“When I came here as a permanent resident with my wife and children, I was looking for a new challenge and opportunity,” he says.

A new academic challenge

He had started working towards achieving his practicing license with the National Committee on Accreditation and had written one exam for administrative law and was looking for a new academic challenge, and was considering the future possibility of becoming a professor of law at a Canadian University. An LLM would be a starting point, he thought.

His thesis title was “Mediation practice in Nigeria: experiences from Abuja and Ondo with lessons from Ontario, Canada”, completed with Professor Darcy MacPherson of the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Law as his advisor.

Ayita completed his LLB in 2015 at Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria. While there, he received the Presidential Award as the best graduating student in Commercial Law, as well as the Attorney General of the Federation Award in the same subject during the 2015 convocation. He also won the National Essay Competition on the topic “Nigeria at 50, the past, the present and the future,” funded by Intercontinental Bank (now Access Bank), which was – significantly, how he obtained his first laptop. Additionally, he was the first runner-up in the continental essay competition titled “The Immorality of Self-Interest [The Morality or otherwise of Capitalism],” organized by African Liberty and IMANI in 2011.

He concluded his legal practice training at The Nigerian Law School in Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria in 2016. As a next step, he obtained a certificate in Arbitration at the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, London, UK in 2017 and then received certification in conflict and dispute resolution at the Canadian Institute for Conflict Resolutions in 2021. He further earned a certificate in Conflict Management Skills at the University of Toronto (2022) followed by certification in Reconciliation and Restoration at Forgiving For Restoring Canada. At this time in 2023, he completed some of the requirements of the Federation of Law Societies of Canada to pass his Bachelor of Laws Equivalency Examination and then commenced the Master of Laws program at the University of Manitoba in 2023.

Having practiced law in Nigeria and studied mediation and alternative dispute resolution both there and in Canada, Ayita found it impossible to ignore his calling to further his education and deepen his studies in law.

UM’s policies of accommodation and inclusion attractive

He was drawn to the University of Manitoba for his LLM having researched Canadian universities and learned that UM “has been established for more than a century and has produced a lot of policymakers,” as well as “those who are also at the forefront of access to justice in Canada as well as in the global community.” Additionally, he notes that UM’s policies of accommodation and inclusion were another thing that attracted him.

“I landed in Canada October 26, 2022,” he says, “so it’s like less than a month that I came in and about approximately a month that I applied to the school, so I was just trying to settle down.”

Teaching law someday was on his mind when he made the decision to apply for the LLM program. “Most of what I’ve been doing – about 80% of what I’ve done all my life has been the issue of building capacity teaching and imparting knowledge. And now I really want to do that. One of the motivations [to do the LLM] is to become a professor and to also influence policies in the area of access to justice, because access to justice is an ongoing crusade.”

Engaging in community

Beyond legal studies, volunteering in community is important to Ayita. During his time as a Master of Laws student, he served as a volunteer facilitator with the Speaker Bureau for the Centre for Human Rights Research at the University of Manitoba for a year. He also served as class president for the LLM program from September 2023 to May 2025. He participated in the Community Venture/Salvation Army fundraising event in December of 2024 and took part in the university’s community seed planting initiative. Even before arriving in Canada, he volunteered as national coordinator for AFSEN (Alliance for Sustainable Environment Nigeria), focusing on environmental protection and sanitation. There, he led a team in sanitation activities, planted new trees, and educated teenagers on water use and waste disposal.

Speaking from his experience working as Director of Training and Development at the Mediation Training Institute in Nigeria and as a lawyer and conflict coach, he says, “Everybody wants to access justice in all facets of humanity such as divorce and in all your legal needs. You want justice to be served, and I believe going into this program will assist me to be able to have that proper foundation through research and development.”

Having knowledge and research skills to influence government policy is also in his sights. “I look forward to one day becoming a professor in any of the universities in Canada,” he says, “and also be able to influence policy in the decision-making in government.”

Focus on what matters

Ayita has observed, that policy and decision-makers tend to focus on exciting topics such as crime, which tend to get the most media hits. He speaks passionately about what is not getting enough attention when it comes to access to justice: “You don’t want to focus on housing, on the issue of environment, on things that are dear to people like family, but these are the areas that are most needed and people are yearning for access to justice.”

His thesis delves into how the tools of mediation may be used to achieve access to justice. Most of the challenges to access to justice when pursuing a path of litigation, he notes, include delay in proceedings, costs and the complexities of court procedures. Costs are both implicit and explicit, not to mention the psychological cost of litigation. “You realize that all these are not the same when parties have to go through the route of mediation,” he observes.

[G]oing through mediation, they realize that there are no more enemies but they want to work together to see how the parties involved can reach a truce that will most accommodate their differences that also align their interests.
– Oluwafisayo Stephen Ayita [LLM/25]

Mediation, he says, enables parties to overcome the many challenges that form barriers to access to justice including delay and procedural complexity. “It also helps the party to retain what is most important to them. We have realized because the process has been regarded as a kind of legal combat, where parties duel to death, that going through mediation, they realize that there are no more enemies but they want to work together to see how the parties involved can reach a truce that will most accommodate their differences that also align their interests.”

A highly recommended course of study

During his time at Robson Hall, Ayita has worked with instructors, faculty and staff including Natasha Brown [BEd/01; LLB/05], Director of Access to Justice and Community Engagement, and Dr. Michelle Gallant, who also works in conflict resolution. Dr. Donn Short, Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Studies at the Faculty of Law, taught the mandatory graduate seminar for the LLM program, which teaches how to write a thesis and fundamental research skills. “The graduate seminar has been quite helpful,” said Ayita, who took it in his first term of the program. At the time, he explained, each student undertook four assignments related to their thesis including an annotated bibliography to teach them how to identify the sources they would be using for their main thesis. “The research seminar has helped me in particular and I believe it also has helped my colleagues to be able to bring together our aspirations.”

“All these have enabled me to be able to now understand how to carry out research as well as how I can use that to improve on my main thesis, such as this search format, the McGill Research format, the sources, how to write, and notes to include when you are paraphrasing, restate, quote, you know, then when you’re also making your own statement.

So the research seminar has helped me to be able to understand how to be able to go through the authorized format and avoid academic misconduct and fraud. It also has been able to [ensure] that all my work will be genuine. That’s very, very useful.”

Ayita recommends taking an LLM to anyone wanting an academic challenge and looking to deepen their knowledge of the law, “I have been encouraging people,” he said, calling Robson Hall one of the best law faculties in Canada whenever he mentions to people that he is studying here. “I’m proud to be here,” he said.

Ayita’s pursuit of academic challenges is not over yet. In September, he will be a member of UM’s first cohort of Internationally Trained Lawyers and will be taking one of the two Micro-Diplomas now offered in Canadian Private or Canadian Public Law, designed to help such lawyers qualify to practice law in Canada. Then, he will be fully able to practice law in Canada.

Learn more about UM’s LLM program.

Learn more about UM’s Internationally Trained Lawyer program.

The Dr. Gerald Niznick College of Dentistry Class of 2025 is made up of 30 doctor of dental medicine graduates. Six of the grads were international dentists originally educated in Nigeria, Hungary or India and have earned Canadian degrees through UM’s International Dentist Degree Program.

The School of Dental Hygiene Class of 2025 includes 26 graduates. And the College of Pharmacy Class of 2025 is comprised of 31 graduates who received the doctor of pharmacy (PharmD) undergraduate degree.

Dr. Michael Benarroch, UM president and vice-chancellor, told the students seated in the Brodie Centre atrium that they were about to be at the centre of so much.

Dentistry, dental hygiene and pharmacy students took part in the Convocation ceremony.

“Be proud to take your place there – you’re Bisons – and as graduates of this esteemed faculty, you have become the changemakers we need, and that is in part thanks to the many gifted practitioners, including alumni, who have helped train you,” Benarroch said.

In UM Chancellor Anne Mahon’s last Convocation address before the end of her second term, she told the students she was proud of everything they’ve achieved at UM.

“Our stories make us who we are. I challenge you to be vulnerable and to share the truths of your lives, and if offered someone else’s story, I encourage you to really listen and to hold it carefully,” Mahon said.

After the students crossed the stage, Tracy Bowman, executive director of alumni relations at UM, welcomed the graduates into the alumni community.

“Congratulations on your hard work and realizing this amazing, exciting milestone – Convocation,” Bowman said. “What you’ve achieved at the University of Manitoba is just the beginning. You were students for several years, but now you’re alumni for life.”

School of Dental Hygiene Class of 2025 students.

Farah Cheah was attracted to dental hygiene because of its focus on prevention and education. She was nervous, and her heart was thumping before she crossed the stage.

“When I was going up on stage, I thought, ‘I deserve it. It was really worth it. The journey was really great,’” said Cheah, who immigrated to Winnipeg from Malaysia as a teenager. She will be working as a dental hygienist in Winnipeg.

Dr. Allissa Morrice was drawn to dentistry because the profession brings together art and science. Looking back over the past four years of dental school, she is glad she chose UM.

“We had such a good clinical program. I’m coming out of school feeling quite confident. I think it’s good we got a lot of clinical experience. We had a small class size, so everybody was able to help each other out,” said Morrice, who is Métis, Southeast Region, St. Adolphe Local, and grew up in La Salle, Man. She will be practicing dentistry in Winnipeg.

Dr. Catherine He was a dental hygienist before entering dentistry. A highlight of dental school was finally being able to go maskless around her classmates.

“Because our four-year program started during COVID, one of my strongest memories is when COVID was done, and after two years, we were able to remove our masks. We were so happy to see each other’s faces,” said He, who immigrated to Canada from China as a teenager. She is planning to practice dentistry in British Columbia.

Dr. Scott Thomas was inspired to pursue pharmacy because a pharmacist once went “above and beyond” and opened his business after hours to help Thomas’s mother when she ran out of medication. A highlight of the program for him was gaining practical experience in his second year.

“It really brings to the forefront the aspect that you are caring for people, and these are real people, and they need your help. It’s a big deal, so it brings a little realism to your perspective, and I think on-the-job education was really what struck me,” said Thomas, who is Métis and grew up mostly in Winnipeg. He is interested in oncology and hopes to work with CancerCare Manitoba.

Dr. Shaelyn Gustafson received the UM Gold Medal in Pharmacy for the highest standing in the College of Pharmacy. During the ceremony, she was thinking back to when she was in her first year, and it felt like ages ago.

“There’s been a lot of hard work that has gone into reaching this point, so I felt really happy to be able to celebrate it here today,” said Gustafson, who has a job lined up in her hometown of Brandon, Man.

Watch an Instagram reel showing highlights of the ceremony.