Prof. Alaba Cornelius Abiodun Adeboye Ogunsanwo was born on April 6, 1942 at Ijebu-Imusin, Ogun State, Nigeria. He attended St. Gregory’s College, Lagos from 1956 to 1960 and Awe High School, Awe from 1960 to 1961 for his primary school education and then proceeded to Government College Ibadan, where he had his secondary school education from 1962 to 1963. In 1964, Prof. Ogunsanwo secured admission to Ahmadu Bello University Zaria to study Business Administration and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree (Second Class Upper Division) in Business Administration in 1967. He would later receive a Master of Science (M.Sc.) degree in International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 1968 after completing his study between 1967 and 1968 and also received his a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) degree from the same institution in 1971.
In 1964, Prof. Ogunsanwo joined the Western Nigeria Marketing Board as Accounts Clerk and later moved to the Federal Civil Service Commision as Assistant Secretary in 1967. After leaving the Federal Civil Service Commission, he served in various capacities in different institutions of higher learning. He was Lecturer II, Institute of Administration, ( Ibadan Branch) from 1971 to 1973; Lecturer I in Personnel Management at the School of Administration, University of Lagos from 1973 to 1975 and was promoted to Senior Lecturer of Political Science, University of Lagos in 1975, and he held this post until 1983. He was also a member of Senate (1976), member of Council (1988-1991) and Dean, School of Postgraduate Studies, University of Lagos from 1990 to 1991. He was appointed High Commissioner of Nigeria to Botswana Lesotho (1991-1998); Dean of the Diplomatic Corps (1997-1998) and Ambassador of Nigeria to Belgium, Luxemburg and the European Union from June 1998 to April 1999.
He became a Professor of Political Science at the University of Lagos in 1983, and has been a Professor of Political Science at Lead City University, Ibadan since 2007. Prof. Ogunsanwo has served as a Visiting Lecturer at various universities outside Nigeria, including being a Visiting Associate Professor at Princeton University, New Jersey; Fulbright Fellow at Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs on a Ford Foundation grant from 1979 to 1980; Visiting Fulbright Professor at Rutgers State University of New Jersey, Brunswick from 1986 to 1987, Japan Foundation Fellow at International Christian University, Mitaka, Japan in 1988 and Director, International Institute for the Study of Juche Idea from 1988 to 1991.
Prof. Ogunsanwo has received many awards and recognitions for his service. These include the Isa Dutse Cup and Prize for Outstanding Performance (1965), University Prize in Government (1965), University Prize in Economics (1966) and University Prize in International Relations (1967). He was a Federal State Scholar from 1964 to 1967. His other professional honours and awards include fellowships from Fulbright Fulbright Fellow and Visiting Associate Professor, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs from 1979 to 1980. In May 2009, he served as a Consultant to the Commonwealth Secretariat on Diplomatic Training, Freetown, Sierra Leone. He received grants from the Nigerian Institute for Social Economic Research for the study of the 1979 Presidential Elections and from the Centre for Conflict Resolution, Cape Town for work on China and Nigeria. He is happily married to Mrs. Funmilayo Beatrice Ogunsanwo.
