By Yinka Kolawole in Osogbo

In the face of recurrent and persistent migrant crisis and border security challenges in Africa, Samuel Kehinde Okunade has been consistently involved in addressing Border Security and Migration in Africa.

Okunade with his experience having served at the Department of Peace, Security and Humanitarian Studies, University of Ibadan and the Department of Political Science and International Relations, Bowen University, Iwo, has established himself as a distinct and thorough scholar, contributing immensely to understanding the dynamics of these phenomena and its many implications across board.

Interested in border security dynamics in West and Southern Africa, he has investigated and produced several scholarly literatures on cross-border crimes such as child trafficking, child labour, smuggling of contrabands, narcotics, arms and ammunitions across many sub-regions in the African continent.

With over a decade experience in the industry, his research in this area is significant because he explores these issues and other migrant issues and presents practical policy recommendations to address and eliminate them.

These targeted research covers policy briefs, journal articles, book chapters, reviews and reports on the dynamics of border security and migration in African continent.

Okunade’s impressive work in these areas includes his work with several academic, non-academic, civil and nongovernmental organizations in African and international countries.

In West Africa, his work and study experience in some prestigious academic institutions such as the University of Ibadan, Bowen University, Iwo and a non-academic organization in Special Consultancy Status with the United Nations ECOSOC as well as the Nigerian Immigration Service has also impacted his research on relevant data on migration trends and border security dynamics within the western sub-region.

In the SADC region, his work and study experience in prestigious institutions as the University of KwaZulu-Natal, University of Pretoria, Durban University of Technology, University of Johannesburg, has also significantly impacted Okunade’s research in border security and migration trends within the region. Internationally, his experience at the University of Leeds, UK and the New York University, USA has also been relevant in establishing him as an African scholar on migration dynamics.

As a versatile scholar, his works on migration trends especially of African youths and border security has extended beyond academic writings to involve blogs, Op Eds, podcasts and media engagements.

These also include his authored books and journals on migration and border security across the African continent, as well as research reports and policy briefs for different African and international organizations in Africa.

His work on free movement protocols in the ECOWAS and the African continent at large has been instrumental in detailing the motivations and challenges of such continental initiatives.

His articles address the fact that despite all countries showing interests in Free Movement protocols across Africa, there has been relatively zero commitment on their parts to achieve this because of the fear entertained by some middle-income countries like Nigeria/South Africa because of the relatively porous and unregulated migration trends within their sub-regions.

These are well addressed in his articles on Schengen Agreement and AU Protocol on Free Movement as well as his book on Free Movement and the AfCFTA.

Okunade’s passion for addressing the cross-border crimes and ills of migration has also extended to younger generations of scholars who have been modelled 1by his writings and supervision in the course of pursuing academic degrees.

Undergraduate and graduate students within and beyond the African continent have been mentored directly by him through thesis supervision, classroom engagement and conference sessions on the best ways to addressing the ills of economic and climate-induced migration as well as the dangers cross-border crimes.

Particularly on the issues of cross-border crimes, his research draws attention to borderlands across Africa that are prone to these crimes because of their perpetual political marginalization from the whole.

This is highlighted in his research on insurgency and the humanitarian crisis in north-eastern Nigeria. His research amongst others details the need for inclusive governance and more continental approach to addressing this menace.

Samuel Okunade’s experience and passion in seeking lasting solutions to border and migration-related problems has been well recognized by the national and international community, evident in his co-authoring reports for The Open University, England, being an outcome of an EU-sponsored project on irregular migration from the Global South most importantly, Africa into Europe.

He has also been recipient of several grant awards such as the Association of Borderlands Studies (ABS) Conference Travel Grant (2023) and the International Political Science Association (IPSA) Conference Travel Grant (2023) amongst others which has positively impacted his experience as a migration and border security scholar.

His professional membership with prestigious professional bodies such as the Association of Borderland Studies (USA), Cynosure Support and Development Foundation (Nigeria), International Political Science Association (IPSA), CODESRIA (Senegal), South African Association of Political Studies (South Africa), Regional Studies Association (UK) amongst others all reflect his commitment to contributing to the actualization of African citizenship and a prosperous African continent as envisaged by the AU.

Conclusively, Okunade remains committed to his passionate search for a lasting solution to Africa’s border porosity and migrant problems. This is a positive attribute that can mentor generations of young African border scholars both now and in the future

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