# Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka

Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka is a scholar, researcher, a professor and a development economist known for his significant contributions to the fields of economics, innovation, and technology management in developing countries. He is currently the senior special adviser on Industrialization to the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB). He is also a member of the Advisory Council on Industrialization of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and a winner of the National Productivity Order of Merit.

## Early life and education

Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka was born and raised in Nigeria. He holds a B.Sc (first class honours) in Chemical Engineering from the University of Ife, Ile-Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), M.Sc. in Chemical engineering, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and D.Phil. in Development Economics specializing in the Political Economy of Technological Change and Industrialization, University of Sussex, United Kingdom. He is a Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Engineering and Fellow, Nigerian Academy of Chemical Engineering.

## Career

Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka is an academic and administrator, known for his significant contributions to the field of Development Economics in Nigeria and Africa.
He spent six years (2001-2006) as Professor at the United Nations University – Institute for New technologies (UNU-INTECH) where he earned global acclaim for his pioneering work in the field of Industrialization, Technological Change and Innovation Policy. He is the first Nigerian professor in first Nigerian professor in Industrialization Innovation and Technology Policy and a visiting professor at the United Nations University – MERIT, Netherlands and the Open University, UK.
He served at the United Nations (UN) system for 20 years, his last positions been Director, Regional Office for Africa, Chief Scientific Advisor, UN-HABITAT, and Director Monitoring & Research Division. He was Senior Economic Adviser, UN Centre on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Geneva where he coordinated the ten-year review of performance of Least Developed Countries (LDCs). He was also a member of the Governing Council of the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER).

## Books and publications

Banji has authored and co-authored over twenty books that have significantly contributed to the field of Development Economics. Here are some of his books:
* Industrialization and Economic Diversification: Post Crisis Development Agenda in Asia and Africa co-authored with Kaushalesh Lal (2022)
* Resurgent Africa: Structural Transformation in Sustainable Development 2020
* Structural Transformation and Economic Development: Cross-Regional Analysis of Industrialization and Urbanization, Routledge Publishers (2017)
* Sustainable Industrialization in Africa: Toward a New Development Agenda, co-authored with Padmashree Gehl Sampath 2015
* Urban Innovation in China's Shanty Towns coauthored with Pengfei Ni and Fei Chen (2015)
* Rich Country Poor People: The Story of Nigeria's Poverty amid Plenty (2014)
* Uneven Paths of Development: Innovation and Learning in Asia and Africa, co-authored with Rajah Rasiah, Edward Elgar Publishing (2009)
* Latecomer Development: Knowledge and Innovation for Economic Growth co-authored with Padmashree Gehl Sampath Routledge Publishing, (2010)
* The Gene Revolution and the Global Food Crisis: Biotechnology Capacity in Latecomer Countries, co-authored with Padmashree Gehl Sampath, Palgrave McMillan (2009)
* Learning to Compete in African Industry, Ashgate Publishing (2006)
* Industrial Clusters and Innovation Systems in Africa, co-authored with Dorothy Mc-Cormick, United Nations University Press, (2007)