Professor Ademola Abass

Professor Ademola Abass obtained LLB, LLM and PhD from the Universities of Lagos, Cambridge and Nottingham respectively, an Advanced Diploma, (Magna cum Laude), from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, and is a recipient of many awards including the Cambridge Commonwealth Scholarship.

Ademola previously taught law at the University of Nottingham, UWE Bristol, was Reader at the University of Reading, and Professor of International Law at Brunel University, London, before joining the United Nations in Belgium as head of program in regional peace and security. He is a generalist international lawyer, with teaching and research interest in the law of armed conflict and the Use of force, Collective Security Law, International Organizations, International Criminal Law, but also teaches Equity and Trusts. Ademola has held numerous visiting positions including University of Seville, Spain; Katholik University, Belgium, Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP), Switzerland, the NATO Senior Defence Course, Rome, and is a Fellow of the African Leadership Centre, King’s College, London. He was Africa Union’s first Expert on Regional Mechanisms, served as a UNDP expert to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Liberia, and was a member of the Federal Government of Nigeria Special Working Group (SWG) that domesticated the Rome Statute in Nigeria. He was a cabinet member of the Lagos State Government and Special Adviser to the Governor on Overseas Affairs & Investment, with broad responsibility for driving investment into Lagos State and liaising with the diplomatic community in Nigeria on behalf of Lagos State Government.

Ademola is an experienced doctoral supervisor, and is a member of editorial boards of international law journals. Some of his published works include Protecting Human Security in Africa (Oxford University Press, 2010); Complete International Law, Text, Cases and Materials (Oxford University Press, 2015, 2nd Edn); Complete Equity and Trust: Texts Cases and Materials (Oxford University Press, 2018 5th edn) Regional Protection of Asylum Seekers: An International Legal Perspective (with Francesca Ippolito) (Ashgate, 2013); ‘Prosecuting International Crimes in Africa: Rationale, Prospects and Challenges’ (2013) European Journal of International Law. Ademola is a regular commentator on local and international media, including the BBC and Al Jazeera, and is a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria and Fellow of the Cambridge Commonwealth Society.