Professor Adeola Festus Adenikinju is an internationally recognized economist and policy advisor with over 30 years of distinguished service in academia, public policy, and international development. He is a Professor of Economics at the University of Ibadan, where he also served as the pioneer Director of the Centre for Petroleum, Energy Economics and Law and Research Professor at the Centre for Econometrics and Allied Research. He currently leads Nigeria’s foremost professional economic body as President of the Nigerian Economic Society.
With expertise in macroeconomic modelling, energy economics, and sustainable development, Professor Adenikinju has contributed significantly to Nigeria’s economic transformation agenda. He has served on numerous presidential and ministerial committees, including the National Power Development Committee, the Presidential Standing Committee on Deregulation of the Downstream Petroleum Sector, and the National Technical Working Group on the Medium-Term National Development Plan (2021–2025), where he led the macroeconomic modelling team. He is also a long-serving member of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Monetary Policy Committee (2018–present).
Globally, he has worked with leading multilateral institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, African Development Bank (AfDB), United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), United Nations Institute for Development Planning (UNIDEP), and the European Commission. His research and consulting engagements span macroeconomic policy, energy access, natural resource management, and regional development strategies. He has secured and managed over $1.9 million in research grants from global institutions, including GIZ, IDRC, NLNG, FOSTER, and SOAS-UCL.
A prolific scholar, Professor Adenikinju has published over 170 academic works and serves on the editorial boards of several international journals, including The Energy Journal. He is a Fellow of the Nigerian Association for Energy Economics and the Energy Institute (UK), and a respected member of numerous professional bodies such as the African Economic Research Consortium, Global Development Network, and the International Association for Energy Economics.
He is deeply committed to mentoring the next generation of African economists and has supervised over 200 MSc dissertations and 15 PhD theses. His academic excellence, public service, and policy leadership have earned him numerous national recognitions, including listings among Nigeria’s top 50 professionals and several awards from students and professional organizations.
Beyond academia and policy, Professor Adenikinju is a philanthropist and co-founder of the Adeola & Olayinka Adenikinju Foundation. He brings to Kingsgate Advisors Institute deep intellectual rigour, practical policy insight, and a strong commitment to institutional excellence.
