Professor Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka is currently the Senior Special Adviser on Industrialization to
the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) where he is coordinating the
establishment of Agro-Industrial Processing Zones and Industrial Policy in several African
countries.
Professor Oyelaran-Oyeyinka holds a Bachelor of Science (First Class Honours) in Chemical
Engineering from the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), Master’s in chemical
engineering, University of Toronto, Canada, and Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) in Development
Economics specializing in the Economy of Technological Change and Industrialization,
University of Sussex, United Kingdom.

He is the first Nigerian professor in the field of Development Economics and Industrial Policy.