- This is not simply a company-secretarial or documentation role.
- The Legal Manager & Group Company Secretary will serve as the principal in-house legal and governance officer of Afrihood Nigeria, supporting the Board, executive leadership, operating companies and project SPVs.
- The successful candidate will be responsible for protecting Afrihood's legal interests while creating the structures that allow the company to transact, raise capital, develop projects and scale efficiently across Nigeria.
- The role requires someone who understands both law and business a commercially minded lawyer who can structure transactions, identify risks, negotiate effectively and help management find legally sound ways to get deals done.
Corporate Governance & Board Secretariat
- Serve as Secretary to the Afrihood Nigeria Board and its committees.
- Coordinate Board and committee meetings, agendas, papers, minutes, resolutions and action trackers.
- Maintain statutory registers, corporate records and governance documentation.
- Advise the Board and management on corporate governance requirements and directors' responsibilities.
- Coordinate the appointment and onboarding of directors and senior governance officers.
- Maintain consistent governance standards across Afrihood Nigeria, its subsidiaries and project SPVs.
- Ensure appropriate approvals, delegated authorities and reserved matters are observed across the Group.
Transactions & Project Structuring
- Lead the legal structuring and documentation of property acquisitions, development transactions and joint ventures.
- Draft, review and negotiate land acquisition agreements, JV agreements, development agreements, leases, sales documentation and other commercial contracts.
- Conduct and coordinate legal due diligence on land, projects, counterparties and transactions.
- Support the establishment and governance of project SPVs and other investment structures.
- Work closely with investment, finance, property and project teams from transaction origination through financial close and execution.
- Develop standard legal structures and documentation that can be efficiently deployed across Afrihood's Project CEO network.
- Support institutional debt, private capital, project finance and investment transactions.
- Review and negotiate facility agreements, security documents, guarantees, trust arrangements, escrow structures and investment agreements.
- Coordinate transaction documentation with financiers, investors, trustees, external counsel and other professional advisers.
- Ensure financing obligations, conditions precedent, covenants and security requirements are properly documented, tracked and managed.
- Support the legal structuring of capital deployed across Afrihood's Nigerian project portfolio.
Property, Title & Development
- Oversee title verification, perfection, registration and other property-related legal processes.
- Coordinate land documentation and relevant government interfaces.
- Identify title, encumbrance, contractual and development risks before Afrihood commits capital to projects.
- Maintain proper legal records for Afrihood's property and development portfolio.
- Establish standard legal frameworks and documentation for projects originated through Afrihood's Project CEO network.
- Coordinate external property lawyers, surveyors and other professional advisers where required.
Group Legal & Regulatory Compliance
- Manage corporate and regulatory compliance across Afrihood Nigeria and its subsidiaries/SPVs.
- Coordinate statutory filings and relationships with relevant regulators and government agencies.
- Maintain a Group-wide legal and compliance calendar.
- Develop legal policies, contract standards, approval processes and documentation templates.
- Monitor legal and regulatory developments affecting Afrihood's Nigerian operations.
- Manage disputes, claims, litigation and external counsel where required.
- Protect Afrihood's intellectual property, contractual rights and commercial interests.
- Maintain a central repository of material contracts, corporate documents, titles, financing documentation and legal records.
Legal Architecture & Institutional Development
- Build a legal and governance framework capable of supporting multiple developments and project companies across Nigeria.
- Standardise key agreements, approval processes and legal documentation across the Afrihood platform.
- Establish clear legal relationships between Afrihood Nigeria, its subsidiaries, project SPVs and Project CEOs.
- Work with management to ensure new projects enter the Afrihood portfolio through properly structured legal and investment processes.
- Help ensure that Afrihood's growth does not result in disconnected projects or entities, but remains governed as one disciplined Nigerian development institution.
We are looking for a commercially intelligent lawyer and institution builder with approximately 5 - 10 years of post-call experience, including meaningful experience in corporate/commercial law, real estate, transactions, investment, project finance or infrastructure.
The ideal candidate should demonstrate experience in several of the following:
- Corporate and commercial transactions.
- Real estate development and property law.
- Joint ventures, acquisitions and investment structures.
- Project finance, institutional financing or secured lending transactions.
- Corporate governance and company secretarial practice.
- Board and committee administration.
- Contract drafting and negotiation.
- Legal due diligence and transaction management.
- Regulatory compliance and corporate restructuring.
- Working with senior executives, investors, financial institutions and external counsel.
Experience working within a real estate developer, infrastructure company, investment firm, financial institution or leading commercial law firm will be particularly valuable.
You should be intellectually rigorous but commercially practical.
You understand that the role of an excellent in-house lawyer is not merely to identify why something cannot be done, but to understand the commercial objective, identify the risks and help structure a responsible way to achieve it.
You should be comfortable moving between a Board meeting, a financing transaction, a land acquisition, a Project CEO agreement and a regulatory issue without losing attention to detail.
You must possess exceptional integrity, discretion and judgement. You will have access to some of Afrihood's most sensitive corporate, financial, investment and Board information.
We are particularly interested in someone who wants to build the legal and governance architecture of an institution, rather than simply manage an existing legal department.
- LL.B and B.L; must be qualified to practise law in Nigeria.
- 5 - 10 years post-call experience.
- Strong corporate/commercial and transactional experience.
- Excellent drafting, negotiation and analytical skills.
- Strong understanding of Nigerian company and property law.
- Demonstrable understanding of corporate governance and Board processes.
Membership of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria (ICSAN) or another relevant governance/professional qualification will be a strong advantage.
Experience with project finance, institutional investment, complex property transactions or multi-entity corporate structures will also be an advantage.
Success will be measured by Afrihood's ability to transact confidently, protect its interests, maintain strong governance, close transactions efficiently, manage legal risk and scale its Nigerian project portfolio without losing institutional control.
The successful candidate should ultimately build a legal and governance function capable of supporting Afrihood Nigeria as it grows into a substantial multi-project development institution.