritime Boundaries. Similarly, he was conferred in 2002 with Equatorial Guinean National Honour of Cabalero de la Order Merito Civil, for his role in the negotiation and delimitation of the Nigeria-Equatorial Guinea Maritime Boundary and the international unitization of the Zafiro-Ekanga Field. Mr. Tumsah has also published widely acclaimed articles and presented several papers on “Joint Development Management and Security of Trans Boundary Resources” at local and international seminars and workshops.