Dr Olawuyi Sunday, LL.B (1st Class), BL (1st Class), LL.M (Calgary), LL.M (Harvard), Ph.D (Oxford)
Dr. Olawuyi’s areas of expertise cut across broad areas of global sustainability, specifically natural resources, energy and environment. He has published extensively on oil and gas law, climate change, and the intersections of human rights and environment. Dr. Olawuyi has provided expert advice and opinion on seabed mining, electric power plant projects, clean development mechanism projects, carbon emission reduction and credit trading projects, including carbon capture and sequestration, energy efficiency and agricultural offset projects in emerging markets, with focus on Africa. Dr. Olawuyi’s current research focus is to design a template or framework for mainstreaming human rights considerations into energy and resource investments, particularly in the extractive industries. He teaches international environmental law, oil and gas law and international human rights law.
Dr. Olawuyi has published over two-dozen journal articles, and three books in the areas of natural resources, energy and environmental law. He has been an expert speaker and commentator at several international conferences. He is the Vice President of the International Law Association (Nigerian Branch), Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Sustainable Development Law and Policy; Associate Fellow of the Center for Sustainable Development Law, Montreal; and an Associate Fellow of the International Development Law Organization, Rome, Italy. He was most recently a University Research Fellow at the Consortium for Peace Studies, University of Calgary. Dr. Olawuyi also provides legal advice and services as a lawyer at the leading global law firm, Norton Rose Fulbright, Canada.
Olukoya Ogen, PhD (Lagos)
Prof. Ogen was born on 5th September 1968 in Okitipupa. He is the current Provost of Adeyemi College of Education and a Professor of History at Osun State University, Osogbo. Prof. Ogen is also a Visiting Senior Research Fellow to the Department of African Studies and Anthropology, University of Birmingham (2012-2017). He holds a PhD in History from the University of Lagos, and a Certificate in Trade, Growth and Poverty from the World Bank Institute, Washington D.C. Prof. Ogen was a Leventis Scholar at SOAS, University of Birmingham in 2009, a CWAS Visiting Fellow in 2010 and an American Council of Learned Societies (AHP) Postdoctoral Fellow in 2011. He was also a Guest Researcher at Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone in 2011. Prof. Ogen is currently the Country Director of a 5-year European Research Council Grant on “Everyday Religious Encounters and Social Identities in Southwest Nigeria”. He has won numerous foreign travel fellowships/grants for paper presentations at conferences and for research visits to several universities across the globe. With over 75 publications to his credit, Prof. Ogen also sits on the editorial boards of major local and international journals. Prof. Ogen co-founded African Nebula, an academic publication with Prof. Samar Habib in 2010. He is a member of Faculty Row, a US-based exclusive global elite network of distinguished and super Professors that accepts new members by invitation only. Professor Ogen is also an Associate Expert of the UNESCO Category 2 Institute of African Culture and International Understanding (IACIU), Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta. Prof. Ogen is a member of several professional bodies and he is married with children.
Opeyemi Awe B.Sc (Grinnell)
Born in Nigeria and raised in the United States, Opeyemi's love for economic and social development in Sub Saharan Africa began at a very young age. She has a range of experiences in the public, private, non-profit and legal sector including internships at the US Department of State Special Convoy to Sudan and South Sudan and Challenging Heights, a nonprofit that seeks to end child slavery in Ghana's Volta region. During her time at Grinnell College, she served at the student government President and Vice President of Student Affairs where she demonstrated her ability to communicate effectively, manage peers, organize programs, facilitate dialogue and meet organizational objectives. She was a finalist for the Harry S. Truman Award, awarded the Posse Scholarship, the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Research Fellowship, and the Watson Fellowship. She also won the Senior Alumni Award in recognition for her contributions to Grinnell College. After completing her yearlong Watson Fellowship, Opeyemi will work as a Strategy & Operations Analyst with Deloitte Consulting.
Saka Matemilola, PhD (Cambridge)
Saka holds B.Sc. (1st Class honours) and M.Sc. Degrees in Mechanical Engineering from University of Ibadan, as well as a Ph.D. from University of Cambridge, UK. Saka has been active in both the practice and academic sectors of the Petroleum Industry, over the past 20 years. He is the Chief Petroleum Engineer at FIRST Exploration and Petroleum Development Company, Lagos. He has been a visiting scholar at the Institute of Petroleum Studies, University of Port Harcourt since 2009 where he coordinates PhD degree programme, Undertake research work and supervise post-graduate students, Develop and teach courses in Advanced Petroleum Engineering. He had once served as Coach and Consultant for Reservoir Engineering at Shell Petroleum industry in Port-Harcourt in 2009 -2011 having studied as a Reservoir Engineer at the Shell International Exploration and Production BV, Rijswijk, the Netherlands.
He was involved in the establishment of the Centre of Excellence in Geosciences and Petroleum Engineering, University of Benin in 2011 and has since been a visiting lecturer at the institute. Saka has also rolled as a visiting Associate Professor at African University of Science and Technology, Abuja, since 2013 and more recently, an adjunct faculty at the Department of Petroleum Engineering, University of Ibadan.
This indeed describes Dr. Matemilola; he is a senior consultant reservoir engineer with an established track record of effectively leading and working as part of productive multi-disciplinary teams, in successful delivering major Oil & Gas projects - vast experience in integrated oil & gas development; subsurface resource evaluation; well, reservoir and facilities management; technical assurance; project value assurance; portfolio strategy & management.
Saka’s interests and experience spans hydrocarbon resource evaluation, petroleum fields development studies and management, as well as strategic planning. He regularly delivers training courses on specialised topics in Oil & Gas, including at Society of Petroleum Engineering Conferences. Saka has published widely on Oil & Gas subjects, as well as in the field of Applied Mechanics where he originally started his career. He is a visiting scholar to Centre of Excellence in Geosciences & Petroleum Engineering, University of Benin.
He is the Regional Resource Volume Coordinator, Sub-Saharan Africa for Shell Upstream International on Hydrocarbon Resource Volume Management from January 2012 to date having worked as a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Southampton, and University of Cambridge UK. He has authored (including co-author) a total of 13 technical papers in international academic journals or conference proceedings. He is happily married with Children.
Byron Price, PhD (Mississipi State)
Byron is a professor of public administration at Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York in Brooklyn and the Lillie and Nathan Ackerman Chair for Social Justice at Baruch College, which is housed in the Center on Equality, Pluralism and Policy. He formerly served as an associate professor of political science in the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University (TSU) in Houston, Texas. Dr. Price spent five years at Rutgers University-Newark at the School of Public Affairs and Administration where he served as an assistant professor of public administration and director of the MPA and Executive MPA Programs as well as a number of other leadership positions including serving as the Associate Director of the National Center for Public Performance and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Public Management and Social Policy. A leading scholar in the field of prison privatization, he is the author of the book, Merchandizing Prisoners: Who Really Pays for Prison Privatization published by Praeger Publishers in March 2006 and the coedited 3-volume set entitled Prison Privatization: The Many facets of a Controversial Industry by Praeger Publishers, September 2012. His areas of research are prison privatization, prisoner reentry, school-to-prison pipeline, race, politics and social justice. He received his BS and MPA from Texas Southern University, an MBA from Oklahoma City University and a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration from Mississippi State University.
Amina Batagarawa, PhD (New Castle)
Amina discovered her passion for sustainability while studying for a masters program and has been working in the area of sustainable built environments since then (10 years). She teaches Sustainable Architecture and Research Methods in undergraduate and postgraduate levels at the Department of Architecture, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria. She holds a B.Sc. in Architecture from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, an M.Sc. in Environmental Design of Buildings from Cardiff University in and a PhD in Architecture from Newcastle University both in the United Kingdom. Currently, her research is on policies and strategies promoting sustainable energy in the built environment focusing on waste as the renewable source. She can be contacted through her LinkedIn profile as ‘Amina Batagarawa.'
Omotola Akinsola (Washington)
Nigerian by birth, a global citizen by destiny, Omotola is a local of Ibadan, Gaborone, Columbia, Saint Louis, and Boulder. A Social Worker by training, a Social Good Engineer by Choice. She has a passion for creating and designing programs and systems that work for the greater and common good of the society. She is passionate about education, youth, leadership and social entrepreneurship. Omotola holds a Masters from George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis having earned a Bachelor’s in Social Work with a double minor in Leadership Studies and Psychology from Columbia College. She is a passionate advocate for transformative education and living green. She started JumpStart Academy Africa(JSA) to work with youth in the area of enterprise creation, leadership development and Academic Excellence. Beyond creating JSA, she is passionate about Agriculture and she started a 10 acres farm called JumpStart Agro and apply sustainable ways to run it. She is highly sought after to give lectures at universities such as Columbia College, University of Colorado, Boulder, and the University of Ibadan. She speaks on sustainable development, social entrepreneurship, leadership development, and youth development.
Kehinde Adenegan, PhD (Ibadan)
Born in the late 70s in Owo, Ondo State Nigeria. Had his elementary education in Owo at St. Andrews Primary School and had a brilliant performance as the School Library prefect. Went to Owo High school and had a remarkable success track as the senior prefect boy from where he went to Adeyemi College of Education Ondo (OAU) for a degree in Mathematics Education where he made a first class honours. He proceeded to University of Ibadan for both his Masters and Ph.D. in Mathematics (Financial Mathematics). At present, he lectures at the Adeyemi College of Education and facilitates at the National Open University of Nigeria, Akure Centre. He is a recipient of local, national and international scholarships. A founding member of the Green Campus Initiative has travelled far and near to four major continents of the world. His research interests are on financial Mathematics and Mathematics Education- Ethno-mathematics, Mathematics drama and early child numeracy. As at December 2015, he has 22 published articles, 1 authored book, 6 contributions to books, 29 conference papers, 18 workshop/seminar papers and 8 meritorious awards and commendations to his credit. Reading, listening to radio broadcast and watching movies are his hobbies
Segun Adaju, PhD (MIT)
Segun Adaju is the CEO, BlueOcean Nigeria and Consultant/ Financial Advisor to SolarNigeria Programme funded by DfID. Segun has provided expert services as a consultant on renewable energy to various organisations such as UNDP, Bank of Industry Nigeria, Ecobank Nigeria, USAID, Winrock International, World Bank Group, Federal Government of Nigeria, Hienrich Boll Foundation, CTI Private Finance Advisory Network, Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves etc. He has been playing a key role in creating access to clean energy for off-grid communities and poor rural households in Nigeria.
Segun is a financial markets expert with over two decades of progressive leadership experience in the financial services industry in Nigeria spanning retail, commercial and microfinance banking with the last 7 years spent in developing markets at the base of the pyramid with special focus on creating clean energy access. He brings a capacity and understanding of renewable energy and energy efficiency markets which he demonstrates in knowledge of the Nigerian renewable energy networks including financial institutions, federal, state and local government agencies, as well as development partners and civil society organizations. Segun served as Project Manager in the Access to Renewable Energy (AtRE) Project sponsored by UNDP in collaboration with the Bank of Industry Nigeria. In this capacity he provided strategic direction and oversight in the project meeting its key objective to achieve scaled-up access to affordable and renewable energy and to support the expansion of renewable energy services to micro, small and medium-scale enterprises and potentially small rural and urban settlements. He has received numerous executive trainings such as Sustainable Energy Finance from the Frankfurt School of Management/UNEP in Kenya, Building, Leading and Sustaining an Innovative Organization from MIT/Sloan School of Management, Strategic Marketing Management from Harvard Business School and several from Lagos Business School. He is an Alumnus of the African American Institute having passed through the Social Sector Management Programme of Enterprise Development Centre, Pan Atlantic University Lagos.
Ajileye Ayokunle, MBBS (OAU)
Dr. Ajileye Ayokunle Omoniyi currently lives and works in the United Kingdom as a Specialist Doctor in Trauma and Orthopaedics. Born in the ancient city of Ondo, South West, Nigeria, he is the first child from a family of four other male siblings. He attended Chrisland Primary School Ikeja, Lagos and was privileged to have been taught by the late Educationist and Social Critic, Dr Tai Solarin at Mayflower Secondary School, Ikenne where he obtained hisO’levels. He later proceeded to Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Medicine and Surgery in 2007. After his NYSC programme in Gombe state, he travelled abroad to further his professional career. He is married with two kids. His hobbies include music, movies, travelling and writing short stories.