Smaranda Olarinde
Quick Facts
Biography
Smaranda Olarinde is a Nigerian professor of Law, President of the Nigerian Association of Law Teachers and incumbent Provost of the college of Law, Afe Babalola University. In 1995, she served as UNICEF's Legal Researcher for Niger and Oyo State.
Career
She has put to bear three decades of cumulative experience as a law teacher, academic, researcher and legal practitioner. Her legal background, in both civil law (Romania) and common law (Nigeria) systems, adds to her diverse multidisciplinary profile. Her focus has been on women, children and young adolescents’ rights and protection. In 1989 She was a legal researcher for: IDRC on Land Tenure and Access to land for women. She also served as a Legal Researcher for World Bank on Law Development and the Status of Women (1990) and Towards a Gender Strategy in Nigeria (1992); The Nederland, Israel and Nigeria joint research on the Girl Child’s Sexuality (2002); etc. She was one of the “think thank” for the legal protection of children in Oyo State and Coordinator of International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), Drafting Committee on the Child’s Rights Law, Oyo State. She is actively involved in training law students at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, as well as law clinicians for participation in community services involving pro bono legal advice. She is a versatile administrator having occupied leadership positions of Acting Provost, College of Law; Acting Head of Department of Public and International Law (three tenures) University of Ibadan; Sub Dean Undergraduate and pioneering Sub Dean Postgraduate, Faculty of Law, University of Ibadan.
Personal life
Smaranda is the mother of Freeze of Cool FM personality Ifedayo Olarinde. She is of Romanian descent.