Oluwole Ojewale

Oluwole Ojewale has a PhD in urban and regional planning. He possesses senior-level experience in supporting policy influencing projects through advocacy, advisory, evidence gathering and dissemination work across 17 countries in Africa, Europe and the Middle East.

He has served as the project manager, team lead and component manager for large scale programmes which have attracted funding from major international development partners in the global north.

Currently, he serves as the regional coordinator at the West Africa office of the Institute for Security Studies in Dakar, Senegal. On the ENACT program, he gathers and disseminates evidence through transnational research in eight countries, and provides strategic advice to the Central African Police Chiefs Committee. This is geared towards enhancing regional response to threats and trends of transnational organised crime.

He has clocked over 70 hours of media appearances on BBC, France24, CGTN, AP, VOA, Newzroom Africa, News Central, AIT, TRT World UK and many local radio services. He articulates policy solutions on broader issues of democracy, development, governance and security in West and Central Africa.

He served as an expert on 'Dynamics of Security and Development in Africa' at the 2021 Global Security Forum in Qatar. His contributions have improved public understanding of key international security issues and informed policy debates on African security.

In 2021, he spoke on Harvard University’s panel on the global militarisation of police, black freedom and international solidarity. In 2022, he served as a faculty member at the Madeleine K. Albright Institute for Global Affairs, USA. He mentored 40 young fellows during three weeks' intensive study on issues of international importance such as small arms trade and conflicts in Africa. At the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, he presented strategic policies to senior-level African security officials, on “Natural resource crimes and border governance in Africa” and priorities for protecting the Congo Basin rain forests from illegal logging.

He has published in peer-review journals, and co-authored “Urbanization and Crime in Nigeria”, published with Palgrave Macmillan in 2019. His policy commentaries have featured in Daily Maverick, Premium Times, Africa Report, Harvard Bulletin, LSE Blog, ISS Today, The Brookings Institution & The Conversation among others.