In 1966 Elias was appointed Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Lagos. Four years earlier he had received the LL.D. degree from the University of London for his work on African law and British colonial law. (He would go on to receive a total of 17 honorary doctorate degrees from various universities around the world). He was one the inaugural recipients of the Nigerian National Merit Award in 1979. Several of his works on various legal subjects were standard reading in Africa in law schools of the former British colonies.