Benson Chinedu Olugbuo is CIVIC’s Nigeria Country Director/ He holds a Ph.D. in Public Law from the University of Cape Town, South Africa, an LLM in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa from the University of Pretoria, South Africa, and an LLB (Hons) from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. His doctoral thesis examined the exercise of prosecutorial discretion during preliminary examinations at the International Criminal Court. He is a solicitor and advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria with more than twenty years post call experience in human rights and democracy in Nigeria.
Prior to CIVIC, Benson was a Fox International Fellow and Visiting Assistant in Research at the Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale University, United States of America (2011-2012) and the Anglophone Africa Coordinator for the NGO Coalition for the International Criminal Court (2004-2009). He led the campaign for the ratification and domestic implementation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in Sub-Saharan Africa and participated in the Review Conference of the International Criminal Court in 2010. He has published widely on justice sector reform, international criminal justice and human rights in Africa. Before joining CIVIC, he was the Executive Director of CLEEN Foundation from October 2015 to August 2021.