Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba

Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba is  Assistant Professor, Principal Investigator of the intercontinental research project on Indigenous Knowledge and  Entrepreneurship  in Africa  and founder of the Africa Indigenous Knowledge Research Network, at the Institute of African Studies, Carleton University. He is also an Extraordinary  Professor at the Thabo Mbeki African School of Public and International Affairs, University of South Africa, where he was previously an Associate Professor.
He obtained PhD in Political Science from the University of Lagos, Nigeria. He has taught various aspects of political thoughts, political economy of development in Africa, global economic relations, migration and Africa’s diaspora and regional dynamics (with focus on Africa), at various universities including, Carleton University, University of Pennsylvania, University of South Africa, and University of Lagos.   He was previously a Visiting Scholar at the Program of African Studies, Northwestern University, Evanston and fellow of Brown International Advanced Research Institute, Brown University, Rhode Island, United States of America. Oloruntoba is the author, editor and co-editor of several books including Regionalism and Integration in Africa: EU-ACP Economic Partnership Agreements and Euro-Nigeria Relations, Palgrave, 2016 and co-editor with Innocent Moyo and Lethiwe Zondo of Indigenous Knowledge and Youth Entrepreneurship in Africa: Recentring the voices of marginalized communities, New York, Bloomsbury, 2025, among others. His research interests are in politics of knowledge production, indigenous knowledge systems, political economy of development in Africa, global economic relations, regional Integration, migration, democracy and development, global governance of trade and finance, politics of natural resources governance, and EU-African Relations. Oloruntoba has won several awards and secured grants from local and international research institutions.

He is also a member of the Africa Knowledge Network, Office of Special Adviser on Africa UN Under Secretary-General, United Nations, New York
Extraordinary Professor, Thabo Mbeki School of Public and International Affairs, University of South Africa
Editor-in Chief: Ruta: The Journal of Africa Indigenous Knowledge Research
Founder, Africa Indigenous Knowledge Research Network

Edited Books

2025

• Oloruntoba, S. Moyo, I and Zondo (eds.) Indigenous Knowledge and Youth Entrepreneurship in Africa: Recentering the voices of marginalized communities, New York: Bloomsbury Publishing

2024

• Tshimpaka, L and Oloruntoba, S (eds.) Africa-EU relations and the African Continental Free Trade Area: Redefining the Dynamics of Power and Economic Partnership in a Complex Global Order, Cham: Palgrave

2023

• Oloruntoba, S. Nshimbi, C and Tshimpaka, L (eds.) Africa-EU Relations and the African Continental Free Trade Area, London and New York: Routledge

2022

• Oloruntoba, S. (2022) (Ed.). The Political Economy of Colonialism and Nation-Building in Nigeria. Cham: Springer
• Oloruntoba, S. & Falola, T. (2022) (Eds.) Palgrave Handbook of Africa and the Changing Global Order. New York: Palgrave

2021

• Oloruntoba, S. Afolayan, A. Yacob-Olajumoke, O (2021) (Eds.) Pathways to Alternative Epistemologies in Africa. Cham: Springer

2020

• Oloruntoba, S & Falola, T (2020). (Eds). Palgrave Handbook of African Political Economy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan
• Oloruntoba, S (2020). (Ed.) Pan Africanism, Regional Integration and Development in Africa. New York: Palgrave Macmillan
• Oloruntoba, S, Afolayan, A & Yacob-Haliso, O (2020). (Eds.)  Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Development in Africa. New York: Palgrave Macmillan

Journal articles:

• Oloruntoba, S.O (2026) Regional organisations and democratic (dis)consolidation in Africa:critical reflections on the role of ECOWAS, Third World Quarterly, 1-16, https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2026.2678966
• Oloruntoba, S. (2023) (Re)Negotiating Existence: Pan-Africanism and the Role of African Union in a Changing Global Order, Global Studies Quarterly, Vol. 3, Issue 3, ksad045
• Oloruntoba, (2023) The political economy of African Continental Free Trade Area and structural transformation in Africa, Journal of Contemporary African Studies, DOI: 10.1080/02589001.2023.2214715
• Oloruntoba, and Nshimbi, C (2023) The AfCFTA: promise for a globally competitive continent and Africa’s development, Journal of Contemporary African Studies, 41:4, 351-359, DOI: 10.1080/02589001.2023.2274814
• Oloruntoba, (2021) Unity Is Strength: Covid-19 and Regionalism in Africa, The International Spectator, 56:2, 56-71
• Cochrane, L & Oloruntoba, S. (2021) Whose voice matters in the teaching and learning of IPE? Implications for policy and policy making, Policy and Society, 2021, DOI: 10.1080/14494035.2021.1975220

International Project Funding

• Andrew Carnegie Foundation Grant for a study on Advancing Indigenous Knowledge and Migration in Africa  Co-Principal Investigator (USD1.8million) , 2026-2029
• Mastercard Foundation grant for the project on Unlocking Sustainable Solutions for Employment and Entrepreneurship: Empowering African Youth Through Indigenous Knowledge, Principal Investigator- CAD$685,032.97 (2024-2025)
• Mastercard Foundation proposal development grant on Indigenous youths’ perspectives on Employment and Entrepreneurship in Africa (Co-Principal Investigator, CAD $ 319,000 (2022-2023)
• European Union Erasmus + funding for the project: African Union–EU relations, regional partnerships for actorness in effective global governance (AURORA), (Co-Principal Investigator, CAD$40,901 (2020-2022)
• Carnegie Corporation of New York Grant for a study and forum on the roles of African Diasporas in the revitalization of higher education in Africa, Carleton University in partnership with African Union CAD $411,000 (2019-2020), Project Director
• United Nations Economic Commission for Africa grant to organize the first and second roundtables on Regional Integration and Industrialization in Africa, Lead Principal Investigator, CAD $51,956, (2016-2018), Project Leader
• Trust Africa/Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa grant for research on Illicit Financial Flows and socioeconomic development in Southern Africa , Co-Principal Investigator, CAD $47, 460, (2016-2018)
• Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa for research on Regional Integration and Migration of Informal Workers in the resilient economy, Co-Principal Investigator, CAD $34,634, (2015-2017

Government or extra-university

• National Research Foundation of South Africa project on Natural Resources Governance and Sustainable Development in Southern Africa: Exploring Regional Integration approach, Principal Investigator CAD $57, 545 (2020-2023)
• National Research Foundation of South Africa funding for the project, Regional Economic Communities and Democratic Consolidation in West Africa: A Case study of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) CAD $4000,(2018-2019)