Nigerian-trained lawyer, Professor Dapo Akande, has been elected as a judge of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
He has built an international career spanning nearly three decades in public international law, legal scholarship and international dispute settlement.
Akande, who was elected to the ICJ on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, will serve a nine-year term at the United Nations’ principal judicial organ.
By this appointment, he becomes the first UK judge to occupy a seat on the court in nine years.
According to his profile on the University of Oxford website, as obtained by Punch on Wednesday, Akande is the Chichele Professor of Public International Law at the university’s Faculty of Law.
Prior to moving abroad, Nigeria-trained lawyer bagged his law degree from the Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria.
And he has also provided legal advice in proceedings in England, including before the UK Supreme Court, as well as in Australia, New Zealand and the United States.
In 2024, he was designated to the panel of arbitrators of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes by the President of the World Bank, acting as chair of the organisation’s Administrative Council.
He was subsequently appointed to ad hoc committees handling applications for the annulment of ICSID awards.
His advisory work has extended to governments across all continents and international organisations, including the United Nations, African Union Commission, Commonwealth Secretariat, Council of Europe and North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
(Photo: Punch)