Akanmu Adebayo

Akanmu Gafari Adebayo (born 5 January 1956) is a Nigerian professor of history at Kennesaw State University, the United States. He specializes in African economic history with emphasis on production and distribution of wealth. Adebayo has published widely on various topics on African economy.

Education Adebayo earned his bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees all in History at the Obafemi Awolowo University in 1979, 1982, and 1986 respectively. His Ph.D. thesis on the history of revenue allocation in Nigeria was revised into a monograph, Embattled Federalism: A History of Revenue Allocation in Nigeria, 1946-1990, released in 1993.

Career Adebayo's research and publications explore topics in African Economic History, Chinese and Asian economic relations with African countries, braindrain, leadership and governance in Africa.

As full-time, part-time, or visiting professor, Adebayo has taught in Nigeria, Canada, Germany, and the U.S. He lectured at Obafemi Awolowo University for 11 years, before moving to York University, Toronto for a stint as a Visiting Associate Professor (1991-1992). In 1994, he was a Research Fellow at the Center for Modern Oriental Studies, Berlin. As a faculty member at Kennesaw State University since 1995, Adebayo has held various positions including Director of the Center for Conflict Management (2011-2016); executive director of the Institute for Global Initiatives (2003-2009).

Adebayo served as founding Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, and Perspective. He is the Series Editor for the Lexington Books' "Conflict and Security in the Developing World" book series.

Adebayo received Kennesaw State’s Tommy Holder Award in 2009, and the Madhuri and Jagdish N. Sheth Faculty Award for Distinguished International Achievement in 2019. In August 2016, Adebayo was inducted as an Overseas Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Letters.

Selected publications