Professor Epiphany Azinge, SAN: A Worthy Fellow
As Professor Epiphany Azinge OON, SAN, is today, conferred with the prestigious Fellowship of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, in recognition of his services, not just to the Institute when he was Director General, but to Nigeria and hum
Prof Epiphany Azinge was born into a prominent Asaba Family, and he made his early mark as a student of law, where he graduated from the prestigious University of Lagos in 1976 with a second class upper division, and was called to the Bar in 1980. With an insatiable quest for knowledge and ever probing and questioning the law, he proceeded to the University of London for his Masters in 1983, specialising in Comparative Constitutional Law and Shipping Law, and graduated with a distinction. Azinge, again proceeded to attain the highest academic qualification at the highly prestigious London School of Economics, and staying true to his academic dexterity, he delivered a genius PhD thesis on Electoral Laws in Nigeria.
Career
His thirst for the academia, began as a Lecturer at the University of Benin, teaching over 8 subjects and supervising several including PhD thesis; he lectured at the University of Abuja, where he introduced the Information Technology Law in Nigeria in 1996; lectured at the Nasarawa State University; was an External Examiner of PhD dissertations at the Ahmadu Bello University, the University of Jos in 2006 and the University of Kwazulu, Natal, Durban 2008; he served as the Director of Research and Studies at the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, before his elevation as the Director General of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies from 2009 to 2014 and thereof, continuing his teaching career
briefly at the Baze University; he served at the US State Department, as part of the International Visitors Leadership programme on Judicial Independence and Human Rights; he currently holds an elected position of the Commonwealth Arbitral Tribunal sitting in London, where is represents Nigeria and Africa as a whole, he is a member of the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee, and the Principal Partner of Azinge and Azinge. Flowing from the above, there is no doubt that he is a legal scholar of high cranial capacity.
Contributions to Law: NIALS
This versatile genius, is further illuminated by his interests and excellence in almost every branch of law. His contribution to law, surpasses those of narrowly specialised Lawyers. He is a distinguished scholar, a legal luminary of national and international repute, and easily a leading authority in Constitutional and Electoral Law. This was well shown by his stewardship as the Director General of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies from 2009 to 2014, where he pursued vigorously with enormous strides and mastermind innovations, the mission of the institute to make it “world class” and he, naturally came up with the motto “Knowledge that makes the difference”.
As the past Director General of the Institute, his dexterity is exemplified by his achievements. Under his administration, Prof Epiphany Azinge has made countless innovations. He introduced the PhD Postgraduate programme in Legislative Drafting at the Institute in 2009, to fill the knowledge gap and to seek to redress the shortage of skilled and motivated drafters in the country; It is worthy to mention that, during his tenure he graduated 21 LL.M Students; 6 post graduate diplomas, and 2 Ph.D students. Similarly, to drive research and training, he also provided excellent research centres named after prominent Nigerians who demonstrated interest and commitment in the subject areas, to mention a few, are Mohammed Lawal Uwais
Centre for Judicial Integrity Assessment; Gani Fawehinmi Centre for Human Rights; George Etomi Centre for Strategic Investment and Corporate Governance; Wole Olanikpekun Centre for Alternative Dispute Resolution; and Corporate Affairs Commission Centre for Regulation of Corporate Power, amongst others.
Prof Azinge was also very passionate, about immortalising great scholars of our time. In the first year of his tenure, he named structures within the institute after great personalities, such as Akinola Aguda Lecture theatre – named after Dr. Akinola Aguda, the 1st Director General of the Institute; Ayo Ajomo Auditorium - named after the 2nd Director General of the Institute; Taslim Elias Memorial Library – named after His Excellency Judge Taslim Oluwole Elias; Michael Agbamuche Lecture theatre – named after Chief Michael Agbamuche (former Attorney-General of the Federation); Similarly, In order to take research to another level, he instituted a number of professorial chairs, designed to open up new frontiers and vistas for research findings. He inaugurated nine professorial chairs after great scholars to include the S.M.A Belgore Professorial Chair of Law and Development; the Gani Fawehinmi Distinguished Professorial Chair on Human Rights; Taslim Elias Professorial Chair on International Law; Nabo Graham Douglas Professorial Chair on African Comparative Law; Akinola Aguda Professorial Chair; Ademola Edu Professorial Chair; Ben Nwabueze Professorial Chair; Chief Chike Chigbue Professorial Chair; and the Jadesola Akande Professorial Chair.
Publications
His publications, in their quality and content, and even quantity, attest to a continuously active legal mind. Throughout his administration, he published a total number of 70 publications, comprising of Journals, books and monograms, and also introduced some ground-breaking research projects relevant to MDAs, the judiciary, legislature and the Federal and State Government in general. Worthy of mention are, the Nigeria’s Judicial Performance Evaluation (Vol 1-7); Unification of Penal and Criminal Law; Annotation of Treaties in Force; NIALS Laws of Nigeria (Annotated); The Supreme Court of Nigeria 1990 – 2012; Review of Yobe State Laws and the Handbook on Rules of Engagement for the Nigerian Military; he Pioneered field research in Traditional Administration of Justice in Nigeria and the Restatement of Customary law; amongst others. In addition, he introduced 13 highly specialised journals.
Lectures and Events
In order to sustain the tempo for continuous legal education, he introduced the Specialised Judicial Track Training Programme, specialised training course for Judges of the customary courts; the African Moot Court Trial, roundtables that centred on national and international discourse, and introduced ground breaking lecture series to include the New Frontiers Lecture, Diasporas Scholars Lecture; State of the Legal Profession Lecture; Chike Chigbue Memorial lecture; Jadesola Akande Memorial Lecture; Akinola Aguda Memorial Lecture, Felix Okoye Memorial Lecture; Gani Fawehinmi Distinguished Professor of Law Lecture; Inaugural Lecture Series and the Valedictory Lecture. In addition to these, he successfully organised the Centenary Law Summit in 2013 to celebrate a century of Constitutional Evolution and Legal Development in Nigeria, which was an opportunity to take stock of how well Nigeria has utilised law as an instrument of social change in the last 100 years. Also, in collaboration with the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), he organised the Hon. Justice Mohammed Lawal Uwais Public Service Award, which encourages work and reward, excellence, national progress, patriotic commitment and selfless discipline. He also organised the NIALS Festival of Legal Scholarship, which fosters a gathering for diverse, intellectually curious people to learn, listen and debate. The Festival was unique in its dedication to dialogue and exchange, and in its commitment to bringing ideas to the public at large; he organised the Stakeholders Summit and he faithfully continued the tradition of conferring the institutes prestigious Fellowship on a selected few of Nigeria’s leading legal scholars and jurists, who have demonstrated outstanding qualities and excellence in scholarship, practice and in the Legal Profession in general. He conferred a record total of 26 fellowships throughout his tenure. However, one of the most ground breaking, was his establishment of the NIALS Hall of Fame, which was established for the purpose of honouring individuals that made monumental contributions in the field of law. In 2010, the late Justice P.N Bhagwati of India, was the first inductee of its Hall of Fame, for his role in recognising the justiciability of Economic and Social Rights.
To strengthen capacity within the Institute, Azinge strategically collaborated with other institutions such as the Chariton Resources LLC, Texas, U.S.A; China Law Society, Beijing; The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS); Heinrich Boll Foundation Nigeria; Justice for All; Indian High Commission; Business Recovery and Insolvency Practitioners Association of Nigeria; Ford Foundation; Creative Common (CC) Nigeria; University of Cape Town, Osgoode University. In furtherance of his desire for capacity building, he has extensively granted full scholarships for higher degrees, both locally and internationally, sponsored staff to conferences and training, both home and abroad. Also, as a way of encouraging hard work and diligence, he deemed it fit to present awards to deserving members of staff who have proven themselves, in their various departments. This he faithfully carried out a monthly basis, and also as an end of year reward.
In 2014, he launched the online pro bono clinic, which was fully committed to the implementation and development of a law clinic, as an integral part of the Institute. He also established the e-learning portal to create an accessible, user friendly web environment to support e-learning and the ease of delivery of course materials for the PG school. He secured the approval of the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to establish six (6) Regional offices of NIALS, to further ensure the application of the research results in the interest of the nation. The offices
“THIS VERSATILE GENIUS, IS FURTHER ILLUMINATED BY HIS INTERESTS AND EXCELLENCE IN ALMOST EVERY BRANCH OF LAW. HIS CONTRIBUTION TO LAW, SURPASSES THOSE OF NARROWLY SPECIALISED LAWYERS. HE IS A DISTINGUISHED SCHOLAR, A LEGAL LUMINARY OF NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL REPUTE, AND EASILY A LEADING AUTHORITY IN CONSTITUTIONAL AND ELECTORAL LAW”
were located in each of the six (6) geo-political zones of Nigeria (Asaba, Maiduguri, Kano, Enugu and Makurdi).
Awards
Prof Epiphany Azinge’s ability is further demonstrated, not only by the academic degrees which he obtained, but by several awards which he has achieved over the years; such as the Special Commendation for an Excellent Dissertation for award of PhD; Best Student in Law of Evidence; International Law and Jurisprudence; Best Youth Corper 1980; Admitted into the Hall of Fame of the Human Rights Writers Association Excellence; Award of Excellence by the St. Patricks College, Asaba Old Boys 2010, Taslim Elias Gold Medal of Excellence Award, NALT 2010, Kwame Nkrumah Leadership Award 2014, Officer of the Order of the Niger 2014; Nominated by the US State Department as part of International Visitors Leadership programme on Judicial Independence and Human Rights 2016 and listed in the Who is Who in Africa and Who is Who in Nigeria 2018, amongst others. In addition to his prestigious awards, he is also a humanitarian, where he is the founder and sponsor of Sojourners Medicare Foundation, which provides ambulance services; Founder and Chairman Epiphany Azinge Foundation, which holds its annual lecture series and is passionately pursuing the establishment of a Private University in Asaba, Delta State; the Foundation has also awarded scholarships to indigent citizens, from all parts of Nigeria; he is the National President, St Patricks College Old Boys Association 2018, and the President General, Asaba Development Union Worldwide 2018. It also worthy to mention that, Prof Azinge is carrying out pro bono advocacy on ‘culture of work ethics’ with parastatals.
Hobbies
Outside his normal practice of the academia, he has demonstrated a very social and enviable side to him, some of his hobbies include dancing, singing and meeting people. Through his tenure at institute, he introduced and started his very own choral and cultural dance troupe. Interestingly, he is also a composer, as he composed the Institute’s Anthem. I recall our end of year parties, where Professor Azinge brought all staff together to celebrate, wine and dine to our hearts content. This was significant, because this is where he rewarded staff for all their hard work, with prizes that have lasting memories. I for one, have been a recipient as the best staff of the year 2012 and 2014. Prof Azinge was always very thoughtful, as it was also his tradition, to ensure that every staff of the Institute is given a customised birthday card and a cake on their birthdays.
Prof. Epiphany Azinge is an example of thoroughness, complete dedication to duty, and above all, has demonstrated the highest standard of integrity. His mental power and fertility, is a sheer quality of his personality and intellectual drive, that has impressed on those who come in contact with him. No wonder this ‘great thinker’ was bestowed by His Royal Majesty, Obi (Prof) Chike Edozien, CFR, The Asagba of Asaba, the chieftaincy title, the ‘Okailolo of Asaba’ along with his beautiful wife Dr (Mrs) Valerie Azinge, SAN, the ‘Odoziaku of Asaba’ in 2011, thus, elevating him to the prestigious council of the Olinzele Asaba. He also very blessed with a family that is a shining example of moral rectitude, he blessed with four children, three girls and one boy, who have emulated his great strides.
Today, we celebrate this five-star legal scholar, as he is admitted into the fellowship of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies. Together, we acclaim that he is a worthy fellow, indeed. Congratulations Prof Epiphany Azinge, the Okilolo of Asaba.