Meet Gbemisola Odusote, the quiet reformer breaking a 63-year ceiling at the Nigerian law school
When President Bola Tinubu approved the appointment of Olugbemisola Titilayo Odusote as director general of the Nigerian Law School, history followed quietly but firmly.
From January 10, 2026, Odusote will take over from Isa Chiroma, whose eight-year tenure ends a day earlier. At 57, she becomes the first woman to lead the institution since it was established in 1962, a symbolic shift for a school that shapes every lawyer admitted to the Nigerian Bar.
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The presidency announced the appointment in a statement signed by Bayo Onanuga, special adviser to the president on information and strategy. The role comes with a four-year mandate and sweeping responsibilities across the Law School’s campuses nationwide.
“As Director General, Odusote will be responsible for the institution’s overall academic leadership, administrative management, and strategic direction across all campuses,” the statement said. “She will also serve as the primary liaison between the school, the Council of Legal Education, the Body of Benchers, and the Nigerian Bar Association.”
Odusote is not an outsider. She is a product of the system she is now set to lead.
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An alumna of Obafemi Awolowo University, then University of Ife, she earned her law degree as part of the 1987 class, widely known as the Class of Distinction. She was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1988 and later obtained a master’s degree from the same university, specialising in company and commercial law.
Her academic journey eventually took her to the United Kingdom, where she earned a doctorate in law from the University of Surrey. Her research focused on public law and the administration of justice, areas that sit at the heart of legal education and institutional governance.
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She joined the Nigerian Law School in 2001 as a lecturer and steadily rose through the ranks. Over the years, she served as head of the academic department, director of academics and head of campus. Most recently, she was deputy director general and head of the Lagos campus, one of the school’s largest and busiest centres.
Along the way, she spent time as a visiting scholar at Nottingham Trent University in the United Kingdom, adding international exposure to a career largely built within Nigeria’s legal education system.
Beyond administration and teaching, Odusote has published widely in local and international law journals and presented papers at several legal education conferences. She has also served on committees of both the Council of Legal Education and the Nigerian Bar Association, giving her insight into the policy and professional pressures surrounding legal training in Nigeria.
Her appointment has drawn praise from political and legal quarters, particularly from Ekiti State, where she hails from.
Biodun Oyebanji, Ekiti State governor, described her as “a distinguished scholar and a seasoned administrator with proven integrity and great accomplishments in academia,” while thanking President Tinubu for the appointment.
“Hearty congratulations to another daughter of the Land of Honour,” the governor said in a statement, adding that he had “absolute confidence” in her ability to excel in the new role.
Odusote now steps into an office that demands more than symbolism. The Nigerian Law School faces persistent debates over capacity, quality, funding and reform, all while producing the next generation of legal practitioners in Africa’s most populous country.
Her challenge will be to balance tradition with change, authority with consensus and academic rigour with professional realities.
