Emily Alemika

Emily Alemika (born 1957) is a Nigerian educator. She is the first female Professor of Law in the old Kwara State out of which Kogi State was carved. She practices human rights law and encourages and mentors others to pursue education.

Early life

Emily Alemika was born in the late 1950s in ODO-APE in the Bunu Community of the Kogi State of Nigeria to Hassanat Taiwo and Reuben Alemeru.^[1] The child of a broken home, she was a victim of child labour, who by the age of 13 had lived with 12 different employers, in 33 villages across the Bunu territory. She typically worked as a restaurant attendant earning six pence per month. In 1968, her father demanded that she be returned.^[2] Alemika began her primary education when she was almost 15 at Saint Bartholomew's Primary School, in ODO-APE. She continued her education at Bishop Smith Memorial College of Ilorin and then attended school to complete her basic studies in Kwara State^[1] attending the teacher's training college.^[2]

Career

After her schooling, Alemika worked for two years at P&T Post Telecommunications in Lagos.^[1] She met and married Etanibi Alemika, who was a professor.^[2] With her husband's encouragement, Alemika began studying law at Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, and graduated with a diploma. When he got a scholarship to study in the United States, Alemika accompanied him and he again encouraged her to continue her studies. She enrolled in a master's degree at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,^[1] while her husband completed his PhD in Criminology at the University of Pennsylvania.^[3] Graduating with her degree in Criminal Justice and returning to Nigeria, Alemika found work in the investigative division of Nigeria Police Force, where she remained for one year.^[1] Her husband thought she should return to law school to earn a degree to be able to read law,^[4] and she enrolled in a law degree program at the University of Jos.^[1]

When she earned her degree, Alemika worked in the university law library for a year, until the birth of her fourth child. The couple had previously had an older daughter and a set of twins. Between 1993 and 1995, she studied information sciences in Ibadan. She returned to the Law Library at the University of Jos, where she remained until 2004. In that year, Alemika began teaching law and studying for her PhD, which she completed in 2014.^[1] Upon completion of her studies, she was appointed to the Faculty of Law in October, 2014,^[5] becoming the first woman from the state of Kogi to be a law professor.^[4] She has served as editor in chief of the Departmental and Faculty Journal since 2009 and served on the Nigerian Senate Committee on Gender Issues between 2007 and 2010.^[6]

Alemika practices human rights law and encourages and mentors others to pursue education. She works on issues that effect vulnerable populations, women and children.^[1] She has participated in numerous international conferences, presenting on topics such as Legal and institutional framework for juvenile justice in Nigeria: A Critical Analysis Kampala, Uganda (2011);^[7]Human Rights Education & Legal Profession in Nigeria Washington, D.C. (2014);^[8] Human Rights of Women and the Plights of Women with a Focus on Widowhood Rite Practices: A Call for Proper Human Rights Education in Nigeria and Translating the Legal Framework on the Rights of a Child in Nigeria into Effective Practice through Human Rights Education: The Mitigating and Militating Factors in Middelburg, Netherlands (2015);^[9][6] and Sociocultural rights of women and widowhood rite in Nigeria in Santiago, Chile (2016).^[10]

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