MEET THE SPEAKERS

Barr. Kefas Magaji

Hon. Kefas Magaji, Esq is a Law Reformer, legal consultant and a general legal practitioner. He had his Bachelor of Laws - LLB at the University of Maiduguri in the year 1981 – 1985. He proceeded to the Nigerian Law School, Victoria Island, Lagos in the year 1985 – 1986. He was the Board Chairman of Bauchi Radio Corporation in the year 2007-2008. He became a Federal Commissioner with the Nigeria Law Reform Commission in the year 2009. He was appointed the
Honourable Chairman of the Nigeria Law Reform Commission in the year 2015, a position he holds till present.

Prof. Earnest Ojukwu

Professor Ernest Maduabuchi Ojukwu (born 23 September 1960), is the immediate past Deputy Director-General and Head of Campus of the Nigerian Law School, Augustine Nnamani Campus, Agbani Enugu. Before his appointment, he was Associate Professor and Dean Faculty of Law, Abia State University, Uturu from 1995-2001. He is also the President of the Network of University Legal Aid Institutions (NULA Nigeria), the platform through which he has continued to achieve his dreams of promoting clinical legal & justice education and reform of legal education in Nigeria. On Monday 22 September 2014, Ernest Ojukwu was conferred with the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria at the Supreme Court of Nigeria following his appointment on 12 July 2014 by the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee, LPPC. He is Partner at the Law Firm of OFY Lawyers (www.ofy-lawyers.com) and Professor of Law at Madonna University.

Prof. Ernest Ojukwu’s interest as a scholar includes the subjects of Continuing Legal Education, Civil Litigation and Access to Justice. He drafted the Nigerian Bar Association CLE Rules and set up the Institute of Continuing Legal education in 2007. He has also continued to play a very active role in the professional activities of the Nigerian Bar Association where he once served as the Chairman, Aba Branch of the Association, Chair of the Law Reform Committee, the Academic Forum and Legal Education Committee. Prof. Ojukwu has conducted many training programmes and workshops for the practicing bar, law teachers and law students. He has attended and presented papers at several International conferences on legal education such as the Global Alliance for Justice Education (GAJE) conferences at Cordoba Argentina 2006, Philippines 2008, Valencia Spain 2011 and New Delhi India 2013; speaker at the IBA’s (International Bar Association) conference at Chicago 2006 and Boston 2013; the Journal of Clinical Legal Education (IJCLE) conference Perth Australia 2009 and Griffiths 2013; Externship 6 Conference Boston 2012; Harvard Law School Global Legal Education Forum 2012; and Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Clinical Legal Education Conference Puerto Rico 2013.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Ojukwu

Prof. Adekunle Adedeji, SAN

Prof. Adekunle Adedeji is the Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS). He has acted as consultant to several companies, international organisations and select committees of the National Assembly.

He also served the Federal Government in various capacities as delegate to various special/expert working groups/committees and commissions. He served as Senior Special Assistant to the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, advising on various aspects of law and policy.

Source: http://thenationonlineng.net/behold-new-silks/




Prof. Dakas. C.J. Dakas

Professor Dakas holds an LL.B (First Class Honors) from the University of Jos, where he was awarded the University of Jos Award for the Best Student in Law, the Gally Brown-Peterside Award for the Best Student in Law, the Gally Brown-Peterside Award for the Best Student in Constitutional Law, the Prince Bola Ajibola Award for the Best Student in Jurisprudence, the Chief R. A. O. Akinjide Award for (being the first of) the Three Best Students in Law, and the Plateau State Government Scholarship. He also holds an LL.M from the University of Jos, Nigeria, and was awarded the University of Jos Scholarship. In addition, Professor Dakas holds an LL.M in International Legal Studies from the New York University, USA, where he was a Rita & Gustave Hauser Global Scholar and served as Graduate Editor for the NYU Journal of International Law and Politics.

Professor Dakas has published extensively in the fields of general International Law, International Human Rights Law, Diplomatic and Consular law, Law of International Institutions, and Constitutional Law. He is the author of International Law on Trial: Baksassi and the Eurocentricity of International Law (St. Stephen Inc., 2003), as well as the editor of New Vistas in Law: Volume II(St. Stephen Inc., 2002). He has also co-edited three books: Human Rights: A Compendium of International Instruments and Internet Resource Guide(League for Human Rights, Jos, 2004); The Right to be Different: Minority Rights, the Cultural Middle-Belt and Constitutionalism in Nigeria(League for Human Rights, Jos, 2001); and Contemporary Issues and Basic Documents on Diplomatic and Consular Law(MONEX Publishers, Jos, Nigeria, 1997). Professor Dakas has also published over 35 journal articles, book chapters, and other scholarly writings.

Professor Dakas served as the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice of Plateau State, Nigeria, from 2004-2006. He currently teaches and supervises undergraduate and postgraduate students in Human Rights, Jurisprudence, Constitutional Law, Diplomatic and Consular Law, and Law of International Institutions.

Source: http://www.comparativeresearch.net/fellow/dakas-dakas-cj

Prof. Yemi Akinseye George, SAN

Prof. Yemi Akinseye George, SAN (born 1963) is a Nigerian professor of public law and president of the Center for Socio-Legal Studies. He obtained a Bachelor of Law (LLB) in 1985 and a Master of Law (LLM) from the University of Lagos. He was called to the Nigerian Bar as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in 1986. After he completed his National Youth Service Corps in 1986, he proceeded to the University of Lagos where he obtained a master's degree in public law.

In 1989, he joined the University of Ibadan, where he became a senior lecturer. After eight years of academic service at the University of Ibadan, he received a fellowship at the Davis Centre at Princeton University. He conducted research on corruption and constitutionalism in Africa at Princeton (1997-1998). In 2003, he was appointed Special Adviser to the Ministers of Justice and Attorneys-General of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. While serving in this capacity, he was appointed as a professor of public law at Adekunle Ajasin University in Ondo State on December 2004. He served as dean of the faculty of law at the university. In July 2012, he became a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, alongside Femi Falana and 22 others.

He is a member of the following professional bodies:

• Member of the Nigerian Bar Association
• Member of the Law professors Network, University of Pittsburgh
• Member of the International Society for the Reform of Criminal Law
• Member of the Nigerian Society of International Law
• Member of the Network of University Legal Aid Institutions
• Senior Advocate of Nigeria
• Member of the Council of Legal Education in Nigeria

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yemi_Akinseye_George

Prof. Peter Terkaa Akper, SAN

Professor Peter Terkaa Akper, SAN, is the first lawyer and professor of law from his community and also the first Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) from his local government area. He obtained his LL.B. (Hons) and LL.M degree from the University of Jos in 1987 and 1998 respectively. He enrolled to practice as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in 1988.

He was in active private legal practice until 1992, when he was appointed Company Secretary/Legal Adviser of Taraku Mills Limited (the Benue State Government-owned integrated vegetable oil processing company). In 1997, he joined the services of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies as a Research Fellow. In this interview, he speaks on Federal Ministry of Justice’s reform implementation strategy; why he attended the swearing in ceremony for the new SANs despite the NBA’s directive and other issues.

Experience Research Professor of Law and Director of Research May 2015 – Present Professor September 1997 – Present Legal research and advanced studies in law and related disciplines; special research interests in the following areas of law: -International Environmental Law. -International Economic Law. -International Criminal Law. -International Humanitarian Law. -Infrastructure law. -Public Private Partnerships (PPPs). -Economic Regulation. Senior Special Assistant to the Honorable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice August 2007 – May 2015 (7 years 10 months) Company Secretary / Legal Adviser June 1992 – June 1997 (5 years 1 month) Secretly to the Board of Directors Legal Adviser to the Company Member of Top Management of the Company Senior Partner December 1990 – January 1992 (1 year 2 months) Education Obafemi Awolowo University Page 2 PhD, Law, 1999 – 2007 University of Jos LL.M, Law, 1995 – 1996 Nigerian Law School, Victoria Island Lagos. B.L, LAW, 1987 – 1988 University of Jos LLB, Law, 1983 – 1987 Activities and Societies: Law Students Society, Avant Garde.

Source: http://environmentsummit.lapinreform.com/speaker/professor-peter-terkaa-akper-san/

Chinua Asuzu, Esq.

Chinua Asuzu is the Senior Partner at Assizes Lawfirm, an Honourable Commissioner of the Tax Appeal Tribunal, an Adjunct Lecturer at the Nigerian Law School, and legal-writing consultant to several law firms in Nigeria and the UK. He is a member of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) {on whose Legal Education Committee he serves}, the International Bar Association (IBA), the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (UK), and the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN).

Asuzu’s areas of academic and professional interest include Arbitration, Intellectual Property, Law Reform, Legal Research & Writing, and Legislative Drafting & Advocacy.

Chinua Asuzu is the dean of The Write House. He is the author of Anatomy of a Brief, Lagos, The Write House, 2015 and the Fair Hearing in Nigeria, Lagos, Malthouse, 2010.

Source: http://writehouseng.com/chinua-asuzu/

Dr. Terfa W. Abraham

Dr Terfa W. Abraham holds B.Sc, M.Sc degrees in Economics from the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Nigeria in 2005 & 2010 respectively; and a Ph.D in Economic Sciences from the Université Cheikh Anta Diop (UCAD) de Dakar, Senegal in 2016. A recipient of the 2009 CODESRIA Small grant for M.Sc thesis writing, his Ph.D was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education (BMBF) WASCAL Graduate programme. His research interests: Financial Economics, Development Economics & Economics of Climate Change.

He is currently a Research Fellow/ Economist with the National Institute for Legislative  and Democratic Studies (NILDS), Abuja, Nigeria.

Oracle Chukwudi Nwala, Esq.

Nwala Chukwudi Oracle, Esq. is a Solicitor and Advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria and Notary Public for Nigeria practicing in the city of Abuja for almost twenty years. He is the consulting partner of Oracle and Company law Syndicates, a leading law firm that is highly involved in commercial litigation, arbitration law and practice, project finance law and practice, energy law and practice as well as statutory and regulatory reforms and development finance law. 

Oracle attended the famous University of Nigeria, Nzukka, where he obtained a degree in Law (LL.B). He thereafter proceeded to the Nigerian Law School leading to his call to the Nigerian Bar. He again proceeded to the prestigious Suffolk University Law School, Boston, MA, USA where he obtained a Master’s Degree (LL.M) in law. He also has a Master’s degree in Leadership and Strategic Studies from the Nigeria Defense Academy, Kaduna and is currently a Research and Doctorate scholar on Leadership and Strategic Studies at the Nigeria Defence Academy, Kaduna. 

Oracle has received several Diplomas, certificates and awards from different institutions including the College of Law of England and Wales and the United Nations Institutes for Training and Research. In 2008, he won the Best Capital Market Solicitors Award of the Direct Marketing of Nigeria – an organization in which he holds fellowship honours. He is also a recipient of the Rotary Club Award for Community and Professional Service Excellence and Green Label Award of the Nigeria Environmental Society. 

Oracle has attended numerous conferences particularly in the area of commercial arbitration, project financing and capital market development, oil and gas reforms as well as in statutory and regulatory reforms in the USA, UK, other parts of Europe and Asia. 

He holds fellowship honours and membership of several local and international associations including but not limited to the following: 

· Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (United Kingdom) 

· Centre for International Legal Studies (Salzburg), Austria 

· London Court of International Arbitration (United Kingdom) 

· International Bar Association 

· Nigerian Bar Association 

· Nigeria Institute of Management (Chartered). 

· Institute of Direct Marketing of Nigeria 

· International Project Finance Association (London) 

· Dubai International Arbitration Centre (Dubai)

· Nigerian Environmental Society