User:Benkonof/sandbox/Benjamin Okonofua

Benjamin Okonofua is a Nigerian-born sociologist, conflict researcher and analyst, SME on the sociocultural environment of West Africa, peace advocate, humanitarian, and entrepreneur. He is the founder of Africa's List, a comprehensive directory of businesses, key leaders, products, and services in Africa. He is also the Executive Secretary of Salu Oliha Okonofua Foundation, a non-profit organization that aims to improve access to primary and secondary school education in Africa and improve teacher quality and teaching standards. Prior to establishing his business and humanitarian work, he worked in public and private institutions in Nigeria, the United States, Italy, and the United Kingdom, functioning most notably as consultant social scientist in support of the U.S. Army. Benjamin Okonofua's research interest is in the area of Sociology, Armed Conflict Culture Race and Urbanization as well as Research Methods.

Education
Benjamin Okonofua attended the University of Jos, where he obtained a bachelor's degree in Sociology in 1992. In 1997, he obtained a master's degree in Sociology from the University of Benin. He started his academic career as an Assistant Lecturer in sociology at the Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State, before transferring his services to the University of Benin in 2002. In 2006, he proceeded on study leave to the the United States where he earned a doctorate degree in Sociology with concentration in Race and urban studies from Georgia State University in 2011.

Career
He began his career in 1997 at Women's Health and Action Research Center, where he served as Hospital Administrator. He left WHARC in 1998 to found the Crime Watch International, an NGO that advocated improved institutional reforms to reduce crime. Towards the end of 1998, he accepted an academic position at the Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma. His diligent work motivated important stakeholders to request that he transferred his services to the department of sociology and anthropology of the University of Benin, where he served variously as examination officer, member of disciplinary committee, and member of the University of Benin Press Management Committee. In 2006, he left Nigeria to pursue doctoral studies in the United States. While studying, he worked as a banker with Wachovia and the Bank of North Georgia, serving with distinction and winning the respect of his employers and colleagues. Upon his graduation from the Georgia State University in December 2011, he accepted a research position with the United States Army in April 2012, receiving extensive research, briefing, and language training at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. In November 2012, he won the competitive ORISE post-graduate fellowship with the Behavioral and Social Health Outcome Program (BISHOP) of the United States Army Public Health Command in Maryland. He was part of a compact team of social scientists that used advanced qualitative research and analytic methods to investigate the sources, nature, prevalence, and consequences of behavioral and mental health challenges of U.S. soldiers. Between 2012 and 2018, Okonofua worked as senior social scientist with the U.S. Army Africa (USARAF) in Italy, the U.S. Army North (ARNORTH) in San Antonio, Texas, and the United States African Command (AFRICOM) in the United Kingdom.

During his time at ARNORTH, Benjamin Okonofua served as a primary advisor to the command on the human domain of the ARNORTH Area of Operations, including Canada, Mexico, and the Bahamas. More specifically, he designed, developed, and implemented strategic research and analysis to support leadership decision making based on command information requirements pertaining to military-to-military training, military exercises, long-term strategic planning, and current operations in North America, the Arctic, and the Bahamas. Concurrently, he worked for CGI Federal, a major U.S. defense contractor as a senior consultant and subject matter expert (SME) for socio-cultural research and analysis in support of the U.S. Army. His specialization in cross-cultural research was immensely beneficial to the Army, which looks for commonalities in cultures and peoples in their areas of operation. In this sense, his entire training and lived experience in three continents --Europe, Africa, and America-- prepared him for the various roles he played during his engagements with the U.S. defense industry as well as the many other positions in consulting, academics, non-profit, and business that he has been privileged to occupy. For two years, Okonofua supported the U.S. Army Africa (USARAF) in Vicenza, Italy, as an imbedded Senior Social Scientist and academic research consultant. In this capacity, he authored over 20 peer-reviewed papers and provided high-level command briefs to the USARAF leadership, which illuminated the USARAF operating environment. As USARAF-imbedded SME on the dynamic African socio-cultural terrain with specialization in the intersection of armed conflict and urbanization/urbanism, Okonofua was invited to participate in the U.S. Army Unified Quest (UQ) “Deep Futures” STAFFEX at the Army War College, PA, in May 2014 and the Unified Quest “Deep Futures” Wargame at the same venue in August 2014, which aimed to evolve the next generation U.S. Army capable of engaging in megacities. He was a panelist at the final game presentation seminar, briefing high-level military leadership on second and third order effects of kinetic engagements in megacities and the scale and scope problems of kinetic engagements in African megacities.

In February 2015, Okonofua participated in the U.S. Army Northern Command (NORTHCOM) Future Operations Conference in Colorado Spring, CO, contributing depth to the understanding of U.S. in-depth strategic defense. Also during his time at ARNORTH, he developed a theoretical model for evaluating, assessing, and predicting the adaptive capacity of U.S. megacities to complex catastrophes, including human-made and natural disaster events. He also designed operationally relevant researches based on command-level information requirements, including predictive analysis of post-normalization Cuba-USA mass migration, and a study to determine how social factors, including culture interacted with a populations adaptability or resilience to human-made and natural disasters in urban environments. An emerging concept from the later study is the “rigidity trap,” where too much integration creates paralyses, hindering the creative and adaptive capacities of cities to complex catastrophes. He has used this concept to explain disaster resiliency among large U.S.-Mexico border cities. Each of his studies begins with a full design to include the appropriate method of collection, analysis, and literature base.

Apart from his work with the military, Okonofua uses empirical and theoretical knowledge to inform conflict transformation and peacebuilding strategies. As Executive Director of the African Center for Conflict Transformation (ACCT), a Think-Tank that uses an articulate program of research and training to advocate peace. He believes that armed conflicts, especially asymmetric conflicts between state and non-state actors are deeply complex, and proposes measures, strategies, and methods for transforming destructive conflicts to situations amenable to conflicting parties, including the combination of empirical research and locally specific theoretical frames to illuminate the crises of governance that is frequently the source of tension and conflict in developing countries. His theory of the “lootability of political power” inspires empirical investigation into political contestation as a motive force for resource conflicts in Africa, and helps African leaders contextualize the linkages between democracy and armed conflicts. Apart from illuminating the structural bases of conflict, Okonofua contributes to the transformation of conflicts by developing a series of iterative frames and practical activity that helps communities, leaders, and combatants negotiate, accept, secure, and maintain peaceful settlements.

Okonofua's commitment to peacebuilding is factored by his longstanding interest in conflict's effect on populations adjacent conflicted societies. His new book "This Troubled Land: Understanding the Bases of the Niger Delta and Boko Haram Insurgencies," is an audacious expose of the structural disfunctionality and leadership ambivalence that have historically affected Nigeria and result in the multiple armed defiance of the authority of the Nigerian government. The book uses the theory of “manipulative deflection” to explain the indiscriminate nature of the violence, which appears to target the most vulnerable people who incidentally are the people the insurgents claim to be representing. The insurgent, himself or herself, increasingly comes to resemble the ordinary (wo)man on the street, who may be his/her next victim, both in terms of the similarity of their near hopeless conditions and in the ideas that they have about the state that is fundamentally at odds with conceptions of the state held by those who rule and use their authority to plunder state resources. His concern with leadership deficits and instability motivated him to write a chapter in a 2015 book published by Lexington Books titled, Democratic Contestation on the Margins: Regimes in Small African Countries. His chapter “Faure Gnassingbe and Democratic Governance in the ‘New’ Republic of Togo” used Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way's competitive authoritarian framework to examine continuities and discontinuities in the leadership styles of Faure Gnassingbe and his father, the late Gnassingbe Eyadema, to show that the current Togolese regime has only managed to shift from full authoritarianism to competitive authoritarianism.

Specialization
Benjamin Okonofua is experienced in using theoretical, atheoretical, logical, and strategic frameworks to understand and explain data. Trained and practiced in the use of established frameworks (theoretical or otherwise) to situate and streamline the research process, he is conversant with scholarly literature regarding culture, crime/deviance, armed conflict, social movement, migration, and urbanization. Being highly eclectic and cerebral in his reading of complex social theories, Okonofua has extensive experience developing context-specific and general theories of action (i.e. the theory of “lootability of political power” and the theory of “manipulative deflection”) and is adept at applying existing theories to explain group behavior and inform recommendations for change. He uses several logical frameworks (e.g., Dewey’s Reflective Thinking Model, Military Decision Making Process, PEMESII-ASCOPE, etc.) to support defense or national security-related research that frequently require application of strategic frameworks for meeting training and planning objectives. He also has vast experience applying a wide range of open source data to produce a full range understanding of complex phenomenon.

In addition to being comfortable working with the military, Okonofua has extensive experience teaching sociology to students with a wide range of preparation skills and in applied research. Skilled in statistical analyses as well as qualitative induction, he has demonstrated his understanding of complex research processes, including research design, statistical analysis, monitoring and evaluation, and using evidence-based indicators in a new book on armed conflict, which is scheduled for release in early 2019. His extensive experience includes designing full range research projects from simple research questions, to complex, multi-method longitudinal studies to include large-scale assessments and evaluations. He has designed and conducted large-scale sociological studies and developed relevant instrumentations appropriate for responding to the research questions and contexts for collection. For each study, Okonofua designed, managed, conducted, wrote, and delivered the results of the study. Examples include a study of the nature and effect of physical child abuse on youths goal attainment in Nigeria, and a study of the effects of low self-control and social bonds on alcohol abuse in Nigeria. In the first study, he developed the research plan, the research questions, and the research instruments (to include survey design and in-depth interviews) for the mixed-method study to capture both the underlying causes of child abuse and its effects. In addition, he collected and analyzed the data using the combination of SPSS logistic regression and Grounded Theory Methodology (GTM), and produced a well-received summary report and a book on deviance.

In the second study, Okonofua developed a complex research design to produce rich datasets that were analyzed using SPSS multivariate regression estimating a linear trend from the observations for each person and then modeling the intercepts, particularly the slopes in a regression on individual- and community-level characteristics. The research found that youths who abused alcohol (compared to non-abusers) were more likely to report low self-control, to spend more time with deviant peers, to lack close emotional ties to non-abusers, to spend less time in conventional activities, and to demonstrate low commitment to conventional lifestyles. As expected, bonding factors were related to alcohol abuse, although the attachment variable was negative while involvement in conventional activity moderated the relationship between low self-control and alcohol abuse. The finding suggests that the mediating role of social bonding operates mainly through time spent in conventional activities rather than the strength of affective ties (familiar attachment), investment in conventional lifestyle (religious commitment), or internal constraints (moral beliefs). Thus, if low self-control influences alcohol abuse through social bonding, its effect may operate through the reinforcement of conventional values, rather than the internalization of deviant values.

In 2013, he became a member of the Editorial board of Sage Open, and has served as article reviewer or article editor for many scholarly articles with Sage and other peer-reviewed international journals.

Books and book chapters

 * Okonofua, BA (Forthcoming). This Troubled Land: Understanding the Structural Bases of the Niger Delta and Boko Haram Insurgencies in Nigeria, Page Publishing.
 * Okonofua, BA (2005) The Sociology of Social Problems. Benin City: Kryme Monitor Books.
 * Okonofua BA (2004) Deviance. Benin City: Kryme Monitor Books, 2004.
 * Igbinovia PE, Okonofua BA, Omoyibo KU, and Omoruyi OO (2003). Crime and Delinquency in Nigeria: Theories, Patterns and Trends. Benin City: Kryme Monitor Books.
 * Okonofua BA (2015). “Faure Gnassingbe and Democratic Governance in the “New” Republic of Togo.” In Democratic Contestation on the Margins: Regimes in Small African Countries, Rowman & Littlefield.
 * Okonofua BA (2004). “The State, Power, Authority and Leadership in Nigeria: An Overview.” In Patrick E. Igbinovia, Kingsley U. Omoyibo, and Ernest O. Ugiagbe (eds.), Social Psychology of Change and Diversity in Nigeria. Lagos: Ababa Press, 183-205.
 * Okonofua BA (2004). “The Concept of the Socialized Man: A Social Psychology Perspective.” In Patrick E. Igbinovia, Kingsley U. Omoyibo, and Ernest O. Ugiagbe (eds.), Social Psychology of Change and Diversity in Nigeria. Lagos: Ababa Press, 15-49.
 * Okonofua BA (2004). “Attitude.” In Patrick E. Igbinovia, Kingsley U. Omoyibo, and Ernest O. Ugiagbe (eds.), Social Psychology of Change and Diversity in Nigeria. Lagos: Ababa Press, 50-65.
 * Okonofua BA and Ugiagbe EO (2003). “Corruption and Democratic Governance in Nigeria: A Conceptual Overview.” In Osuntokun, A., Aworawo, D., Akpan, N., Masajuwa, F. (eds.), Issues in Nigerian Government and Politics. Ibadan: Rex Charles Publications, 261-285.

Selected Scholarly published articles

 * Okonofua BA (2016). "The Niger Delta Amnesty Program: Challenges of Transitioning from Peace Settlements to Long-term Peace." Sage open, Vol. 6, Issue 2, doi: https://doi.org/10.1177%2F2158244016654522.
 * Okonofua BA (2014). “A Theoretical Analysis of the Fracturing of Boko Haram.” Nigerian Defense Academy Golden Jubilee Anniversary publication.
 * Okonofua BA (2013). “Triangulation, Emotional Reactivity, and the Niger Delta 	Violence.” Sage Open, Vol. 3, No. 2, pp 1-14, doi: 10.1177/2158244013483758.
 * Okonofua BA. (2013). “I am Blacker than you”: Theorizing conflict between African immigrants and African Americans in the United States.” Sage Open, Vol. 3, No. 3, pp 1-14, doi: 10.1177/2158244013499162.
 * Okonofua BA (2013). “Who Rules Papa’s Land: C. Wright Mills and Nigeria’s Power Elite.” Sage Open Vol. 3, No. 3., pp, 1-11, doi: 10.1177/2158244013502494.
 * Okonofua, BA (2011). “Paths to Peacebuilding: Amnesty and the Niger Delta Violence.” Sociology Dissertations. Paper 62. http://scholarworks.gsu.edu/sociology_diss/62.
 * Aghemelo, AT and Okonofua, BA (2005). “Adolescent Transitions and Alcohol Use Prevention in Contemporary Nigeria,” Journal of History and International Studies, 4 (1): 95-105.
 * Aghemelo, AT and Okonofua, BA (2003). “Crime in a Capitalist Society: Challenge to Good Governance.” International Journal of Governance and Development, Vol. 10(2): 166-177.
 * Aghemelo, AT, Okonofua, BA, and Ugiagbe, EO (2003). “The Police and Crime Prevention in the Fourth Republic: Issues, Trends and Prospects.”Ekpoma Journal of Religious Studies, 5(1), 63-77.
 * Otoghile, A, Ehizuelen, AE, and Okonofua, BA (2003). “Basic Forms and Organizations of Government: An Orientation,” Nigerian Journal of Policy and Development, 2(1), 295-313.
 * Edomwonyi, NP, Okonofua, BA, Weerasinghe, AS, and Dangnan, F (2001). "A Comparative Study of Induction and Recovery Characteristics of Propofol and Midazolam." Nigerian Postgraduate Medical Journal, 8(2): 81-85.