Nigerian-Born Dapo Akande Elected Member of the International Law Commission

Dapo Akande was born and breed in Ibadan, the capital of Oyo state. For his tertiary education, Akande studied law at the Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife, Osun state before crowning it with a professorship in public international law at the University of Oxford.

He began his legal career working with Bola Ajibola, a former attorney-general of Nigeria, as a research assistant. He has also worked as a counsel on international litigation before the following courts: International Court of Justice (ICJ), International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), World Trade Organisation (WTO), International Criminal Court (ICC), and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

As an ardent volunteer, Akande has served as a consultant to several international organisations, including the African Union (AU), the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the Commonwealth Secretariat amongst others.

He is currently a world-renowned expert in public international law with more than 25 years of legal experience.

Recently, Akande was elected member of the International Law Commission. The International Law Commission is an organization set to undertake the mandate of the assembly, initiate studies and make recommendations for the purpose of encouraging the progressive development of international law and its codification. It was established by the United Nations general assembly in 1947.

Prior to his election, Akande was initially nominated. His nomination covered as the UK and Nigeria’s candidate for the commission. Worthy of note is that his nomination equally made him the first-ever candidate to be selected in a joint nomination by the UK and Nigeria. Not only that, this move was proudly supported by Japan, Kenya and Slovenia.

On Friday, 12th November, 2020, The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) announced the outcome which revealed that he won. The UK government had described his nomination as a demonstration of the UK and Nigeria’s “shared confidence that he will bring those high standards to the ILC”. His winning also showed that he his capable of delivering optimally at his new duty post. Akande will serve as a member of ILC for a five-year term.

We are proud to celebrate Akande as he is making waves. This is really well-deserved.