The Publisher

GEOFFREY UWADIEGWU OPUTA,
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Geoffrey Uwadiegwu Oputa, from Umudei village, Oguta, in Oguta Local Government of Imo State. Born in 1964, April 23rd, he is a lawyer, called to the Bar in 1988 and read Sociology at the University of Lagos. Employed by the Federal Government of Nigeria in 1989 as a Research Assistant to the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice and for three years served this nation in that capacity.
He left Federal Ministry of Justice to start his private law practice, Uwadiegwu Oputa & Associates in 1993. In 1998 he founded Poverty Alleviation and Consumer Protection Network and served as the National Coordinator. The memorandum submitted by the organization to the transition Committee that ushered in the presidency of His Excellency Olusegun Obasanjo influenced the establishment of that government of NAPEP. He consulted and participated in the policy documents for poverty alleviation under the then Minister of Transport Tony Anenih and played a significant role in the policy document leading to the establishment of Consumer Protection Council. In 2001, he participated in the drafting of the UNDAF (United Nations Development Assistant Framework) Document in the area of poverty alleviation, economy and consumer protection.
Justice Watch he established in 2002, to re-engineer the Nigerian Legal Profession, with focus on the villains and heroes in the legal profession. It started as a magazine but in 2003 he was commissioned by the Nigerian Bar Association to publish the Nigerian Legal Profession and Lawyers’ Directory. That publication which was presented to the public in August 23, 2004, by Hon. Justice S.A. Belgore, GCON (later Chief Justice of Nigeria) started his journey into law publication.
Since then he has authored and published thirteen law books that include:
1. Belgore’s Judicial Pronouncements
2. Legal Practitioner Client Relationship (introduced text in the Nigerian Law School)
3. The Nigerian Judiciary
4. Nigerian Legal Profession and Lawyers’ Directory
5. Onu and the Law
6. Musdapha and the Law
7. The Roll of Legal Practitioners 1888 – 2022
8. Nigerian Law of Contract (introduced text in many universities)
9. Uwadiegwu on Commercial Law
10. Uwadiegwu on Military Law
11. Achike and the Law
12. Tanko and the Law
13. Understanding the Current Legal Problems Confronting Lawyers in Government.
He has published for many authors, including Justice Oputa’s Scholarship 9 volume work. In 2016 one of his published authors R.C. Ofodile won the ANA (Association of Nigerian Authors) award for drama. In 2017 he also won the ANA award for short stories – the first time an author won the ANA award back to back.
Following invitation to deliver paper by several institutions, the issue of training of lawyers became a strong concern to him. In 2019, he started the training of lawyers by organizing workshops. He was honoured by the Hon. Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, who gave the keynote address to his HIGH LEVEL WORKSHOP ON UNDERSTANDING CURRENT LEGAL PROBLEMS CONFRONTING LAWYERS IN GOVERNMENT held in Owerri in 2019.
In 2020, he established a training centre (Justice Watch Training Centre) in Gudu, Abuja. He has since then been involved in training of lawyers. He has trained lawyers for the legal department of Federal Ministry of Water Resources, The Investments and Securities Tribunal, the National Hajj Commission, Universal Basic Education Commission, Federal Inland Revenue Services’ Lawyers, Federal Ministry of Education, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Federal Ministry of Women Affairs etc.
Since 2024 he has been involved in drafting of Bills for Institutions.
As the Chief Executive Officer of PACELAW PUBLICATION LIMITED he has initiated and established The Pacelawbooks.com a portal for the sale of books by African authors.