Bankole Adeoye is a Pan-African Career Diplomat with over 3 and half decades of experience. A strong advocate of Africa’s regional integration and inclusive partnerships, Ambassador Adeoye building synergy across Africa for good governance, durable champions the peace, security and sustainable development.

Ambassador Adeoye assumed office as the African Union Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace & Security on 15th March 2021, having been elected in February 2021 during the 34th AU Summit. Prior to this appointment, he served as Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the AU and the UNECA and Ambassador to Ethiopia with concurrent accreditation to Djibouti from 2017 to 2020. From 2007 to 2015 on secondment to NEPAD Agency HQ, he held the strategic positions of Chief of Staff to the Chief Executive Officer, Coordinator of Partnerships & External Relations and as Director of Corporate Services.

Also, Bankole Adeoye served as Director (Second UN) in the International Organizations Department of the Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He supervised the coverage of the UN Second, Third and Fifth Committees, focusing on Human Rights, Humanitarian, Social; Economic and Financial Matters; and Administrative & Budgetary Questions. Overall, his wealth of diplomatic experience spanned postings to Cairo (Egypt); Brasilia (Brazil); Pretoria & Midrand in NEPAD HQ (South Africa) and Addis Ababa (Ethiopia). Ambassador Adeoye’s core areas of specialization include the nexus between good governance, peace, security and sustainable development. He is avid promoter of concerted actions for the implementation of the African Peace & Security Architecture (APSA) and African Governance Architecture (AGA) as well as the APRM.

He has contributed to a number of papers, studies and landmark diplomatic resolutions, including the Review of AU-PSC Study on APSA/AGA Implementation; Strategy for Transformational Leadership Capacity; Common African Position on Asset Recovery to stem Illicit Financial Flows; Institutional Transformation of AUDA-NEPAD, Mutual Review of Africa/G8 Partnership Commitments; Beyond Aid Approach; and Crafting Common African Positions within the AU system.

Bankole Adeoye is a generative force for inspiring change in Africa to actualize the AU Agenda 2063 – the Africa We Want, and the shared values of Pan-Africanism and African Renaissance. He is a proponent of rights-based approach to enshrine peace and stability, premised on African Solutions to African Problems.