Prof. AbdulRazzaq AbdulMajeed Alaro, mni, FIFP, FCPA, M.IoD, a multi award winning scholar, is Professor of Law, Shariah Consultant, Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria and an internationally certified arbitrator, ACIArb, MCIArb (UK) and CIAE (Dubai). He hails from Ilorin, Kwara State, where he attended Oke-Pakata School and Muhyideen College, for his Primary and Secondary education respectively. During his first year as an undergraduate law student at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria-Nigeria, he won an international scholarship to study in Islamic University of Madina, Saudi Arabia where he completed his LL.B with First Class degree and as the best graduating student in 1993. He later completed his LL.M and Ph.D. also with distinctions, specializing  in Islamic Law of Banking, Insurance and Capital Market, and has published in reputable peer-reviewed journals across the world.

In April 2021, he delivered the 196^th Inaugural Lecture of the University of Ilorin, Nigeria titled “Islamic Financial Services: The Interplay of Religion, Law and Corporate Social Responsibility”; the first to be delivered by a Professor of Islamic Law of Banking and Finance in the entire West Africa. Prof. Alaro is a member of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Financial Regulation Advisory Council of Experts, member of the National Insurance Commission’s Takaful Advisory Council, and has served as Advisor/Consultant to the Debt Management Office, Securities & Exchange Commission and National Pension Commission, among others.

He has also been invited to speak in many high impact fora, including International Shariah Scholars Forum in 2014, 2018 and 2020, International Islamic Liquidity Management Roundtable on Sukuk in 2016, and on REPO market in 2021, African International Conference on Islamic Finance, in 2017 & 2019, SOAS Workshop on Islamic Finance, University of London in 2020, and World Halal Expo in 2020. In 2022, Prof. Alaro won three awards at international, national and sub-national levels. The Award of Excellence as one of the Top Ten Most Outstanding Alumni of the Islamic University of Madinah Saudi Arabia, worldwide (June 2022); Membership of the National Institute “mni”, upon successful completion of Senior Executive Course 44 at the prestigious National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru- Nigeria (Dec. 2022); and Lifetime Achievement Award, by the Kwara State Government (Dec. 2022).

In May 2023, he won the Islamic University of Madinah-Saudi Arabia award of ‘The Alumnus with most outstanding  intellectual impact’. Prof. Alaro was also announced in 2018, as the Overall Winner of an international research competition, organized by CDA, Riyadh, Saudi-Arabia. He was certified in 2021 by the Global University Network for Innovation (GUNi-Africa) & African Quality Assurance Network (AfriQAN) as Accreditor for universities and other institutions of higher education. On the African continent, Prof. Alaro is the current Head of Research, Studies and Translation Committee of the Union of African Scholars, with headquarters in Bamako, Mali. He speaks and writes fluently in both English and Arabic, and is happily married with children.

The interview will cover the following questions:

1. Operation of Islamic Finance contracts in Nigeria

2. Issues faced by Islamic Finance Institutions that necessitated the Fatwa (Ruling) of the FRACE resulting in the Compendium of Resolution of the FRACE.

3. How best the resolutions have tackled the issue and to what extent have the issues been resolved. recommendations regarding these identified issues, to reconcile our current economic realities with the proficiency of Islamic Finance.

4. What is your advice or recommendation for this new government administration towards exploring Islamic finance to reconcile our current economic realities with the proficiency of Islamic Finance, to contribute to the economic growth of the country?

Date: Wednesday, August 16^th, 2023

Time: 11:00 am (WAT)

Channel: Trust Arthur YouTube

Anchor: Bukola Akinyele-Yisau