The World Bank has announced the appointment of Mrs. Adedoyin Rhodes-Vivour, SAN as a member of the World Bank Group Sanctions Board.
Rodes-Vivour has practiced law for nearly four decades and specializes in commercial transactions, international and domestic arbitration and alternative dispute resolution. Her areas of expertise include oil and gas, energy, construction and infrastructural projects, maritime, banking and finance, franchise and commercial disputes generally.
She is also a Chartered Arbitrator and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (UK) and a CEDR UK Accredited Mediator.
Mrs. Rhodes-Vivour is a past Chairperson, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb) Nigeria Branch, where she served from 2016 to 2019. She is also served as the pioneer President of the Maritime Arbitrators Association of Nigeria from 2005 to 2010.
With extensive experience in arbitration, she has served as president, sole arbitrator, co-arbitrator and counsel in numerous international and domestic arbitral proceedings.
The World Bank Sanctions Board is an independent administrative tribunal composed of seven external judges and serves as the final decision maker in all contested cases of sanctionable conduct occurring in development projects handled by the World Bank Group to ensure good governance in World Bank operations and projects.
Mrs. Rhodes-Vivour, who is at present the only Nigerian on the Board, becomes one of the seven external judges for a six-year term effective from November 17, 2020 through November 16, 2026.
The Independent Board is composed of top jurists and development experts from different jurisdictions.
The Sanctions Board is vested with responsibility to conduct hearings in respect of individuals and corporations alleged to have engaged in sanctionable conduct [fraud, corruption, coercion, collusion, obstruction or a lack of transparency] in World Bank Financed Projects.
The Board, on a determination that a sanctionable conduct has occurred, is vested with power to impose appropriate sanctions including suspension or debarment from World Bank Group financing on such individual or organisation. Decisions of the Sanctions Board are final and non-appealable.