Jake Okechukwu Effoduh
Assistant Professor,
Lincoln Alexander School of Law
Areas of Expertise
- Artificial Intelligence & Technology Law
- Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL)
- International Institutions & Development Law
- International Institutions
- Discrimination & Identities Law
- Non-Profit Law
Jake Effoduh has gained significant expertise in international human rights advocacy at various ranks of domestic, regional, and international legal systems. He has also informed the regulatory frameworks and policy formulation on artificial intelligence (AI) both for supranational organizations and domestic institutions in several countries including the United States, Brazil, and Nigeria. Prior to joining Lincoln Alexander Law, Jake served as Chief Counsel of Africa – Canada AI and Data Innovation Consortium, mobilizing AI and big data techniques to build governance strategies. He is also the project coordinator of Canada’s Rights Role in Sub-Saharan Africa, a multi-year interdisciplinary SSHRC-funded partnership between Canada and several African countries.
Jake has held multiple academic fellowships including at the Centre for Law, Technology, and Society at the University of Ottawa; the Harvard Library Innovation Lab of Harvard Law School; the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance of the University of Cape Town; and the Center for Human Rights Science of Carnegie Mellon University.
- Decolonizing the governance of artificial intelligence in Africa: from normative mimicry to epistemic sovereignty (external link)
Science and Public Policy (April 2026) - Africa’s Energy Poverty in An Artificial Intelligence (AI) World: Struggle for Sustainable Development Goal 7 (external link)
The Journal of Sustainable Development Law and Policy (March 2026) - Towards a Universal Convention on Artificial Intelligence for Humanity (external link)
Foundational Principles of AI Governance and Policy(February 2026) - Structured Ambivalence and the Commodification of Critique (external link)
Third World Approaches to International Law Review (Feb 2026) - A Few Critical People to Handle the Truth: AI, Hallucinations, and the Labour of Law Clerks
Artificial Intelligence for Legal System (2025) - Scholarly Publishing in the Era of Open Access and Generative Artificial Intelligence (external link)
Journal of Scholarly Publishing (July 2025) - Digital Colonialism and the Role of Local Intermediaries: Examining Big Tech’s Impact on Data Sovereignty and Human Rights in Africa (external link)
Business and Human Rights Journal (October 2025) - Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights in Africa
Artificial Intelligence and the Law in Africa (2024)
- Leveraging Responsible, Explainable, and Local Artificial Intelligence Solutions for Clinical Public Health in the Global South
Healthcare (2023) - The Community Court of Justice of the Ecowas and the Advancement of Human Rights and Social Justice Reform in West Africa: Three Landmark Cases (external link)
The Palgrave Handbook of Democracy, Governance and Justice in Africa (October 2022) - (excel file) The ECOWAS Court and Civil Society Activists in Nigeria: An Anatomy and Analysis of a Robust Symbiosis (external link)
African Journal of Legal Studies (May 2022) - On the Modest Impact of West Africa’s International Human Rights Court on the Executive Branch of Government in Nigeria
Harvard Human Rights Journal (2022) - Regulating Self-Driving Cars: An African Perspective? (external link)
Harvard Human Rights Journal (2022)
- Financing the AI Triad: Compute, Data and Algorithms A framework to build local ecosystems (external link) (2026)
- Governing with AI : Four Actions to Build a Transformative and Resilient Public Administration (external link) (2026)
- Black Futures by Design: Advancing Racial Justice in Canada’s AI Governance (2026)
- A Community-Centred Protocol for Ethical and Scalable AI in Health Care (external link) (2025)
- Modest Germinations: Toward Decoloniality in AI Governance in Africa (external link) (2025)
- Options and Motivations for International AI Benefit Sharing (external link) (2025)
- “AI in the Ballot Box: Four Actions to Safeguard Election Integrity and Uphold Democracy” A Roadmap for Protecting Our Democracies in the Age of AI (external link) (2025)
- Towards the Implementation of Data Protection Measures to Safeguard Against Surveillance Abuse in Nigeria (2024)
- Strengthening Data Protection: Ensuring Privacy and Security for Nigerian Citizens (2024)
- Global Risks Report 2022 (external link) (2022)