Dr John Kayode Fayemi is Visiting Professor at the African Leadership Centre.

He received his doctorate degree from the Department of War Studies at King’s College London in 1994, specialising in civil-military relations after receiving degrees in History, Politics and International Relations from the Universities of Lagos and Ife, Nigeria. His research and policy interests include democratisation, constitutionalism, security sector governance, and regionalism in the global context.

John previously served in various advisory and related capacities including, as adviser on transitional justice, regional integration, constitutionalism, security sector reform and civil-military relations to the Governments of Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Uganda, Rwanda and Ghana. He was the main technical adviser to Nigeria’s Human Rights Violations Investigation Commission (Oputa Panel) which investigated past abuses. He also served on the Presidential Implementation Committees on Security Sector Reform, on NEPAD and on the Millennium Development Goals during the Obasanjo administration.

He was technical expert to ECOWAS on small arms and light weapons and to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa on governance issues. He was also a member of the Africa Policy Advisory Panel of the British Government. He has served as a consultant to the OECD and chaired the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative’s Committee of Experts.

John completed his second term as Governor of Ekiti State in Southwest Nigeria, in October 2022. He was also the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors' Forum (NGF) and President of the Forum of Règions of Africa. He was Nigeria’s Minister of Mines and Steel Development in the Government of President Muhammadu Buhari between 2015 and 2018.

He was on the Adjunct Faculty of Security Studies at the African Centre for Strategic Studies, National Defense University, USA and a Visiting Professor in the African Studies Programme at Northwestern University, Evanston, USA in 2004.

John has written extensively on governance and democratisation, civil-military relations and security sector issues in Africa. Among his books are:

• Mercenaries: The African Security Dilemma (edited with Abdel-Fatau Musah - Pluto Press, 2000);
• Deepening the Culture of Constitutionalism: The Role of Regional Institutions in Constitutional Development in Africa (CDD, 2003)
• Out of the Shadows: Exile and the Struggle for Freedom and Democracy in Nigeria (CDD & BookCraft, 2005)
• Reclaiming the Trust: Reflections on Two Years in Office (Amandla, 2012)
• Legacy of Honour and Service: Governance and Politics in an Election Year (Amandla, 2014)
• Staying the Course (Amandla, 2018)
• Unfinished Greatness: Envisioning a New Nigeria (Prestige Books, 2022).