Festus Onyia

Partner, Udo Udoma & Belo-Osagie

Festus Onyia is a partner at Udo Udoma & Belo-Osagie in Nigeria. He specialises in civil, corporate and commercial litigation, arbitration and alternative dispute resolution (ADR). His other practice areas include labour, employment, industrial relations law and tax litigation.

He has trained as an international commercial arbitrator with several Nigerian and international arbitration institutions, including the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris, where he completed the advanced PIDA training in international commercial arbitration.

Festus has acted as counsel in ad hoc and institutional arbitrations, including under the ICC Rules of Arbitration. He has also advised on issues of Nigerian law for determination in matters before foreign courts and arbitration tribunals.

He was a member of the international task force appointed by the ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR on the revision of the ICC Rules as Appointing Authority in UNCITRAL and other Ad Hoc Proceedings.

Festus has made presentations and written articles across his practice areas. His articles have been published in multiple reputable international journals such as The European, Middle Eastern and African Arbitration Review and The Middle Eastern and African Arbitration Review. Festus is affiliated with several professional bodies, such as the UK Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb), and is a fellow of the CIArb and a fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Chartered Arbitrators.