Photo: Nkolika Aniekwu
By Ebubechukwuzuloke Brown
Prof. Nkolika Ijeoma Aniekwu is the first daughter of Professor Emmanuel Obienu of Uruagu, Nnewi. She is a Professor of Reproductive Health Law at the University of Benin.
Professor Aniekwu obtained her LL.B (Bachelor of Laws) degree from the University of Benin in 1987 and was called to the Nigeria Bar in 1988. She subsequently completed her National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme at the Ministry of Justice, Benin City, between 1988 and 1989.
She began her academic career in December 1989 as an Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Public Law, University of Benin. In 1995, she earned an LL.M (Master of Laws) degree from the University of Lagos and later obtained a Ph.D in Health Law from the same institution in 2009.
Her doctoral dissertation won the Nigeria Universities Doctoral Theses Award Scheme (NUDTAS) of the National Universities Commission (NUC), emerging as the best Doctoral Thesis in Law in the Nigeria University System.
In 2010, Professor Aniekwu designed the first elective course in Reproductive Health and Rights Law for LL.M students in Nigeria universities. She is also the first Professor from West Africa to teach in the Master’s Programme of the International Institute for the Sociology of Law (IISL), Oñati, Spain.
Her other international academic engagements include visiting scholarships at the Center for Law, Science and Global Health, University of Washington, Seattle, USA; Emory Law School, Georgia, USA; and the Africana Studies Institute, University of Connecticut, USA.
Professor Aniekwu has served as a visiting Professor in the Department of Communication and Media Studies and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Fordham University, New York. She has also served as a visiting Professor and examiner on African Perspectives of Cultural Relativism and Reproductive Rights at the International Institute for the Sociology of Law, Spain.
Over the years, she has supervised numerous research projects in the areas of HIV/AIDS, reproductive health, human rights, feminist legal theory, cultural relativism, and African studies. She has equally supervised and examined international research candidates at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa; Sheffield Hallam University, United Kingdom; and the International Institute for the Sociology of Law, Spain.
