Akinwande Bolaji Akinyemi (born 4 January 1942) is a Nigerian professor of political science who was Nigeria External Affairs Minister from 1985 to late 1987. He is the chairman of the National Think Tank.

Early life and education

Akinyemi was born in Ilesa, in what is now Osun State. He attended

Igbobi College Igbobi College is a college established by the Methodism, Methodist and Anglican Church, Anglican Churches in 1932, in the Yaba (Lagos), Yaba suburb of Lagos, Lagos State, South-western Nigeria. It is still on its original site and most of the or ...

in Yaba from 1955 until 1959, Christ's School Ado Ekiti from 1960 to 1961,

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist ministe ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, United States, from 1962 to 1964, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy,

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university in Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts, United States, with additional facilities in Boston and Grafton, as well as Talloires, France. Tufts also has several Doctor of Physical Therapy p ...

, Medford, Massachusetts, US, 1964 to 1966, and Trinity College, Oxford, England, from 1966 until 1969. He was a visiting professor at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva and at the Diplomacy Training Programme,

University of Nairobi The University of Nairobi (uonbi or UoN; ) is a college, collegiate research university based in Nairobi and is the largest List of universities and colleges in Kenya, university in Kenya. Although its history as an educational institution dat ...

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

, both in 1977. He was Regents Lecturer at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

, US, in 1979, professor of political science at the

University of Lagos The University of Lagos (UNILAG) is a Public university, public research university located in Lagos, Nigeria, which was founded in 1962. UNILAG is one of the education in Nigeria#First generation universities, first generation universities in ...

, from 1983 until 1985, and visiting fellow,

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College, formally the College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge, is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch L ...

, England in 1984. Akinyemi was director-general of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) from 1975 until 1983. The NIIA is an organisation focusing on Nigerian foreign policy; while he was director-general, it was involved in promoting Nigerian-Angolan relations, among other things. He has written and edited so many books and journals.

Term as external affairs minister

Akinyemi was appointed Minister of External Affairs by military leader Ibrahim Babangida in 1985. While in this position, he originated the Technical Aid Corps (TAC), a program which sent Nigerian professionals overseas to engage in volunteer work. It was designed to "promote the country's image and status as a major contributor to

Third World The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, the Southern Cone, NATO, Western European countries and oth ...

and particularly African development". He also came up with the concept of the "Concert of Medium Powers". In his position as Minister of External Affairs, Akinyemi headed numerous Nigerian delegations. Among the delegations he headed were his country's delegations to the

United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; , AGNU or AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as its main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ. Currently in its Seventy-ninth session of th ...

Session (1985), the

Organisation of African Unity The Organisation of African Unity (OAU; , OUA) was an African intergovernmental organization established on 25 May 1963 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with 33 signatory governments. Some of the key aims of the OAU were to encourage political and ec ...

, Council of Ministers Session (1986), the Non–Aligned Foreign Ministers Conference (1986), the

Annual Session (1986), the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on the Critical Economic Situation in Africa (1986), the Budget Session of the Council of Ministers of the Organisation of African Unity (1987), the Ordinary Session of the Council of Ministers of the Organisation of African Unity (1987), the United Nations General Assembly Session (1987), and to the Extra–Ordinary Session of the Council of Ministers of the Organisation of African Unity devoted to African debt (1987). In 1987, Akinyemi stated his support for Nigeria developing

nuclear weapon A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear weapon), producing a nuclear exp ...

s. He referred to the proposal as the "black bomb," and said that "Nigeria has a sacred responsibility to challenge the racial monopoly of nuclear weapons."

Later life

During the short-lived Third Republic of 1993, he called on the military to overthrow Ernest Shonekan's administration; Sani Abacha, Defense Minister at the time, later did so, and assumed the position of head of state. Akinyemi was later among those who opposed Abacha's regime. In August 2007, President Umaru Yar'Adua appointed him to the newly created Electoral Reform Panel. In January 2025, President Bola Tinubu appointed Akinyemi as the board chairman of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs.

Personal life

He married Rowena Jane Viney in 1970. They have one son and three daughters.

References

External links

Bolaji Akinyemi & Associates
{{DEFAULTSORT:Akinyemi, Bolaji 1942 births Living people Nigerian political scientists Osun State Yoruba academics Temple University alumni The Fletcher School at Tufts University alumni Alumni of Trinity College, Oxford Academic staff of the University of Lagos University of California, Los Angeles faculty Academic staff of the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies Foreign ministers of Nigeria Igbobi College alumni People from Ilesha Nigerian expatriate academics in the United States Christ's School, Ado Ekiti alumni Yoruba people Fellows of St John's College, Cambridge