Oyebanji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka: Pioneer scholar, researcher, professor reflects life at 71

From Chemical Engineering, to Development Economics, pioneering Industrialisation, Innovation, and Technology Policy in Africa and to laudable researches and advisory roles at top global organisations, Oyebanji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka’s life at 71 years is both fulfilling and enviable.

From the onset, even in his teens, Oyelaran-Oyeyinka knew the direction he was heading in life. He gave all to it, sacrificed and pursued his then ‘towering dreams’ with unmatched vigor.

Those early sacrifices and persistence truly paid off as Oyelaran-Oyeyinka, who is fondly called ‘Triple O’ by his peers, won double honours with First Class in Chemical Engineering and as the Best Graduating Student in his department at University of Ile-Ife, as well as replicating same feats at University of Toronto for his Masters and PhD.

Today, and at 71 years, Professor Oyelaran-Oyeyinka, a renowned Development Economist; the first Nigerian Professor of Industrialization, Innovation, and Technology Policy; and the immediate Senior Special Adviser on Industrialization at the African Development Bank, looks back at his journey of life with fulfilment.

Of course, at 71, he is not tired; he still serves where his experience and expertise are needed. His recent appointment as the chairman, Ladoke Akintola University Technology (LAUTECH) Teaching Hospital, testifies to his relevance.

“Reaching 71 feels both humbling and enlightening,” ‘Triple O’ enthused.

According to him, being alive is by God’s amazing Grace, hence Professor Oyelaran-Oyeyinka is and will always be grateful to God.

From a professional perspective, Professor Oyelaran-Oyeyinka, who is Africa’s pioneer Development Economist in Industrialization, Innovation, and Technology Policy, is fulfilled at 71 years old, watching the continent’s youth confidently design, build, and export knowledge-based solutions.

“It is deeply gratifying,” he noted. “It represents the culmination of what many of us only dreamed of decades ago. Despite all our troubles, we have several unicorns, mostly fintech doing remarkably well”.

Also, at 71 years, Professor Oyelaran-Oyeyinka is leaving behind a legacy and a crop of mentees in the fields of economics, innovation, and technology management.

“If my scholarship and advisory work have helped bridge the gap between theory and practice—between policy documents and tangible factories, startups, and research networks—then I would consider that a legacy worth leaving,” he said.

Well, the above is a reality Today as his professional work has demonstrated how Africa’s transformation must be knowledge-led, innovation-driven, and institutionally grounded.

But as much as he wished the best for Africa’s industrialization, he regretted witnessing the collapse of early industrial experiments in Nigeria in the 1980s, which he blamed on the lack of national autonomous technology capacity.

“At the Ajaokuta Steel plant where I started my career, the moment the foreign contractors withdrew, construction ceased and ultimately that was the end of the project,” he decried.

However, he recalls some special moments in his professional life with nostalgia, especially when many discouraged him from leaving Chemical Engineering, his comfort zone, to delve into Industrialization, Innovation and Technology Policy, a new, unknown and unprofitable discipline.

He persisted and rather tagged it a conceptual misunderstanding as to why a nation needs experts who have deep connections to engineering and economics and institutional inertia.

“In the early days, a friend asked me: “you are a brilliant fellow, how will you even get a job dabbling into this thing nobody understands”. It was his way of saying that I was wasting my talent.

“I was fully persuaded of my mission. I ended up encouraging several young people to follow this discipline and I am glad we have several master’s and doctorate level people trained both while I was at NISER and at the United Nations University-Institute for New Technologies (UNU_INTECH), Maastricht, Netherlands,” he said.

The professor lamented that the doubt by many of his colleagues was due to the fact that they could not initially see how technological capability building relates to economic structure or how innovation policy differs from industrial policy.

“Over time, I learned to build coalitions, translate academic frameworks into actionable strategies, and show results that spoke louder than theory. Persistence and patience were indispensable”.

He also did not blame his colleagues for their doubts, considering that he has been doing things differently; from Chemical Engineering, to Development Economist and to Industrialization, Innovation and Technology Policy.

Clearing the air on the above, he said that his professional life has been a journey of periodic changes and learning new things in leadership, but most satisfying.

“My switch to Development Economist was a divinely guided move, not out of an inability to continue in engineering”.

But Professor Oyelaran-Oyeyinka also has fond memories of his work at the African Development Bank where he served as a Senior Special Adviser on Industrialization, and at the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Advisory Council on Industrialization.

“Two initiatives stand out: the Industrialize Africa Strategy, which mobilized billions in co-financing for manufacturing zones and infrastructure; and the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones, which blend agriculture with modern industry. Seeing these projects transform communities gives me quiet satisfaction,” he said.

At AfCFTA, his role enabled him to emphasize coherence and accountability, amid insistence that every recommendation must be accompanied by measurable targets, implementation champions, and timelines. “We are also building cross-country learning networks to help nations adapt best practices, not reinvent the wheel”.

He also has some key takeaways from his successful tenure at AfCFTA; political will without institutional follow-through is futile; regional cooperation beats isolated national efforts; infrastructure must precede ambition and that transformation leadership is indispensable.

Pointing a way forward for Africa’s development, he noted that industrialization is the engine of inclusive growth, amid job creation, diversification of exports, and building of productive capacity, but insisted that it must be complemented by technology, which he described as Africa’s great equalizer, if mastered strategically.

But that, according to him, can only be possible through viable industrial ecosystems that offer coordinated investment in power, transport, skills, and finance around specific sectors. “No country industrializes by accident; it happens through concerted design. It happens through strong leadership,” he insisted.

Citing example with South Korean industrialization built by small family businesses, he said, “Nations must invest in infrastructure, nurture their own “national firms” while attracting FDIs and once they have acquired sufficient technological capacities, invest in applied research that solves national challenges, deepen digital infrastructure, and industrial clusters”.

Away from the very career path, ‘Tripple O’ also finds time to balance his life, though thinks that balance is never perfect, but purpose helps.

“Family, faith, and the mentorship of young scholars give me strength,” he enthused. “Seeing progress—even incremental—reminds me why I began this journey: to prove that Africa’s development narrative can be re-written through intelligence, diligence, and audacity. My faith and family are very central. A strong family foundation rooted in scriptural principles helps steer the journey”.

He also attributed his career and life success to some mentors and exposure.

While books by Joseph Schumpeter, Albert Hirschman, Chris Freeman, and Dr. Pius Okigbo, a great Nigerian economist, shaped his understanding of innovation and development; he confessed that John Kenneth Galbraith influenced his attitude as a public intellectual.

He also appreciates his lecturers and supervisors at the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU), University of Sussex and Adedotun Philips, a professor at NISER, Ibadan, who taught him to think critically but act pragmatically.

“Philosophically, I am guided by the idea that nations fail or succeed not because of resources, but because of choices, and leadership”.

But it is interesting that ‘Triple O’ is never going to be tired, at least for now. He has fresh and more exciting things to do at 71 years.

“I intend to devote more time to mentorship, public advocacy and writing—perhaps establishing a Pan-African Center for Innovation Policy, Industrialization, Technological Change and Development.

“I also plan to document Africa’s overlooked industrial experiments—less as nostalgia, more as instruction,” he noted.

Well, the professor has an ultimate goal. “I hope to spend more time with family, reminding myself that legacy lives not only in institutions, but in people,” he concluded.