Pursuance to Section 3 of the Ombudsman Act No. 2 of 1997, His Excellency the President, Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma, on Monday 20th March 2017 appointed Mr. Melron Nicol-Wilson as Ombudsman, subject to the approval of Parliament.

Mr. Nicol-Wilson, if approved by Parliament, will be the third Ombudsman of Sierra Leone taking over from Justice Edmond Cowan whose second and final term as Ombudsman ended on Friday March 17th 2017.

Mr. Melron Nicol-Wilson is a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of Sierra Leone, Founder and Managing Partner of Nicol-Wilson and Co (Malaika Chambers).

Mr Nicol-Wilson holds two specialised Master's Degrees in Law. He holds a Master's Degree in Law ( LL.M) from the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom; a Master's Degree in Law (LL.M) from the University of Pretoria in South Africa; A Diploma from the University of Lund in Sweden; a Bachelors Degree in Law with Honours (LL.B (Hons) and a Barrister-at-Law Degree ( BL) from the Sierra Leone Law School.

Since becoming a Lawyer in 1998 he has worked in several distinguished capacities including Defence Counsel and Case Manager at the internationalized Special Court for Sierra Leone (from May 2003-October 2007 and from July 2011 to September 2012 );Part Time Lecturer in Law at the University of Sierra Leone (from 2003- 2010 ); Legal Adviser to Sierra Leone's Anti-Corruption Commission; Founder and Director of the Lawyers Centre for Legal Assistance in Sierra Leone (the first Legal Aid Body in the Country); and Lecturer in Public Law at the Polytechnic of Namibia in Southern Africa.

Mr Nicol-Wilson has provided legal services for several companies, Governmental Departments, Non-governmental organisations and individuals and have undertaken consultancies for several United Nations agencies (including the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), the British Council in Sierra Leone and a host of other bodies.

He is the Author of several Handbooks and Articles in several Law Journals including the 2007 African Human Rights Law Journal, the 2001 and the 2002 Australian International Law Journals.

He is a former Teaching Fellow at the prestigious Human Rights Institute at Columbia Law School in the United States of America and a winner of the 2007 African Human Rights Lawyer Award from the University of Pretoria in South Africa.