Brief biography – Dapo Ladimeji
His academic career started early when Dennis Brutus, who had been offered a professorship at Northwestern in Chicago, recommended him as a replacement for a lecture series in London that he was to give at what is now University of Westminster. The university accepted the offer perhaps without realising their new lecturer was a teenager who had yet to go to university let alone graduate. The series was a success and the university sought to put him on a permanent position at which point they learnt he was by then a first year undergraduate at Cambridge University. He was appointed and taught for over 10 years. In context: Cambridge University allowed him to supervise final year students in African literature even though he was a first year undergraduate.
He published many articles as an undergraduate including one in the prime professional philosophy journal, ‘Philosophy’, which was praised by a Nobel scientist Dr Medawar, as the best on the subject.
While a student at Cambridge he was appointed to the Editorial board of several journals: ‘Transition’ with Wole Soyinka, and ‘Race and Class’, Journal of Institute of Race Relations, London and began reviewing for ‘New Society’.
He later left academia to become a chartered accountant and the first Black partner (International tax partner) in a City of London professional firm. He subsequently setup his own practice.
In the late 1990’s a consensus emerged that meant that his voice was largely silenced. Having been able to get published as a teenager suddenly being silenced came as surprise. In response he started his own Journal ‘African-century’ as an alternative. He challenged the idea favoured at the time by the World Bank DFID and other major international organisations that Africa did not need the internet. His first ever paper for the journal ‘What is to be done about the dawn of the African Century?’ focuses on the importance of Africa joining the then forthcoming world technology changes. Withotu an advertising budget or name recognition his expectation of anyone reading it was low. Much to his surprise he received an email from the Head of a major UN agency requesting him to join the debate at the UN.
He later began opposing a proposal by DFID to send a million second hand computers to Africa. He was then an adviser to several of the world’s leading internet companies. He showed that this proposal was more expensive than sending a million new computers and would have devastingly negative consequences. In his opinion the proposal was effectively using Africa as landfill for electronic waste. Using his professional skills he showed that someone somewhere would be making millions of pounds from this proposal. He was later informed that DfID had attempted to get him fired from the UN only for the UN agency to have to inform DfID that he was not on their payroll. He was at the time a partner in professional firm in the City of London. At a meeting of the Royal Society of Arts in London in the presence of senior executives of DfID he made public the conduct of DfiD. A political storm came DfID’s way with calls for reform.
As part of his commitment to proselytizing the importance of future technologies, he was a founder of FOSSFA, the open source foundation for Africa.
He is Chair of IFA Africa Region (International Fiscal Association – ifa.nl). Apart from the massive loss of fiscal revenue many international proposals violate the sovereignty of African countries.
NB. Mr Dapo Ladimeji no longer has any connection with The Institute of African and Diaspora Studies of the University of Lagos, nor with FOSSFA.