He received his Ph.D from Binghamton University in 2004, and his dissertation title is Ekpu Oro: The Spirits of the Living Dead as an Expression of Oron World View, 1894-1940. He got his MFA from the University of Memphis in 1982. Dr. Onyile's research focuses on African Art, Colonial and Gender Studies. His recent publication, Ancestral Spirits Embodied in Ekpu Figurines of the Oron People was published in 2007 by Mellen Press. His past design portfolio and exhibition includes: American Corporate Identity/5 Program, Nigerway Chemical Ltd, Carver's Art Medieval Sculpture in Ivory, Bone and Horn, Jane Voorhees Zimmmerli Museum, Rutgers University, NJ, New Collages on Paper, Cinque Art Gallery, NYC, New York, Solo exhibition at Tate Galleries, London, England, Collages on Paper, Montclair State Collage, Upper Montclair, NJ, and Recent Collages, Mercer County College, Trenton, NJ.