Dr. Samuel Etukakpan is an exceptionally professional and accomplished academic and lawyer with an impressive range of skills. His 23 years of professional experience spans diverse sectors, including business, legal, educational and consulting where  he held Reform Leader and adviser roles in Insolvency law, legislative drafting and business environment/ Doing Business reforms.

Prior to joining the University of Derby, United Kingdom, where he currently teaches Information Communication and Technology law, he was a Reform Leader with the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) in Nigeria where he led reforms on the World Bank Doing Business on various indicators including Starting a Business, Enforcing Contracts, Protecting Minority Investors and Resolving Insolvency. He was responsible for transitioning the company registration process at the Corporate Affairs Commission from manual to electronic registration system enabling the incorporation of a company in 48 hours.

Before joining PEBEC, Dr Etukakpan was a Legal Consultant to the Government of the Republic of Seychelles. He drafted a new Companies Act for Seychelles and helped in helped in designing processes for easy and faster registration of companies at the Seychelles Company registry.

Prior to moving to Seychelles, he was a Legal Consultant and Insolvency Adviser to the Government of the Republic of Rwanda where he saw to the design and drafting of a new insolvency law for Rwanda aimed at creating the hitherto non-existent corporate rescue culture in the country. As the representative of the Registrar General at Rwanda’s Law Reform Commission (RLRC), he provided technical assistance and advice on the drafting of new Corporate and Partnerships laws for Rwanda. He was also a lecturer on insolvency law at the Independent University of Rwanda.

Dr. Etukakpan had previously worked as Associate Lecturer at the Nottingham Law School (NLS), Nottingham Trent University, United Kingdom where he thought Corporate Rescue, Insolvency Systems in Emerging Markets and Administrative and Human Rights Law to postgraduate and undergraduate law students respectively. He has consulted for several firms, organisations and institutions globally. He sits on the Boards of several companies and is widely recognized as one of the leading experts in Corporate Insolvency,  Business Environment and Legislative reforms in Africa.

He holds a Ph.D. in Corporate Insolvency law, LLM in Corporate law and PG Certificate in Legal Research from the Nottingham Law School, Nottingham Trent University, UK. He obtained his LLB and BA in Foreign Languages from the University of Calabar. He also holds a MSc in Public Order and Information Management from the University of Uyo, Nigeria.