Scholar advocates human rights reforms in Africa

Nigerian academic and human rights law expert, Dr Victor O. Ayeni, has led four Nigerian professors to the University of California, in San Francisco, United States, where he advocated human rights reform in Africa.
    

The delegates are: Prof Elijah Oluwatoyin Okebukola (Dean, Faculty of Law, Nasarawa State University); Prof Abdurasheed Musa Yusuf (the Dean, Faculty of Law, University of Abuja); the Deputy Dean, Nasarawa State University Faculty of Law, Prof Halima Doma; and the Director of the University of Abuja Law Clinic, Dr Nasir Mukhtar.

The visit was geared towards impacting the visiting academics with the latest trends in legal education across the world. 
  
After the welcome address by the Chancellor and the Dean, College of Law, University of California, Prof David Fugman, the visiting academics were conducted around a number of classes, which included the Criminal Law class, the Mediation Class, Race, Racism and American Law class. Other classes observed are the Individual Representation Clinic Class, Start-up Legal Garage Class, and Negotiation Class.
  
Highlights of the exchange was a study visit to the Supreme Court of California, where the team witnessed oral arguments in three cases after which they proceeded to witness the International Human Rights Law Class, where Dr Ayeni delivered a guest lecture on the African Human Rights System. 
   
In the lecture, Ayeni advocated for reforms in human rights leadership on the African continent, particularly at the political level in the African Union (AU) Assembly.
  
He said: “At the moment, there is no clear leadership. The big economic powers in Africa are indifferent to the human rights problems on the continent unless it has gotten out of scale. South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, Ethiopia etc are missing in actions on the human rights table, especially in relation to making the Article 34(6) Declaration granting individuals and NGOs direct access to the African court. 
  
“These countries do little or nothing to call out their colleagues when they fail to implement decisions of African human rights bodies. If the African ‘Super Powers’ lead by example in the human rights terrain, Africa will witness a new dawn.”