Insight type: Legal Alert

On 11 November 2025, the Senate completed the first reading of the Trademarks (Repeal & Enactment) Bill, 2025 (the Bill). Sponsored by Sen. Asuquo Ekpenyong (Cross River South), the Bill represents the most significant overhaul of Nigeria’s trademark regime since the 1965 Act (now Cap. T13 LFN 2004).

The Uganda Revenue Authority recently issued Public Notices and targeted email inquiries requiring tax-resident persons with offshore income and assets to report that income in Uganda and thereby regularise their tax compliance records. This reflects Uganda’s position as a member of the global forum on tax transparency, which promotes administrative cooperation through exchange of information initiatives for tax purposes and assistance in the recovery of taxes.

Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) recently announced the launch of a USD 100 million Nigerian Content Equity Fund (NCE Fund), an initiative poised to reshape local content funding. This signals a pivotal shift from traditional debt financing, creating new opportunities for investors and growth-focused Nigerian companies to partner with the NCDMB in high-impact sectors.

In a significant step towards modernising its energy sector, Nigeria has launched its first regulated gas trading and settlement platform. This initiative, anchored by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), operationalises sections 33, 126 and 159 of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 and the NMDPRA’s Gas Trading and Settlement Regulations 2023 (the Regulations). The new framework aims to establish a transparent, competitive, and investment-ready market.

 

The East African Court of Justice (EACJ), First Instance Division, recently delivered a significant ruling, granting an interim injunction staying the implementation of the Kenya-European Union Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), which entered into force in July 2024, pending the hearing and determination of the substantive Reference. As a result, any further steps toward implementation of the EPA will remain on hold until the EACJ delivers its final decision on the merits.

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has launched the dedicated bid portal for registrations and submissions of bids in line with the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021 (PIA) and the Petroleum Licensing Round Regulations, 2022. The NUPRC in the 2025 round seeks to grow reserves and production and deepen gas development with transparency and competitive bidding.

On 13 October 2025, the Government, through the Minister of Labour, Youth, Employment and Persons with Disability, published the Labour Institutions (Minimum Wage for Private Sector) Order, 2025 (the New Wage Order) through Government Notice No. 605A of 2025, revoking the Labour Institutions Minimum Wage Order, 2022 (the 2022 Wage Order).

The Virtual Asset Service Providers Act, 2025 (the Act) came into force following presidential assent on 15 October 2025, marking a crucial evolution in Kenya’s regulatory approach to virtual assets. The Act departs from the position established in 2015 by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) in its Banking Circular, which advised that virtual currencies were unregulated, not legal tender, and cautioned financial institutions against transacting with entities dealing in such currencies. 

At the just concluded Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Plenary meeting held between the 22 and 24 of October 2025, Nigeria, alongside other African nations Burkina Faso, Mozambique and South Africa was removed from the FATF Grey list- list of jurisdictions which had been placed under increased monitoring to address strategic deficiencies in their regimes to counter money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing (AML/CFT/CPF), and which had required an application of the prescribed risk-based approach in other nation’s financial and business dealings with Nigeria.

 

The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a pivotal trade agreement between the United States and several sub-Saharan African nations, expired on 30 September 2025. Since its enactment in 2000, AGOA had been instrumental in strengthening United States/Africa economic ties by offering duty free access to the U.S. market for over 1,800 products from eligible African countries (in addition to more than 5,000 products previously listed under the U.S. Generalised System of Preferences, a separate and long-standing U.S. trade program that itself expired at the end of 2020).

The expiry of AGOA raises questions about the future of trade between the U.S. and East Africa, particularly for key regional players like Kenya and Tanzania. Unless AGOA is reinstated or replaced with an analogous arrangement soon, the effects of this change will likely be felt across various sectors, necessitating a strategic recalibration for these countries and their respective industries.