Prof. Siyan Oyeweso

Professor Siyan Oyeweso Executive Director, Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding, Abere, Osun State, was born on February 1, 1961. A distinguished alumnus of University of Ife, Ile-Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), he holds B.A. (Hons) Degree in History (Second Class Upper Division), M.A. History and Ph.D Intellectual History. Oyeweso started his academic career in 1985 as an Assistant Lecturer in the Department of History, Lagos State University, Ojo, Lagos State. He attained the rank of Lecturer II in 1987, and was promoted to Lecturer Grade I in 1989 and Senior Lecturer in 1992. He was appointed an Associate Professor in 2001 and Professor in July 2004.

He is a Professor of History and one of Nigeria’s leading academics, who has authored dozens of books and over 150 publications in chapters in books and articles in learned journals. His contributions to Nigerian history span the fields of Military and Strategic Studies, Culture history, Nigeria’s Islamic culture, Yoruba Inter-state Warfare, Nigeria’s Identity Question, among others.

Oyeweso is a member of several professional associations such as the Historical Society of Nigeria; Nigeria Folklore Society; African Society of International Affairs; Lagos Studies Association; Africa Peace Research Association; Society for International Relations and Strategic Studies; Legal Studies Association; Council for the Advancement and Support for Education, African Studies Association (USA), among others. He is also an external examiner/assessor to at least 20 Nigerian Universities and a consultant to many universities on Strategic Planning, Quality Assurance, Fundraising and international best practices. Professor Siyan Oyeweso has been honored with a 3-Volume Festschrift by academic colleagues in Nigerian universities. These are: Critical Perspectives on Peace, Conflict and Warfare in Africa: edited by Olutayo Adesina, Olukoya Ogen and Noah Echa Attah (Ile-Ife: Obafemi Awolowo University Press, 2012); Critical Perspectives on Language, Communication and Literary Studies, edited by E. T. O. Babalola and Tunji Azeez (Ile-Ife: Obafemi Awolowo University Press, 2012); and Philosophy, Islamic Culture and Society in Nigeria, edited by Noah Echa Attah (Il-Ife: Obafemi Awolowo University Press, 2012). Oyeweso is a Fellow of the Historical Society of Nigeria since 2011, a Life Member of the Historical Society of Nigeria.

He is also the Editor-in-Chief of African Nebula, a peer-reviewed multidisciplinary journal. a member of the Council for the Advancement and Support for Education (CASE) and a holder of Advancement and Resource Mobilization Certificate at Inyathelo, Cape Town, South Africa. In August 2017, he was conferred with the highly prestigious Fellowship of the Nigerian Academy of Letters (NAL), the apex organization for all academic associations in humanities scholarship in Nigeria. He is currently a member of the Governing Councils of Osun State University, Osogbo, Osun State and the Federal Polytechnic, Ede, Osun State.

Ebenezer Obadare

Ebenezer Obadare is Douglas Dillon Senior Fellow for Africa Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). Before joining the Council, he was Professor of Sociology at the University of Kansas, Lawrence (2006- 2021). He is also Senior Fellow at the New York University (NYU) SPS Center for Global Affairs as well as Fellow at the University of South Africa’s Institute of Theology. Ebenezer was Ralf Dahrendorf Scholar and Ford Foundation International Scholar at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) where he completed his PhD in Social Policy in 2005. He holds a BA in History (1989) and M.Sc. in International Relations (1992) from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Ebenezer was a political reporter for The News and TEMPO magazines (1993- 1995) and Lecturer in International Relations at the Obafemi Awolowo University (1995- 2001). His primary areas of interest are civil society and the state, and religion and politics in Africa his. He is the author/ editor of numerous books, including, most recently, Pastoral Power, Clerical State: Pentecostalism, Gender, and Sexuality in Nigeria. He is the editor of Journal of Modern African Studies and contributing editor of Current History.