Hon. Justice Benedict Bakwaph Kanyip (OFR) is a Nigerian jurist born on 29 September 1963 in Anturung-Attakar, Kaura LGA, Kaduna State. He attended St. Peter Clavar’s School, Kafanchan (1969–1975), St. John Vianney’s Minor Seminary, Barkin Ladi (1975–1980), and Katsina College of Advanced Studies, Zaria (1980–1982). He earned an LL.B (Hons., Second Class Upper) from Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria (1982–1985), was called to the Bar (BL, Second Class Lower, 1986), and completed NYSC in Benin City (1986–1987). He later obtained an LL.M (Company Taxation, 1991) and PhD (Consumer Protection Laws, 1998) from ABU.

He lectured in Commercial Law at ABU (rising to Lecturer II) before serving as Legal Adviser at the National Commission for Colleges of Education. From 1995 he was Senior Research Fellow at the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS), becoming Associate Research Professor in 2000, with expertise in consumer protection, taxation, commercial and labour law.

Appointed a Member of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria in 2000, he became a Judge in 2006, Presiding/Administrative Judge of the Lagos Division (2008–2019), Acting President (October–December 2019), and substantive President from 13 December 2019. He chaired the drafting of the NIC Rules 2017, contributed to the NIC Act 2006 and the Third Alteration to the 1999 Constitution, and sat on 2015 election tribunals.

A prolific author of books and articles on labour, consumer and commercial law, he reviewed Nigerian labour laws for the ILO, contributed to ECOWAS labour policy, and serves on the ILO Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations. He holds the national honour of Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR, 2022), is a Fellow of NIALS, the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria and the Nigerian Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, and received the NBA Bar Presidential Award (2024). He is married to Hon. Justice Rosemary I. Kanyip; they have two children.