WARDC, Co-Impact to Drive Inclusivity in Law Faculties 

Oluchi Chibuzor 

Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC), a non-profit civil rights organization, has conducted a research that will deepen inclusive future for females in law faculties across the country.

The research supported by Co-Impact, would see 12 faculties of law across the six geopolitical zones participate to produce a framework that would help women to ascend leadership positions in Nigeria’s legal academic system.

Speaking at a preliminary session for the research in Lagos recently, the Board Chair, WARDC and former DG, Nigeria Law Reform, Prof. Jumai Audi, said “the research will help produce a report that breaks barriers for an inclusive future for women in law faculties in Nigeria.”

The Dean, Faculty of Law, University of Lagos (UNILAG), Prof. Abiola Sanni, noted that institutional barriers do not dissolve by aspiration alone, but they require intentional design, disciplined execution and sustained commitment.

He maintained that if they get the design right, implementation will follow with greater clarity and impact.

“I therefore urge all participants to approach today’s deliberations with focus and purpose. Let us concentrate on building systems, not statements; structures, not slogans.

“This is not merely a ceremonial gathering. It is a working session. While the broader research spans several years, our immediate task is clear, to design frameworks that will endure.

“The University of Lagos is honoured to serve as host and secretariat. We are encouraged by the strides made within our institution, including female leadership at the highest level and increasing representation within the faculty. However, we must acknowledge that these gains remain modest and uneven across the system.

“That reality underscores the importance of this initiative. Today’s meeting should therefore focus on one central question:

What must we design now to ensure lasting, measurable and scalable impact?

“The design phase requires us to move beyond diagnosis to deliberate architecture. As we engage with the national diagnostic study and the co-creation process, I urge us to prioritise sustainability, solutions that can endure beyond project timelines and institutional ownership and frameworks that faculties can internalise and drive independently.

“Models that can be replicated across jurisdictions; accountability: clear governance structures and measurable outcomes; and alignment with ESG principles: ensuring that gender inclusion is embedded within broader institutional governance and social responsibility frameworks.”

He urged participants to resist the temptation to design for immediate visibility, saying, “instead, we must design for long-term transformation.”

“Each participating faculty is not merely a beneficiary but a co-designer. Your insights, institutional experiences, and candour will shape the quality and relevance of what emerges from this phase.”

The Executive Director, Dr. Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, said there is an urgent need to empower female academicians in the country.

“The research titled ‘Advancing Women’s Rights and Breaking Barriers for an Inclusive Future for Women in Law Faculties in Nigeria’, aims to streamline barriers hindering women in embracing academics across participating institutions across the geopolitical zones in the country.”

The Director General, Nigerian Institute of Advance Legal Studies (NIALS), Prof. Abdulqadir Abikan, said it has been discovered over the years that women in academics, particularly in the law academics, have a lot of challenges that form a stumbling block for their progression in their career, like their male counterparts.

“It has now become a serious challenge that ladies are now finding it very difficult to progress, those who have chosen to be in academia, and it is like others are getting scared of even coming in. So to avoid a situation where you will not have women in academics again, there is a need for us to create a more enabling environment for them to be able to also progress.”

On his part, President, National Association of Law Teachers (NALT), Prof. John Akintayo, said that removing the barriers in the way of female law lecturers is commendable.

“The reality right now is that even when you look at our law faculties, you seem to have more female students. These female students are competent, they come out with fantastic grades. Now the question would be that if they decide to join academia, we must put in place measures to ensure, first, that they are recruited, and also that they rise alongside their male counterparts,” he said.