ABSTRACT
On July 16, 2012, Honorable Justice Mariam Aloma Mukhtar, Grand Commander of the Order of Nigeria, was sworn in as the very first female head (chief justice) of the Nigerian judiciary. A pioneer and pace setter for Nigerian women on the bench, Justice Mukhtar was one of the first female lawyers in northern Nigeria, the first female High Court Judge from the north, the first female second in command in the Kano State judiciary, and the first Nigerian female judge to be elevated to the Court of Appeal, where she served for over 17 years. She also became the 13th indigenous chief justice of Nigeria. Justice Mukhtar has been the recipient of numerous awards, having been honored by the International Association of Women Lawyers (2003), receiving the Fellowship of the Nigerian Law School (2004), and becoming the Grand Commander of the Order of Nigeria in 2012. Currently she is the first and only female permanent member of the country’s highest advisory council to the president of Nigeria.1
