Maryam Uwais

The Hope Brigade Nigeria, 2021

Maryam Uwais, MFR is the current Special Advisor to Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Social Investments. She is a legal practitioner and human rights activist with over 36 years cognate law practice experience including the Kano State Ministry of Justice, the Nigerian Law Reform Commission and the Central Bank of Nigeria.

She served on the Council of the National Human Rights Commission, where she also worked as Special Rapporteur on Child Rights. In addition, she was on the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child for five years. She founded the Isa Wali Empowerment Initiative in December 2009, which targets the conditions of women and children in education, healthcare and empowerment.

Maryam Uwais has also worked as a consultant to the Open Society Initiative for West Africa, UNICEF, the World Bank, and DfID. She has written and published several articles on economic and social rights, interfaith dialogue, child justice administration and good governance. She is a recipient of numerous awards including one of the five McNulty Prize Laureates at the Aspen Institute, Colorado, following the activities of the Isa Wali Empowerment Initiative (2014).