Governing Board
The Institute for Human Rights and Administrative Law Studies (IHRALS) is governed by a distinguished Governing Board comprising eminent legal scholars, practitioners, human-rights experts, a serving judicial officer and professionals with extensive experience in law, human rights, justice, victim assistance and institutional development.
The composition of the Governing Board reflects the Institute’s multidisciplinary and international orientation, combining expertise in legal scholarship, human-rights research, judicial practice, human-rights advocacy, implementation of human-rights standards and decisions, legal practice, and victim support.
Professor Yemi Akinseye-George, SAN
Chairman, Governing Board.
Professor Yemi Akinseye-George, SAN, is a Nigerian professor of public law, legal practitioner and Senior Advocate of Nigeria. He studied law at the University of Lagos, obtained his LL.B and LL.M degrees, and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1986. He subsequently joined the University of Ibadan as an academic and later became Professor of Public Law at Adekunle Ajasin University. He has served in senior academic and public-sector positions, including as Dean of the Faculty of Law and as Special Adviser to the Federal Ministers of Justice and Attorneys-General of the Federation. He was appointed Senior Advocate of Nigeria in 2012. Professor Akinseye-George has combined legal scholarship with extensive legal practice and public-interest work. He is the founding partner of Yemi Akinseye-George, SAN & Partners and is President of the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, an organisation engaged in justice-sector reform and legal development in Nigeria. His work has particularly addressed public law, criminal justice, constitutionalism, anti-corruption and institutional reform. His extensive experience in legal education, legal practice and justice-sector development brings a strong public-law and institutional-reform perspective to the governance of IHRALS.
Dr. Victor O. Ayeni
Executive Director
Dr. Victor O. Ayeni is a legal scholar specialising in international human rights law, the African human-rights system and the implementation of human rights. He has particular expertise in the implementation of human rights in general, with a specific focus on compliance with decisions of human-rights bodies and tribunals, as well as the impact of human-rights critiques and decisions. His academic work examines the relationship between international and regional human-rights standards and their implementation at the domestic level, with particular attention to the African human-rights system. Dr. Ayeni has worked with international human-rights bodies, including the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and has been involved in various research projects with universities and research institutions across Africa, the Americas and Europe. He has also trained members of the legal profession and the judiciary across Africa on issues relating to international and regional human-rights law and its implementation. His professional and academic work has consequently placed him at the intersection of human-rights scholarship, institutional practice, capacity building and implementation monitoring.