Barrister Iniruo Wills

Iniruo Wills is a legal practitioner with combined experience in private commercial law practice, public service, pursuit of environmental redress and community work. He is a Founding Partner of Ntephe, Smith & Wills, a Port Harcourt based law firm, and was at different times the Bayelsa State Commissioner for Environment (2014-2016), Special Assistant to the Managing Director of Niger Delta Development Commission, and Commissioner for Information (1999-2000). Wills was the pioneer Secretary of the (then) Bayelsa State Branch of the Nigerian Bar Association, and later served as Secretary of the NBA's national Committee on Privatization. He is currently the President of the Homeland Chapter (covering Rivers, Bayelsa and Delta States) of the Ijaw Professionals Association.

While in NDDC, he coordinated the NDDC-NBA Partnership on Law and Development in the Niger Delta, and also served as the Secretary of the Commission's A-Team on Corporate Repositioning. He maintains a strong and active interest in governance and development, with a view to promoting good governance as the missing link to the actualization of Nigeria's potential. In this regard, he has played a leading role in developing the Ijaw Nation Code of Ethics, Leadership and Governance, which is possibly the first non-governmental guidance code for good public governance and citizenship in Nigeria. He has made numerous contributions to public and policy dialogue, notable amongst which are presentations and position papers on 1. Repositioning the Niger Delta as the Economic Hub of Nigeria: The Strategic Fundamentals, 2. Petroleum Industry Bill, and 3. Addressing the Petroleum Pollution Plague in Bayelsa State (Memorandum to the Bayelsa State Oil and Environmental Commission).