our team

Mariam Abimbola Alo, senior staff attorney & Lagos manager (Lagos, Nigeria)
Mariam was admitted to the Nigerian Bar in 2012. She holds an LL.B from the University of Ibadan and a BL from the Nigerian Law School. She is one of our longest-serving staff, and leads JEI’s legal team in coordinating litigation strategy, training community based paralegals, and handling a range of cases across a wide range of case types including criminal defense, enforcement of socio-economic rights, and sexual and gender-based violence.

Ogochukwu Joy Mgbachi, staff attorney (Lagos, Nigeria)
Ogo was admitted to the Nigerian Bar in 2017. She holds an LL.B from Imo State University, Owerri and a BL from the Nigerian Law School, Lagos Campus. Ogo advances our legal empowerment work in Lagos by supporting JEI community paralegals handling diverse cases on behalf of urban poor individuals and communities facing justice challenges. She also coordinates JEI’s paralegal services at the Lagos State Mobile Court where we assist indigent clients arrested by the Lagos State Task Force on vagrancy-related offenses.

Abasianam Uduak, public health lead & research assistant (Port Harcourt, Nigeria)
Abasianam received a M.Sc in Public Health (Preventive & Social Medicine) from the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State in 2021. She coordinates our access to health work in Port Harcourt, training and supporting community health advocates to handle cases and serve as a bridge ensuring public health services reach urban poor communities. She additionally support’s JEI’s participatory action research on the intersection of justice challenges and poverty in Nigeria.

Fred Patrick, paralegal trainer & supervisor (Lagos, Nigeria)
Fred first joined our work as a community paralegal dedicated to assisting residents of his community of Badia East in Lagos. He developed a specialization in handling challenging cases of police accountability, and took on increasing leadership roles training and mentoring newer community paralegals. As a member of the JEI staff, Fred leads our paralegal training in Lagos, where he has supported the training of numerous classes, including in Hausa, Egun, and Sign Language. Fred holds an LL.B from the National Open University of Nigeria, where he was the president of his graduating class.

Bisola Akinmuyiwa, media team coordinator & monitoring and evaluation officer (Lagos, Nigeria)
Bisola first joined our work as a young leader of the Nigerian Slum / Informal Settlement Federation’s youth media team. Over the years she also served her community of Itun Agan in Amuwo Odofin, Lagos State as a community paralegal handling numerous cases from access to education for poor families, accountability for SGBV, to resolving inter-community clashes, among others. In 2023 she earned her diploma in law from Lagos State University (LASU). She joined JEI staff after years of serving as a core member of the grassroots Media4Change team, where she coordinates media projects and mentors newer members to grow our collective capacity to make media and use media to build more just and inclusive cities. She supports our media work in both Nigeria and Benin.

Esse Ange-Marie, public health lead & research assistant (Cotonou, Benin)
Esse received a M.Sc in Public Health (Nutrition) from the Universite de Parakou in 2019. He leads JEI’s community health advocacy in Benin, supporting our team of grassroots community health advocates using health accompaniment and education to improve health outcomes in Cotonou’s urban poor communities. He additionally support’s JEI’s participatory action research on the intersection of justice challenges and poverty in Cotonou and Dakar, Senegal.

Raissa Djakpo, juriste (Cotonou, Benin)
Raissa completed her LL.M. at the Université d’Abomey-Calavi in 2019. She leads our legal empowerment work in Cotonou through support for JEI’s community paralegal program and community legal education. She is an adept legal researcher and is additionally suportting the replication of JEI’s paralegal services model in collaboration with partners in Dakar, Senegal.

Ugochukwu Nnadi, staff attorney (Port Harcourt, Nigeria)
Ugo was admitted to the Nigerian Bar in 2019. He holds an LL.B from Abia State University and a BL from the Nigerian Law School, Lagos Campus. Ugo first joined our team as a NYSC member. As staff attorney, Ugo advances our legal empowerment work in Port Harcourt by training community-based paralegals and supporting over 40 active paralegals handling cases on diverse issues from police accountability, to land grab and force eviction, to protection of informal livelihoods, to SGBV.

Tamunotonye Ngeri, staff attorney (Port Harcourt, Nigeria)
Tonye was admitted to the Nigerian Bar in 2009. He holds an LL.B from Rivers State University and a BL from the Nigerian Law School, Abuja Campus. Tonye came to JEI after many years working with grassroots civil society organizations challenging wrongful police arrests and detention, and supporting grassroots advocacy against evictions. He advances our legal empowerment work in Port Harcourt through support for JEI’s community paralegal program and strategic litigation.

Samuel Okechukwu, creative media director & grassroots media team trainer (Lagos, Nigeria)
Sam first joined our work as a youth member of the Nigerian Slum / Informal Settlement Federation’s youth media team. He is a natural creative, and is committed to constantly honing his photography and videography. Over the years his work focused on inclusion, youth, and culture has won awards locally and internationally. As a member of the JEI staff, Sam ensures the work produced by the Media4Change team is of the highest quality, by recruiting, training, and mentoring other youth from urban poor communities to be able to make media to advance their own priorities. He supports our media work in both Nigeria and Benin.

Megan Chapman, co-director
Megan' vision for JEI’s blend of legal empowerment and community mobilization was born in rural Cameroon and refined in South Africa’s townships, before it took root in Nigeria where she has worked since 2011. With a wide variety of international and domestic human rights and development organizations, Megan has helped to build community-based paralegal programs and supported strategic human rights litigation in Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. In Nigeria, she is seeking sustainable ways to bring skills and resources directly to poor communities. Megan holds a J.D. from American University Washington College of Law (summa cum laude), where she was a Public Interest/Public Service scholar and the co-Editor-in-Chief of the Human Rights Brief. She holds a B.A. in history from University of Chicago (high distinction). 

Andrew Maki, co-director
Andrew began his career working on international criminal justice in the Balkans and transitional justice in Uganda until recognizing the disconnect between these efforts and the everyday lives of victims. Since 2011, he has been working with the poor in urban slums and rural villages across Nigeria to defend and advance their rights, becoming ever more convinced that the recipe for meaningful social change amidst pervasive impunity lies in grassroots organizing and legal empowerment. Andrew holds a J.D. from American University Washington College of Law, where he was the co-Editor-in-Chief of the Human Rights Brief and earned the award for the highest number of pro bono hours. He has worked with the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, the American Bar Association – Rule of Law Initiative, and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

community paralegals

We train and provide support to a dynamic team of JEI community paralegals from urban poor communities in Lagos and Port Harcourt, Nigeria, and Cotonou, Benin. More experienced paralegals take on leadership roles in training and providing guidance to less experienced paralegals. Our paralegal teams are constantly growing and evolving on account of our regular paralegal training courses bringing new paralegals into our paralegal services program. Paralegals work as a network to resolve both individual and community-level cases, as well as take on cross-cutting advocacy based on emerging priorities.

grassroots media, mapping, and health teams

We train and support grassroots creative media, community mapping and data collection, as well as community health education and advocacy teams from urban poor communities.

Abiodun Baiyewu is the Nigeria Country Director for Global Rights and has extensive experience working in Nigerian civil society on issues around human rights, access to justice, and peace-building. Abi has worked with organizations in Nigeria including the Negotiation and Conflict Management Group, the Center for African Policy and Peace Strategy, and the American Center for International Labor Solidarity. Abi holds a Bachelor of Law from the Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife, Nigeria and a Masters of Law from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington D.C., where she was also a Women’s Law and Public Policy Fellow in the Leadership and Advocacy for Women in Africa Program. She is an accredited mediator, dispute resolution trainer, and an HIV/AIDS youth counselor. Abiodun is a member of JEI's board of directors of JEI, serving as the chairperson, and a trustee of CLSI.

Jack Makau is the Director of Slum Dwellers International - Kenya, based in Nairobi and providing support to slum dweller federations across Africa and around the world. He has worked with the Kenyan federation, Muungano wa Wanavijiji, since its founding, holding roles with Muungano Support Trust and Pamoja Trust. He is an expert in enumerations, slum profiling, and participatory urban planning. Jack is a member of the board of directors of JEI.

Kalu Obuba is a lawyer with over two decades of practice experience before Nigerian courts on a broad array of cases, including housing rights (forced eviction), land grab, HIV-based discrimination, employment disputes, among others. He has litigated cases in Lagos State, Rivers State (Port Harcourt), and the Federal Capital Territory (Abuja), and numerous other jurisdictions. Kalu received his LL.B from the University of Benin, and his B.L. from Nigeria Law School, Lagos. He has his own chambers, Obuba & Obuba, in Abuja and serves as an independent senior legal advisor to JEI, as well as a trustee of CLSI. 

Anna Maitland is Supervisory Attorney at Legal Aid Chicago where she provides free legal assistance in civil cases to people living in Chicago and suburban Cook County.
Anna's career has centered on supporting vulnerable and marginalized populations to own and lead their struggles toward progressive and sustainable change. She has engaged in the Americas and Africa on statelessness, asylum, and sexual rights through work with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), and Heshima Kenya. In Nigeria, her work has focused on right to health and impacts of forced evictions. Anna holds a J.D. from American University Washington College of Law (cum laude), where she served as Managing Editor of the Human Rights Brief, and a M.A. from American University School of International Service, where she received scholarships from Meyers Society and the Women’s Law Association. Anna is a co-founder of JEI and currently serves as JEI’s US liaison, as well as a member of JEI’s board of directors.

Olamide Udoma is a researcher, writer, and filmmaker holding degrees in BSc Architecture, MA Design and MPhil Infrastructure Management. At Our Future Cities NPO, she is the Future Lagos manager. Olamide started her career in public relations, giving her a business and marketing foundation. She has worked in London, South Africa and Nigeria with various organisations focusing on transport management, slum upgrading and housing rights in urbanising African cities. Based in Lagos, Olamide is engaged with projects that use technology to explore more human centered urban planning. She is a founding board member of Open House Lagos and also co-directing a documentary on land making in Lagos and the restrictions placed on researchers and artists who question large-scale developments. Olamide is a member of the board of directors of JEI. 

Gbenga Austen Oladapo is founder and Executive Director of the Initiative for Advancement of Humanity (IAH), a human rights NGO that provides legal and health services to vulnerable populations. He has practiced law for over nine years, and has experience in criminal defense, forced evictions and land grabs, and discrimination in access to health services, among others. Austen regularly volunteers his time and skills to support human rights cases and campaigns. He also has adept knowledge of organizational and project management / implementation. Austen is a member of the Nigerian Bar Association, an associate of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (UK), and a trustee of CLSI.

Dr. Aaron L. Strong is Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at Hamilton College. His research examines the human dimensions of climate change policy implementation, with an emphasis on the vulnerability and resilience of coastal communities and participatory climate action planning. Dr. Strong received his Ph.D. from Stanford University in environmental governance, focused on justice and climate change policy-development challenges. He previously received an MA in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University in climate change policy and political geography, and has held research positions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Montana and the Marine Biological Laboratory. Dr. Strong holds a Bachelor of Arts in Biology and Political Science from Swarthmore College. He is a member of JEI's board of directors, serving as the climate change advisor. 

Jacob Mihalak comes to the board with more than 30 years experience managing – and providing technical assistance to – nonprofit entities in the U.S. housing, healthcare, and human services sectors. He runs Sound Thinking LLC, a sole-proprietor consulting firm that supports the work of government, nonprofit and philanthropic entities seeking to develop/operate affordable housing or create effective crisis-response systems for persons living with HIV and/or experiencing homelessness. He is a nationally recognized planner, trainer, conference organizer and content developer. Jacob has been a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in Washington State since 1986 and has established, managed and been an advisor on nonprofit accounting, data collection and grants management systems throughout his career. He received his bachelor degree from Colorado College, studied landscape design and planning at the Conway School of Landscape Design, and is an active participant in local and national low-income housing and homeless policy formulation and advocacy. Jacob is a member of JEI's board of directors, serving as a member of the audit committee.