PROFILE: Aisha Rimi, a Square Peg in NIPC’s Square Hole
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Friday appointed new Chief Executive Officers to head 14 agencies and parastatals under the Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Investment.
President Tinubu who has the reputation of being a world class talent hunter apparently struck gold again and found Aisha Rimi, 54, worthy of being appointed to head the Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC).
Established in 1995, NIPC has the mandate to identify, support, promote, facilitate and encourage the inflow of foreign investments to the country for the purpose of stimulating and reflating the economy, creating jobs and widening government’s revenue base via taxation.
In recent years, the Commission has done extensive work in simplifying the process of business registration in Nigeria and made remarkable progress on the country’s Ease of Doing Business (EODB) profile which has attracted commendation and higher rating from the World Bank.
Now that the necessary foundation has been set by previous administrations and former heads of the Commission, NIPC needs someone who understands the law, knows the business climate in Nigeria and how to tap into the potential that Nigeria offers the world.
Now that the present administration has vowed to open up the economy to a wide range of foreign investments that can help it and the President has been doing a lot of diplomatic shuttles meant to attract investments into the country, there is no better time to find an expert who can actualise that dream to head the NIPC.
Aisha is not only an internationally-acclaimed expert in corporate commercial law, her experience in foreign investment, project financing and regulatory compliance is also fitting for the President’s Renewed Hope Agenda in the area of raising the country’s investment profile.
She is a senior legal professional and business manager with 32 years’ experience of combining legal and regulatory
knowledge, business administration expertise and strategic communications skills and delivering consistent and
indispensable legal, business and advisory services to clients across various industries.
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She is also a renowned expert negotiator, administrative and business executive and team builder with transferrable skills and recognisable success in managing multi-faceted teams and projects; spearheading multiple infrastructure and real estate design projects, including the design, construction and management of commercial, residential and recreational facilities.
Aisha was born and raised in Katsina state. She has a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree with a specialisation in International Commercial Law from the University of Buckingham in London and earned a Master of Laws (LLM) degree from the same institution. She also has
Post Graduate Masters Diploma in Organisational Leadership from the Said Business School, Oxford University, UK.
She started her remarkable legal career at Ajumogobia & Okeke, where she dedicated a decade from 1991 to 2001 to honing her legal expertise. Following this, she joined Chadbourne & Parke, where she served as a visiting attorney for a brief period of one year.
In 2002, Aisha transitioned to the role of Senior Vice President at GWI Consulting in the United States, where she created and drove the firm’s successful operations across the African continent, including
attracting and securing milliondollar investments to countries such as Cabo Verde, Tanzania, Angola and
Nigeria.
In a significant career move in 2007, Aisha assumed the role of Founding Partner at Rimi & Partners. Later, she co-founded a continental commercial law firm known as Africa Law Practice (ALP).
In December 2021, she was appointed Senior Special Assistant to the immediate past First Lady, Aisha Buhari, on Legal Matters and she served with distinction until the tenure of the administration elapsed in May 2023.
Aside her impressive success as a commercial lawyer and expert negotiator, Aisha is also an avid
reader, philanthropist, social crusader and advocate for improved mother and child welfare.
Aisha has over the years played a critical role in the advancement of commercial law in the country as an attorney who specialises in foreign investment and regulatory compliance. Her responsibilities also encompassed providing expert counsel on project finance, corporate and operational joint ventures and a wide spectrum of commercial legal practices.
She will be expected to bring her extensive executive-level experience into the running of the NIPC. She will also be expected to leverage her global and wide clientele base to attract beneficial foreign investments to the Nigerian economy.
