Elisabeta Smaranda Olarinde

Vice-Chancellor, Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti

Professor of Law, University Administrator, Legal Scholar

Professor Elisabeta Smaranda Olarinde is a Nigerian legal scholar and university administrator whose career spans more than four decades in higher education, legal practice, research and institutional administration. She has spent a substantial part of her academic career at Afe Babalola University, where she served in several senior positions including Acting Provost, Provost of the College of Law, Pioneer Director of the ABUAD Law Clinic, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration) and Acting Vice-Chancellor before becoming Vice-Chancellor. Her academic work covers areas including family law, medical law, clinical legal education, and the protection of women and children. Olarinde has also been involved in legal research and institutional initiatives beyond ABUAD, including projects supported by UNICEF, the World Bank, IDRC, Ford Foundation and McArthur Foundation. During her leadership of ABUAD's College of Law, the college achieved a 100 percent pass rate in the 2018 Nigerian Law School Final Bar Examination, produced the overall best student among more than 6,000 candidates that year, and obtained NUC approval for a PhD in Law programme.