S. Ibi Ajayi holds a PhD degree in Economics from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. He is a Professor of Economics and a Distinguished Service Fellow of the Department of Economics, University of Ibadan. Professor Ajayi has consulted for a wide range of international organizations including the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the United Nation's Development Program, the African Development Bank, the African Economic Research Consortium, the West African Monetary Agency, and ECOWAS. He has published over 120 articles journals, books, and chapters. Professor Ajayi's areas of interest are macroeconomics, monetary economics, public policy issues, and health economics. His main focus is in the areas of African development.
Léonce Ndikumana is Professor of Economics and Director of the African Development Policy Program at the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He is a Member of the United Nations Committee on Development Policy. Léonce Ndikumana has served as Director of Operational Policies and Director of Research at the African Development Bank, Chief of Macroeconomic Analysis at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), and visiting Professor at the University of Cape Town. He is also an Honorary Professor of Economics at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa. Professor Ndikumana's research explores issues of external debt and capital flight; financial markets and growth; macroeconomic policies for growth and employment; aid, aid effectiveness and social development; and the economics of conflict and civil wars in Africa. He is co-author of Africa's Odious Debt: How Foreign Loans and Capital Flight Bled a Continent.