Professor Ayo Omotayo is a Professor of Environmental Sustainability. He was educated at the University of Ibadan from 1980 to 1990 where he obtained a Ph.D. from the Department of Geography. Professor Omotayo was appointed as an Assistant Lecturer at the Lagos State University in 1985. He quickly rose through the ranks to become a Senior Lecturer in 1992, at the age of 30 years. He was the Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences between 2012 and 2017. He was also the Director of the Centre for Planning of the Lagos State University until he was appointed the Director General of the National Institute.
Among several accomplishments, Professor Omotayo founded the MBA program in LASU, helping the university to break new grounds in tuition-paying education. He is also an accomplished entrepreneur in the area of technological development. Some of his start-up initiatives include Netlynk Incorporated, a computer consulting firm in Atlanta-Georgia. The company set up the first online university program for a historically black college at Wilberforce University in Ohio. Another was the development of CASHFAST, a technology that was developed to complete the international transfer of money over the internet in 1999. In Nigeria, the company was responsible for the total re-engineering of the IT system of Standard Trust Bank enabled the bank to become the first Nigerian bank to offer online real-time banking in about 72 branches within record time. He again led the revolution in the area of online data management techniques by developing online payment and registration technology for Lagos State University. He called the project HEDUMSYS (Higher Education Management Systems). This frame has been replicated in almost all Nigerian universities. Prof Omotayo also successfully guided the transfer of several emerging technologies into Nigeria through collaboration with international companies such as Infosys of India and Real Secure of Redmond in the U.S.A.
As a geographer and a city planner, Professor Omotayo ventured into real estate to help create and set standards in city planning and infrastructure development for convenient living from the planning stage to city development, construction, and eventual habitation. A council member of the Association of Nigerian Geographers, Professor Ayo Omotayo has authored several papers in the field of fluvial geomorphology, hydrology and sustainable environmental development. He has also authored a book on statistics.
Professor Omotayo is involved in several charity works and enjoys raising funds for environmental, youths and religious activities. He was President of the University of Ibadan Jaycees in the 1986/87 Session during which time he helped to found the Lagos State University (LASU) Chapter of the organization.
He is happily married and has a daughter.
