Ex-AfDB adviser unveils book on Africa’s industrial future

A former Senior Special Adviser on Industrialisation to the President of the African Development Bank, Professor Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka, has released a new book, The Quest for Industrialisation: Pioneering Technology Innovation and Industrial Development in Africa, urging African leaders to prioritise technological capability and manufacturing as the foundation for sustainable growth.

Oyeyinka, a professor of development economics and a globally respected scholar on innovation policy, describes the book as a compilation of his selected works spanning decades of research, policy engagement, and intellectual reflection.

“This book speaks to what I describe as my journey of Intellectual Discovery. The pursuit of knowledge is an endless search for meaning,” he said.

Oyeyinka began his academic career in chemical engineering at the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) before earning a master’s degree at the University of Toronto, Canada. However, while preparing for his PhD, he experienced what he calls a defining ‘epiphany’.

“My appetite for engineering was totally replaced by a curiosity to understand better the forces that drive economic growth and why there is so much inequality in society,” he stated.

That moment, inspired by a lecture on technology transfer to developing countries, redirected his career towards development economics and technological change. He later completed his doctoral work at the science policy research unit, University of Sussex, specialising in industrialisation and innovation systems.

Over the years, Oyeyinka has served in several high-level policy and academic roles, including as Senior Special Adviser on Industrialisation to the AfDB President, where he provided strategic guidance on Africa’s industrial transformation agenda.