Dr. Akinwumi Ogunranti

Dr. Akinwumi Ogunranti is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Manitoba. He earned his LL.B. from the University of Ilorin, Nigeria, and was called to the Nigerian Bar. After practising commercial law for three years in a full-service firm, he pursued graduate studies at the Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University, where he obtained his LLM and Ph.D. degrees.

Dr. Ogunranti’s research focuses on international economic law with particular emphasis on business and human rights, international investment law, transnational dispute resolution, and conflict of laws. He brings Global South and African perspectives to these issues, often drawing on Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL). His scholarship has been published in leading international and Canadian journals, including the Leiden Journal of International Law, Business and Human Rights Journal, Canadian Yearbook of International Law, African Journal of Legal Studies, Dalhousie Law Journal, and Osgoode Hall Law Journal.

A qualified lawyer in Manitoba, Dr. Ogunranti also serves on the Editorial Board of the Business and Human Rights Journal and the International Law Association (Canada) Committee on Business and Human Rights. He co-founded and leads the Canadian Forum on Business and Human Rights, the first platform of its kind in Canada and North America, which promotes interdisciplinary research, policy dialogue, and knowledge mobilization on corporate accountability and responsible business conduct.

Peer-reviewed articles

• Akinwumi Ogunranti, “National Action Plans in Africa: A Beacon of Hope or a Quest to Keep up with the Joneses?” (2026) 18:3 African Journal of Legal Studies (forthcoming).
• Akinwumi Ogunranti, “Investment Dispute Settlement Reform in Africa: A Proposal for an AfCFTA Investment-Related Dispute Settlement System” (2026) Arbitration International 1.
• Akinwumi Ogunranti, “No One is Coming to Save You—A Quest for Africanizing Business and Human Rights Norms” (2026) Leiden Journal of International Law 1.
• Akinwumi Ogunranti, “Norm Contestation in the BHR Field—The Role of Corporate Actors as Entrepreneurs, Antipreneurs, and Saboteurs” (2024) 0:0 Business and Human Rights Journal 1.
• Akinwumi Ogunranti, “Dispute Resolution in the AfCFTA Investment Protocol—A Preliminary Assessment and Proposal for Business and Human Rights Arbitration” (2024) 25:6 Journal of World Trade and Investment 666.
• Akinwumi Ogunranti, “The Relationality of Community-Investor Agreements—Towards an HRDD Good Faith Requirement” (2024) 0:0 Canadian Yearbook of International Law 1.
• Akinwumi Ogunranti, “Private Law as a Tool for Climate Justice in Canada: Reflections on the New Zealand Court’s Decision in Michael Smith v Fonterra Co-Operative Group Limited” (2024) 47:2 Manitoba Law Journal 1.
• Akinwumi Ogunranti, “Why the Multilateral Investment Court is a Bad Idea for Africa” (2024) 47:1 Dalhousie Law Journal 1.
• Akinwumi Ogunranti, “Localizing the UNGPs—An Afrocentric Approach to Interpreting Pillar II” (2023) 8:1 Business and Human Rights Journal 66.
• Akinwumi Ogunranti, “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea - Towards Access to Justice for Local Communities in Investor-State Arbitration or Business and Human Rights Arbitration” (2022) 59:3 Osgoode Hall Law Journal 707.
• Akinwumi Ogunranti, “Normative Role of The ECOWAS Court of Justice in Transnational Corporate Accountability” (2022) 13:2 The Journal of Sustainable Development Law and Policy 53.
• Akinwumi Ogunranti, “Procedure: The Handmaid of Justice- An Analysis of the Dissenting Judgement of Honourable Justice Emmanuel Akomaye Agim in Osude v Azode” (2021) 5:1 The Appellate Review Journal 1.
• Akinwumi Ogunranti, “Separating the Wheat from the Chaff—The Role of Separability in Delimiting Public Policy’s Influence on Arbitrability of Disputes in Africa” (2019) 10:1 The Journal of Sustainable Development Law and Policy 104.
• Akinwumi Ogunranti, “The Hague Principles – A New Dawn for Developing Countries?” (2017) 35:4 Netherlands Journal of Private International Law, NIPR 1.

Book Review

Book Review (2023), Implementing Business and Human Rights Norms in Africa: Law and Policy Interventions (Oxford, UK: Routledge, 2022).

Book Chapters

• Sara L Seck & Akinwumi Ogunranti, “Accountability – Legal Risk, Remedies and Damages” in Rae Lindsay & Roger Martella, eds, Corporate Social Responsibility – The Corporate Governance of the 21st Century (Kluwer Law International, 2020).
• ‘Sina Sofola, SAN (QC), Akinwumi Ogunranti & Osaserhe Uhunmwagho – “Theories of Judicial Decision-Making: Formalism and A Theoretical Response” in Demola Okeowo, ed, Trailblazer: A Selection of Essays and Papers in Celebration of Chief Folake Solanke, SAN, CON (Lagos: Legal Magnates, 2019).
• Book Review (2020), Business and Human Rights Journal: Dalia Palombo, Business and Human Rights: The Obligations of the European Homes States (Oxford, UK: Hart Publishing, 2019).

Blog posts

• “Whither Rightsholders in Africa? Rethinking the Business and Human Rights Treaty” (March 2026), Völkerrechtsblog
• Bill S-285: 21st-Century Business Act – Is Canada Finally Catching Up with the Rest of the World? (15 August 2024) Dalhousie Law Journal blog.
• “Multilaterizing Investment Disputes: Should Africa Learn from History and Experience?” (15 September 2023) The Manitoba Law Journal blog.
• “The Effect of Recent Coups in Africa on the African Continental Free Trade Agreement” (20 September 2023) Afronomicslaw blog.
• “Separating the Wheat from the Chaff: Delimiting Public Policy Influence on the Arbitrability of Disputes in Africa” (14 October 2019) Afronomicslaw blog.
• “Access to Justice for Local Communities in Investor-state Arbitration” (6 December 2019) Dalhousie Law Journal blog.

• Schulich Fellowship Award
• Purdy Crawford Fellowship Award 
• Schulich School of Law Graduate Scholarship Award- Law Foundation of Nova Scotia 
• Faculty of Graduate Studies Scholarships
• Dean Ronald St. John MacDonald Graduate Fellowship in Law
• George Caines Graduate Scholarship