Sheriff Folarin

Sheriff F. Folarin is a United States-based Nigerian professor of international relations, who teaches at Texas State University and serves as a visiting professor at the Center for Conflict Management at University of Rwanda and Rwandan Defense Force Command and Staff College in Rwanda. He is also a professor-at-large at Ife Institute of Advanced Studies, Ile-Ife, and Institute for Peace, Security and Development Studies of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University in Awka, Nigeria.

Early life and education
Sheriff Folarin was born on 15 August 1973 in Kaduna, Kaduna State, although he originally hails from Abeokuta, in Ogun State. Folarin had his primary school education in different parts of Northern Nigeria, including in Kaduna, where he attended LGA Primary School and Army Children School; Niger State, where went to Bosso Primary School in Minna; and the Catholic mission-owned Oro Nursery and Primary School in Kwara State. Afterwards, he proceeded to Benue State for his secondary school education, first at Tilley Gyado College and later at the prestigious Government College Makurdi. After his father’s retirement from the federal public service, which was the reason for the frequent changes of school in the North, he eventually relocated with his parents to Ibadan, Oyo State in Southwestern Nigeria and graduated from Abadina College in 1989. He graduated with a first degree in history from University of Ibadan (UI).

He was the best graduating student in his set. He went ahead to obtain a Master’s degree in Political Science and a PhD in International Relations from the University of Ibadan and Covenant University, two leading academic institutions in Nigeria.

Career
On completion of his Master’s degree and after working as a journalist at Nigerian Tribune, Folarin was invited by his alma mater in 1999 to take up a lecturing appointment in the Ibadan School of History, University of Ibadan, where he began his teaching career. Afterwards, he moved to Covenant University where he became the institution’s first professor of International Relations. For the past 24 years, he has either taught or served as a full-time faculty, visiting scholar, research and curriculum development collaborator, fellow, doctoral theses, external examiner, or professorial chair assessor at universities across two continents. These include University of South Carolina, Ithaca College, Landmark University, University of Rwanda, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Lagos State University, Benue State University, Ekiti State University, Covenant University, University of Ibadan, and Texas State University.

In 2007, he was awarded the Study of United States Institute Fellowship, and in 2005, he got the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program award to host an American professor of political science to jointly build academic curricular in political science, international relations and strategic studies. Folarin has served as the editor-in-chief of the Africa Symposia Issue and as associate editor-in-chief of the Good Governance Worldwide, a journal of the American Society for Public Administration, and pioneered and edited the Covenant University Journal of Politics and International Politics.

Personal life
Folarin is married to Oluwafunke Folarin with whom he has three children. He enjoys watching or playing football, listening to music, reading and writing, and when he is not doing any of these, he relishes bonding with his family at home.