Prof. Olugbenga Okunlola
President @ Geological Society of Africa
Bio
Professor Olugbenga Okunlola holds a PhD degree in Economic Geology of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, where he is currently a full Professor and Head, Department of Geology. He has 38 years’ experience that straddles the public service, industry and academia. He has served as a Special Adviser (Mineral Assessment) to the Director General of the Nigerian Geological Surveys Agency (NGSA) from 2006 to 2013. He is currently the Chairman of Mining Road map Implementation Strategy Team (MIST) for Nigeria’ mining sector. He is currently the coordinator of the Solid Minerals, Mines and Steel Technical Working Group (TWG) for the development of the Federal Government Medium Term National Development plan (2021-2025). He is a former member of the board of Nigerian Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI) a subset of the global EITI and chairs the Technical committee of the board. He is also a member of the minerals sub group of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) expert working group for the development of the United Nations framework for minerals and Energy Resource systems (UNFC). A member of the African Union (AU) Expert working group for the development of the African Mineral Resources Classification and Pan African Resource and Reserve code AMREC -PARC He has handled numerous consultancy assignments for international and local agencies and companies including the African development bank (AFDB) and the World Bank (MINDIVER ). He currently has about 80 publications to his credit in many reputable Journals, conference proceedings and book chapters. He is currently the President of the Geological Society of Africa, Past President of The Nigerian Mining and Geosciences Society, President of the Geoscience Information and Research in Africa Network (GIRAF) and Vice President for Africa, Association of Geoscientists for International Development (AGID). He holds the fellowships of the Geological Society of London, African Scientific Institute, the Nigerian Mining and Geosciences Society (NMGS), The Nigerian Society of Mining Engineers, Nigerian Association of Engineering Geologists and the Environment, a member of the Society of Economic Geologists (SEG), Country councillor, International Association For Geoethics (IAGETH), Council member, International Geoscience Educators Organisation (IGEO) amongst others. He is happily married with children