Championing Human Rights Across Africa

Chair

Dr. Chidi Odinkalu

Dr. Odinkalu is a lawyer and till recently chaired the Governing Council of Nigeria’s National Human Rights Commission, in addition to serving as senior legal officer for the Africa Program of the Open Society Justice Initiative. Dr. Odinkalu is widely published on diverse subjects of international law, international economic and human rights law, public policy, and political economy affecting African countries. He is frequently called upon to advise multilateral and bilateral institutions on Africa-related policy, including the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the African Union, the Economic Community of West African States, and the World Economic Forum.

Odinkalu has extensive networks across Africa built up over several years of working for human rights and social justice on the continent. He is associated with several non-governmental and academic institutions within and outside Africa. Among other affiliations, Odinkalu is a member of the Human Rights Advisory Council of the Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs, of the Boards of the Fund for Global Human Rights and of the International Refugee Rights Initiative. He is also the founder of the Section on Public Interest and Development Law (SPIDEL) at the Nigerian Bar and member of the Executive Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association.

Vice Chair

Mr. Olakunle Ajagbe

Mr. Ajagbe who is a trustee of Global Rights, is a Partner in the law firm of Aidan Partners, where he heads its Corporate & Commercial practice and where he additionally heads its India Group. Mr. Ajagbe has variously acted for and advised Nigerian and foreign businesses, public and private sector entities on legal best practices and strategy. At other times, he has advised on numerous capital market transactions including a recent listing on the European Stock Exchange. Listed in the International Who’s Who Legal, ‘Kunle is an occasional author and columnist on legal issues, volunteer facilitator and resource person for the Fate Foundation, the Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre, the Lagos Multi-Door Courthouse and the Consumer Advocacy Forum. He is both a member of the Nigerian Bar Association and the International Bar Association.

Treasurer

Ayo Abraham

Ayo Abraham is the CEO and Managing Partner at Ayo Abraham & Associates Certified Public Accountants. A US Certified Public Accountant, Chartered Global Management Accountant, and Certified Information Technology Professional, he has over 30 years’ experience in strategic financial leadership.

His most recent work experience includes consultancy at the World Bank Group and senior finance executive positions at global Non-Profit organizations.

With a B.S in Accounting, Master in Business Administration, and a Master of Science degree in Taxation, he is a collaborative, servant leader with global perspective.

Executive Director

Abiodun Baiyewu

Abiodun Baiyewu coordinates Global Rights’ programs and specifically works on Access to Justice, Women’s Rights, Natural Resources and Human Rights, and Security and Human Rights programs from their Abuja office. Her work focuses on programs that address governance failures that exacerbate the disenfranchisement and the violations of the rights of the poor and marginalized, women and victims of discrimination.

Before joining Global Rights, she worked with an array of organizations including the Negotiation and Conflict Management Group, the O’Neill Institute for Global and National Health Law, the Center for African Policy and Peace Strategy, and the American Center for International Labor Solidarity.

Abiodun is the Co-Chair of the Steering Committee of the African Coalition for Corporate Accountability, Chair of Justice Empowerment Initiative and a member of the governing board of Annies’ Place.

she was also a Women’s Law and Public Policy Fellow in the Leadership and Advocacy for Women in Africa Program at Georgetown University.  In addition she is a writer, an accredited mediator, dispute resolution trainer, and an HIV/AIDS youth counselor.

Member/Trustee

Juliet ‘Kego Ume-Onyido

Juliet ‘Kego Ume-Onyido is a Poetess and co-founder of Whole WoMan Network, a Leadership, Empowerment and Advocacy social enterprise for African women and youths. She is trained as an Electrical Engineer and as a leadership consultant, with certifications in multiple modalities –Strategic Intervention, NLP, EQ, Behavioral re-patterning, Conscious advocacy and Change Management. Her consulting services cut across Government agencies, Corporations, Individuals and NGOs.

In partnership with Praxis Magazine online, Juliet ‘Kego is also the visionary behind Poetry4Change Africa; -a dynamic platform to support African poets and spoken word artists, through grants, scholarships and trainings. Juliet ‘Kego has several years of fieldwork on how rape culture, in particular, sexual abuse in the grey zones, affects women participation in leadership and governance, in permissive, patriarchal African cultures. Her poem – “Today, I will not bow” has been translated into several languages and performed by students globally, to raise awareness about issues that affect women and girls.

Member/Trustee

Audu Maikori

Audu Maikori is a Nigerian lawyer, entrepreneur, social activist, public speaker and creative industry professional. He is the founder and Group CEO of the Chocolate City Entertainment. Apart from his very successful music label career, Mr. Maikori has received commendations for his work in developing the youth at several global forums, and has travelled widely speaking on entrepreneurship and youth development.

Member/Trustee

Maryam Aliko Mohammed

Maryam Aliko Mohammed is Chief Operating Officer at Modalali and Independent Non-Executive Director at Nestle Nigeria Plc. She is an accomplished professional with over 12 years in senior management positions, and leadership of over 200 employees. Her wealth of human resource experience in both private and public sector, manufacturing, education services, oil and gas makes for empathetic understanding of the challenges of managing diverse groups.

She holds MBA with specializations in Marketing Management and Human Resource Management by the Cardiff Business School and a certification in Coaching from the University of Cambridge, UK specializing in Executive Leadership and developmental Coaching. A member of the European Mentoring and Coaching Council and the Chartered Institute of Coaching and Mentoring in Nigeria and a visiting lecturer of Leadership and Ethics at the Kaduna Business School.

Member/Trustee

Ms. Megan Chapman

Ms. Chapman a trustee of Global Rights, is a lawyer and the Co-Director at the Justice Empowerment Initiative, which she co-founded in 2012. She helped to build community-based paralegal programs and supported strategic human rights litigation in Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. In Nigeria, where she has worked since 2011, she is seeking sustainable ways to bring skills and resources directly to poor communities, which also led her to found the Community Legal Support Initiative.