Prof. Akpan Ekpo

Akpan Hogan Ekpo is from Ikot-Obio-Eka in Etinan Local Government in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. He was born and raised in Lagos Nigeria. After completing secondary school in Lagos with flying colours, he proceeded to the United State of America for further studies. Akpan Hogan Ekpo is a Professor of Economics and Public Policy, University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. He has participated in Nigeria’s public policy space for over twenty-five years. He was once Chairman, Ministerial Advisory Committee, Federal Ministry of Finance, Abuja from 1994-98; a Non-Executive Director of the Central Bank of Nigeria and Member of its Monetary Policy Committee, 2005-2009. He was Technical Advisor to the Vision 2010; member of the Steering Committee to Vision 20:2020; member of the Economic and Recovery Growth Committee; member of the Federal Government Minimum Wage Committee and has participated at various federal and state governments policy-making committees in Nigeria. He has been a member of several Economic Management teams of the Federal Government of Nigeria. He was Editor, of the prestigious Nigerian Journal of Economic and Social Studies for 8 years, President of the Nigerian Economic Society and a fellow of the Society. He was Director-General and Head of Mission of the West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM) from 2009-2018, owned by English-speaking Central Banks of West Africa. He was commended by the Board for repositioning the Institute especially in the areas of fund raising, research and introducing the French language as a course.
Professor Ekpo was Vice-chancellor, University of Uyo, 2000-2005 and was commended by the National Universities Commission (NUC) for excellence in re-positioning the Federal University of Uyo. He was the pioneer Vice-chancellor of the Akwa Ibom State University of Technology (now Akwa Ibom State University) from 2005-2007. He resigned his appointment because his principles of merit. transparency and accountability were being threatened. He returned to the Department of Economics, University of Uyo in 2007. He has been Visiting scholar to the World Bank and the IMF at various times. He is a recipient of the Federal Government of Nigeria Merit Award on Productivity. He has lectured in several Universities in the USA, Zimbabwe and Nigeria. He has consulted for several global and national institutions such as the World Bank, African Economic Research Consortium (AERC), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UN-ECA), Africa Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), Forum of Federations in Canada, Center for Democracy and Development, National Manpower Board, Federal Ministry of Finance, Federal Ministry of budget and Planning, among others.
He has been a member of various boards and Think Tanks such as the Management Committee of the AERC in Nairobi, African Heritage Institutions, African Population, Health and Research Consortium (APHRC), Clement Isong Foundation, Edet Amana Foundation and New Nigeria Foundation, among others. He has attended several policy-oriented programmes at Harvard University, University of Oxford and the World Bank Development Institute. From 2020-2023, he was requested by the Nobel Prize Committee in Switzerland to nominate candidates for the Nobel Prize in Economics.
Professor Ekpo has written eight books and edited three. His latest book: Nigeria: A Resource Rich Economy in Disarray was published by the University of Lagos Press. He has published over 200 articles in peer-reviewed journals, chapters in books and other research outlets. He has over 1,850 citations in Google Scholar. His areas of interest include Economic Theory, Public Finance and Quantitative Methods.
He attended Howard University, Washington, D.C., USA from 1973-76. In 1975 he won the American Economic Association Fellowship to study briefly at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA with the condition to return to Howard University. He was in the Dean’s list throughout his undergraduate studies and won various scholarships during his post-graduate programme. He holds a PhD in Business Administration and PhD in Economics from the University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. He is married to Rev. (Mrs.) Njeri Mbaka Ekpo and they are blessed with children and grandchildren.