Chidi Odinkalu

Chidi Odinkalu is a Nigerian lawyer and human rights activist based in Abuja, Nigeria. He is also the senior team manager for the Africa Program of the Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI) and was, until recently, the chair of the Governing Council of Nigeria’s National Human Rights Commission. Chidi received his Ph.D. in law from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Prior to joining OSJI, Chidi was senior legal officer responsible for Africa and Middle East at the International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights in London, Human Rights Advisor to the United Nations Observer Mission in Sierra Leone, and Brandeis International Fellow at the Centre for Ethics, Justice and Public Life of the Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts.

Chidi 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. As well as acting as the chair of IRRI’s Board, Chidi also serves on the Board of the Fund for Global Human Rights  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.