Areas of Expertise

International Law; Oil and Gas Law, Constitutional Law; Rule of Law

Brief Bio

Prof. Theresa Uzoamaka Akpoghome is a trained Legal Practitioner. A solicitor and advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria and is duly certified to practice law. She earned her Law Degree (LLB) from the University of Calabar and graduated as the best graduating student in Law. Thereafter, she proceeded to the Nigerian Law School for her Bar Part II (BL). She was called to the Nigerian Bar in October 2004. She also earned her Master’s degree in Law (LLM) from the University of Benin, and a PhD in Law from the University of Jos, Nigeria. She was appointed a Law Professor at Benson Idahosa University, Benin City in 2018, but currently on sabbatical leave with the University of Delta, Agbor. She is a member of the Nigerian Bar Association, International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), Nigerian Association of Law Teachers (NALT) and Society of International Humanitarian Law Teachers (SIHULAT). She served as the Dean of the Faculty of Law from 2019 - 2021 and also the HOD, Department of Public Law from 2016-2019 at Benson Idahosa University. Her area of specialty is International Humanitarian Law (IHL) but she has also been teaching and researching on Oil and Gas Law, Public International Law, Legal Research and the Law of Contract. She attended the All African Course on IHL at the University of Pretoria in South Africa in 2013 and the Advanced Training Course for University Teachers on IHL at the prestigious Geneva Academy for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law, Geneva, Switzerland in 2015. As a university professor, her duty includes, but not limited to, teaching, research and community development. She has attended several conferences both in Nigeria and outside Nigeria. She won the research grant in 2021 as a Research Consultant for Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN), the largest anti-sexual violence organization in the United States of America and conducted a research on sexual violence in six African countries, for which the report was published by the organization. In 2022, she won another research grant from CONRAD Institute to conduct a research on Judicial Financial Independence in Nigeria. She has won several conference grants for conferences outside Nigeria from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and from CONRAD ADENUER STIFTUNG, a German based Institute on Rule of Law Program for Sub-Saharan Africa. She has won several awards. She has contributed to the development and advancement in the field of Law and has been teaching law for 16 years. She has over 74 publications in reputable international, national and local journals. She has been an external examiner for undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in Law of some universities and has also assessed candidates for appointment to professorial positions.