By Paul Ejime
Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, a Nigerian lawyer, human rights activist and professor of international law, has clinched the 2026 Paddock Award at the U.S. Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, a leading institution for international relations and global affairs.
Established in 1993 in memory of Professor James L. Paddock, the Award “recognizes exceptional teaching, deep subject mastery, and sustained commitment to students.”
Odinkalu’s selection followed student nominations and was endorsed by the Student Council, reflecting direct classroom impact and influence on the intellectual and personal development of students.
A former chairman of Nigeria’s National Human Rights Commission, Odinkalu, recently served as the senior team manager for the Africa Programme of Open Society Justice Initiative, and is the current Pro-Chancellor/Chairman of Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, in Nigeria’s Anambra State.
He has worked as an advisor to the Ford Foundation, New York, the World Bank, the African Union, the International Council for Human Rights Policy, Geneva, and in similar high-profile positions.
In August 2021, the Fletcher School appointed him a Professor in Human Rights Law.
A 1987 law graduate of Imo State University, Odinkalu was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1988. He obtained a master’s degree in law at the University of Lagos in 1990 and holds a PhD in law from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
He has been leading a sustained advocacy for the reform of the judiciary in Nigeria and across Africa, through his tireless public engagements, seeking to bring lived experience into academic discourse, and to bridge the gap between theory and reality.
Odinkalu is lauded by colleagues as a rounded scholar “who does not only teach law and policy but challenges assumptions, confronts uncomfortable truths, and equips students to engage critically with global justice systems.”
Future diplomats, policymakers, and global leaders are trained at Fletcher, with an extended impact beyond the classroom, for greater understanding of justice, power, and responsibility.
The Fletcher School in Medford, Massachusetts, is America’s oldest graduate school for international relations and global affairs.
Paul Ejime is a Global Affairs Analyst & Consultant on Strategic Governance Communication and Security
