Institute for African Strategy · Lagos · Ibadan · Diaspora
An independent institute for research and public education on West African geopolitics, security, economics and civilisation.
What we study
An institute of African thinkers building the ideas that will decide West Africa’s next century.
Nations are not built by accident. They are built by people who understand history, read power clearly, and prepare their own answers before others impose theirs. That is the work of this Institute.
Oladimeji Bolarinwa, President, The Thought Builders Institute
Leadership
President
President of the Institute and of Think Yorùbá First. A writer and public intellectual, he leads Geopolitics with Oladimeji Bolarinwa, examining West African geopolitics, Nigerian restructuring and Africa’s place in a changing world.
Director
A cybersecurity and information security compliance specialist who brings a rare blend of security engineering and social science to questions of technology, risk and governance.
Leadership
Another member of the Institute’s leadership will be introduced here shortly.
Publications
Security & insurgency
From Muhammed Ali’s desert camp to Mohammed Yusuf’s mosque in Maiduguri, the insurgency that reshaped the Lake Chad basin had a long intellectual prehistory. Understanding it is the first step to ending it.
Religion & power
How one cleric opened the door to Gulf-funded reform movements.
Security & insurgency
When Sudan became a transnational hub for jihadist networks.
History & civilisation
Missions, state power and survival in a contested frontier.
Religion & power
Nigerian churches as an unofficial instrument of regional influence.
Geoeconomics
Demographic scale as strategic leverage.
Federalism & governance
Why the federal bargain of 1960 no longer holds.
History & civilisation
Federalism & governance
History & civilisation
An episode on Ife’s place in African religious memory.
Thought Builders Media
Long-form conversations on geopolitics, geoeconomics, health and history, recorded for Africans who want the argument, not the headline.
Listen to the latest episodeOnce a month
One guest, one hour, one hard question: a scholar, diplomat or practitioner examines a single issue in depth.
Once a month
Listeners send in questions; the Institute’s fellows answer them on air.
Twice a month
The President of Think Yorùbá First on identity, power and the Yorùbá nation in a changing world.
Convenings
Desks
Every fellow joins the Thought Builders Network. From there, fellows can qualify into one of the research desks and publish long reads, briefs and video scripts.
Network
Reading circles, newsletters, events and a community of students, professionals and experts across Nigeria and the diaspora.
Open to all fellows
Research desk
Insurgency, the Sahel, great-power competition in Africa, and the home of Geopolitics with Oladimeji Bolarinwa.
By qualification
Research desk
Trade, finance, fintech and the economic foundations of power for West African states and regions.
By qualification
Research desk
Oyo, Ife, Songhai and the long memory of the region, and the role of faith in politics today.
By qualification
Research desk
Restructuring, self-determination and the constitutional future of Nigeria.
By qualification
Media
The podcast, weekly video briefings and the newsletter that carry the Institute’s work to the public.
Production team
Every claim is sourced. We follow evidence wherever it leads and publish corrections openly.
We think from Africa outward, using our own history, languages and institutions as the starting point.
We take on questions others avoid, and we argue them in public with respect for those who disagree.
Applications are open all year. History, law, economics, medicine, engineering: every discipline has a place on our desks.
Upcoming event
Nationalism Hour: Live on X
November 18, 2026 · 8:00 pm · Online · X Spaces