Prof. Abiodun Alao

Abiodun Alao is Professor of African Studies at King’s College London and the Co-Chair, Africa Community of Practice at the College. He was also the former Director, African Leadership Centre. Abiodun holds a Bachelor’s in History and Masters in International Relations from the Universities of Ibadan and Ife respectively. He holds a Doctorate in War Studies from King’s College London, where he was a Ford Foundation Doctoral Scholar and also held the SSRC-MacArthur Post-Doctoral Fellowship. Apart from extensive publications on African security issues, he has undertaken numerous assignments for international organisations. In 2000, he was part of the team that undertook a comprehensive Threat Assessment for Rwanda and between 2001 and 2002 he was among the Team of Academic Experts that advised the Office of the UN Secretary General on the Civil War in Sierra Leone. He co-authored the Concept Note for the Common Defence and Security Policy for the Africa Union in 2003. He continues to hold Expert Adviser position for international organisations like the African Union, ECOWAS and the United Nations. He held teaching and research position at the Obafemi Awolowo University Ile Ife Nigeria and was also a Visiting Research Associate at the University of Zimbabwe. He is also Visiting Professor at the Nigerian Defence Academy.

His authored books include:

Religion, Public Health and Human Security in Nigeria, Routledge (2023)

Rage and Carnage in the Name of God: Religious Violence in Nigeria, Duke University Press (2022)

A New Narrative for Africa: Voice and Agency, Routledge (2019)

Mugabe and the Politics of Security in Zimbabwe, McGill-Queens University Press. (2012)

Natural Resources and Conflict in Africa: The Tragedy of Endowment, Rochester: University of Rochester Press (2007)

The Burden of Collective Goodwill: The International Involvement in the Liberian Civil War, Ashgate Publishers (1996)

Brothers at War: Dissidence and Rebellion in Southern Africa, [I. B. Tauris] (1994)

Professor Alao served on the Governing Council of  Osun State University, Oshogbo, Nigeria between 2015 and 2023, and in 2017, the Nigerian Federal government appointed him, a member of the Governing Council of the Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Efurun.