Former Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court and currently High Commissioner of the Republic of The Gambia to the United Kingdom, H.E Dr. Fatou Bensouda has been honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the International Law Association, Nigerian Branch. The Award was presented at the President’s Dinner and Award Night organized as part of the 9th Annual Law Conference of the Association held in Abuja.
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The event had in attendance more than 200 participants both in person and online. Several dignitaries and leading international law experts attended the dinner ceremony, including the President of the Association, Professor Damilola Olawuyi, SAN, H.E Edward Harris, Director General of the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA); Professor Bolaji Owasonoye, SAN, OFR, Former Chairman, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), and Coordinating Director, Proceeds of Crime Management and Illicit Financial Flows Directorate, Nigeria Revenue Services; and Mohamed M. Malick Fall, the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria amongst other speakers amongst other dignitaries.
The dinner event featured a high-level keynote conversation with Bensouda. The conversation reflected upon her extraordinary career rising through the ranks as State Counsel, Senior State Counsel, Principal State Counsel, Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, Solicitor General and Legal Secretary of the Republic of the Gambia, holding the prestigious position of Honourable Attorney General and Minister of Justice of The Republic of The Gambia, and later becoming the First Woman, First African, and First Muslim to serve as the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, The Hague, Netherlands.
While speaking on her foray into public service and international criminal justice, Bensouda noted that her passion for justice developed from a young age when as a child she would skip school to sit in the law courts in Gambia. As she observed the proceedings, she couldn’t help but feel that the victims – in particular, women – were not getting the justice they deserved. She felt a calling, which spurred in her a passionate desire to contribute her own quota to ensure justice for all, including the less privileged. While calling for greater inclusivity and support for women to attain leadership positions, the globally renowned diplomat also charged young lawyers to ensure a focused commitment to hard work, honesty, integrity and ethics of the profession in order to attain excellent heights in international law.
Similarly, the International Law Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award (Academic Category) was presented to Professor Abubakar Olanrewaju Sulaiman, a distinguished Professor of International Relations and Diplomacy, former Minister for National Planning of Nigeria, and current Director General of the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS). Professor Sulaiman started his distinguished career in academia as a lecturer since 1997 and became a professor in 2014 at the University of Abuja, where he supervised over 500 students at undergraduate, masters and doctoral level. As a minister for National Planning between July 2014 and May 2015, Professor Abubakar left an indelible mark in the ministry and the country at large by ensuring among other notable achievements, the formulation of National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan (NIIMP), crafting a comprehensive overseas Development Assistant (ODA) policy for Nigeria which was endorsed by the then Federal Executive Council. Since Professor Abubakar assumed the prestigious role of Director General of NILDS in 2019, he has in the spate of about five years, turned the institute to an enviable and foremost center of learning and research in legislative and democratic governance. NILDS under his leadership has not only trained thousands of parliamentarians of the various State Assemblies and National Assembly, as well as those from the ECOWAS Parliament and parliaments of member countries, but has also established several postgraduate programs in the areas of Legislative studies, Legislative Drafting, Party Politics etc. Professor Abubakar O. Sulaiman has contributed numerous academic papers, authored and co-authored six books on issues of both national and global significance, and has participated in several conferences locally and internationally.
While presenting the awards, the President of ILA Nigeria, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) who is also the Chairperson of the United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights, Professor Olawuyi noted that the ILA Lifetime Achievement Award is the highest and most prestigous award of the ILA, which is presented for outstanding lifetime contributions in the field of international law and diplomacy. He noted that “Recipients of this prestigious award represent Africa’s finest in terms of foreign policy and diplomacy. We are greatly inspired by their exemplary dedication to international law and diplomacy as well as their consistent track record of educating and mentoring the next generation.” Olawuyi stated.
The ILA was founded in Brussels in 1873. The ILA now has some 3,500 members in 45 national and regional branches around the world. It is headquartered in London under the leadership of Professor Christine Chinkin. ILA’s objective, under its constitution, is to promote the ‘study, clarification and development of international law’. ILA has consultative status with a number of the United Nations specialized agencies.
Membership of the ILA is open to anyone, including lawyers and non-lawyers, interested in international law. The Nigerian Branch of the ILA regularly hosts innovative lectures, seminars, conferences, and other capacity development programs to advance the study and understanding of international law in Nigeria.
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