Siyan Oyeweso was born on February 1, 1961. He was the Punctuality Prefect in his Primary School, St. Peters Anglican Primary School, Sekona-Ede, and the best graduating pupil in 1972, having carted away 80% of the school prizes. In January 1975, he was enrolled at Baptist Modern School, Ode-Omu-Gbongan, and was later in September 1973 at a more cosmopolitan Oke-Iragbiji Grammar School, Iragbiji, Osun State, Nigeria.

From his primary school days through secondary school, he bagged many prizes for outstanding performance. In 1972, for instance, he had the highest number of prizes at his primary school’s prize-giving day. He was also the Prize Winner at the Oyo State Secondary School’s Quiz Competition in 1974 and the Oyo State Secondary Schools Essay Competition in 1976. In his final year, he served as the Library Prefect. He was also the best student in the 1978 set during the West African School Certificate Examination (WASCE) in 1978 having obtained Grade One Distinction.

Siyan Oyeweso utilized Timi Oyewusi Agbonran II Scholarship to study History at the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife) between 1978 and 1982. He graduated with a second class Upper Division in 1982. On completion of his B.A. History from the University of Ife, he observed his mandatory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme in the Department of History, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, where he also served as a Teaching Assistant in the 1982/83 academic session. On completion of his National Assignment, Siyan Oyeweso took up a teaching appointment with the then Oyo State Central School Board, Ibadan. He was subsequently posted as a classroom teacher to St. Johns Grammar School, Ile-Ife where he taught History and English between November 1983 and October 1985.

Siyan Oyeweso returned to the University of Ife for his M.A. degree. His Master’s dissertation titled “Causal Factors in the Outbreak of the Nigerian Civil War” was supervised by the radical scholar and ideologist Dr. Olusegun Samuel Osoba. Again, he shone brilliantly. As a master’s Student, he won the University’s Post-Graduate Scholar Award. Siyan also had the privilege of having Dr. Segun Osoba as the supervisor of his PhD thesis entitled “The Political Thought of Mokwugo Okoye Since 1951”. He was at the final stage of completing the PhD thesis when, in 1991, Dr. Segun Osoba voluntarily retired from the services of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.  

Siyan Oyeweso started his academic career in November 1985 as an Assistant Lecturer in the Department of History, Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo, Lagos State. At LASU, he was promoted to Lecturer Grade II in 1987, Lecturer Grade I in 1989, and Senior Lecturer in 1992. He rose through the ranks and was appointed an Associate Professor of History in 2001 and a full Professor in July 2004. During his years of service at LASU, he served as the Head of the Department of History and International Studies and Dean, Faculty of Arts. He also served as a member of the International Board of Trustees of Lagos State University Centre for Democracy and Development Studies (CDDS) –a Ford Foundation initiative in 1999-2003. Some of the administrative positions he held at LASU included Director, Centre for General Studies; Deputy Director, School of Part-Time Studies (Internal Operations); Chairman, Ceremonials Committee; Member, Implementation Committee for the establishment of the Faculty of Management Sciences; and Member, Implementation Committee for the establishment of LASU School of Communication. Oyeweso served on the Fifth and Sixth Governing Councils of the Lagos State University headed by Otunba J. K. Randle (1995-1998) and Prof. Deji Femi-Pearse (1999-2003). He also served on the Seventh Governing Council, with Mr. Akin Kekere-Ekun as the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council (2004-2006). His Council experience at the Lagos State University spanned 1995 to 24 April 2006. Professor Oyeweso had the privilege to present the 22nd Inaugural Lecture of the University entitled The Undertakers, The Python’s Eye and Footsteps of the Ant: The Historian’s Burden. The lecture was delivered on 26 April 2006.

In 2007, Oyeweso moved to the newly established Osun State University, Osogbo, where he was appointed and served as the pioneer Provost of the College of Humanities and Culture between August 2007 and 31 July 2011. During that foundation period, he was involved in the developmental process of the institution. At Osun State University, he has served in various administrative and academic capacities. Prominent among them were Member, University Management; Chairman, Committee of Provosts, Deans and Directors; Director, Centre for Human Resource Development and Life-Long Learning; Director of Advancement; Senate Representative on the Post-graduate Board; and Member, Development Committee of the University. He equally had the privilege to serve as Chairman, Business Committee of Senate. Oyeweso was elected by the Senate in 2010 as one of the two University Orators. He also served as a member of the Honorary Degree Committee. In 2010, Oyeweso served as the Chairman, Local Organizing Committee of the 2010 Conference organised by the Association of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (AVCNU), which was held at Osun State University, Osogbo. 

Prof. Siyan Oyeweso displayed his rich and variegated academic experience when he co-chaired the Global Conference of Black Nationalities hosted in 2009 by the Government and People of Osun State. In 2011, he also served as the Chairman of the Local Organizing Committee of the World Summit of Mayors International Conference, which was held in Osogbo, Osun State, in 2011, again hosted by the Osun State Government.

Professor Oyeweso was honoured with a 3-volume festschrift by academic colleagues in Nigerian universities. These are Critical Perspectives on Peace, Conflict and Warfare in Africa, edited by Olutayo Adesina, Olukoya Ogen and Noah Echa Attah (Ile-Ife: Obafemi Awolowo University Press, 2012); Critical Perspectives on Language, Communication and Literary Studies, edited by E. T. O. Babalola and Tunji Azeez (Ile-Ife: Obafemi Awolowo University Press, 2012); and Philosophy, Islamic Culture and Society in Nigeria, edited by Noah Echa Attah (Ile-Ife: Obafemi Awolowo University Press, 2012).

For four years, Professor Oyeweso was a member of the pioneer Governing Council of Osun State University, ably led by the world-acclaimed doyen of higher education, Distinguished Prof. Peter Okebukola OFR (2008-2011). He also served as a member of the UNIOSUN Strategic Planning Committee (2010-2016). He was also on the Strategic Planning Committee of UNIOSUN Strategic Plan 2017-2036. His areas of significant input were the Library Sub-Committee and Town and Gown Sub-Committee. Between August 2017 and July 2019, Professor Oyeweso was a member of the Mallam Yusuf Ali SAN-led Governing Council of Osun State University. Owing to his love for the development of higher education in Nigeria, he accepted to serve for six years on the Governing Council of the Federal Polytechnic, Ede. He also served and still serves as External Examiner to many universities, including the University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Oyo State; University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos State; University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Kwara State; Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State; Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State; Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State; Adeleke University, Ede; Redeemer’s University, Ede. He was a member of the International Board of Trustees of the University of Birmingham (U.K.) Research Programme, Knowing Each Other: Everyday Religious Encounters, Social Identities and Tolerance in Southwest, Nigeria. The Board of Trustees was headed by the renowned anthropologist J. D. Y. Peel. It included such eminent scholars as Prof. Toyin Falola, Prof. Karin Barber, Prof. Tom McCaskie and Prof. Sola Akinrinade.

Between 2018 and March 2021, Oyeweso served as a Visiting Professor and the Executive Director at the Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding (CBCIU), Osogbo, a UNESCO Category II Institute. He is still a serving Consulting/Associate Director and member of the International Board of Trustees of CBCIU. During his tenure, he succeeded in rebranding the Centre as one of the foremost cultural institutions in Africa. He helped to establish the Duro Ladipo Museum and Photographic Gallery and Oba Moses Oyinlola Museum and Photographic Gallery. He succeeded in establishing the Ulli Beier Archives, which had been on the drawing board since 2009. Under Professor Oyeweso’s watch, the Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding also entered into a Memorandum of Understanding on 24 July 2018 with the University of Bayreuth, Iwalewahaus, Germany. Under his leadership, several highly successful international conferences and workshops were held, among which were the International Conference on Alaafin in Yoruba History, Culture and Political Power Relations, International Colloquium on Russia-Ukraine War and Implication for Global Security, Peace and New World Order, and International Conference on Security and Insecurity in Nigeria: The Role of Traditional Institution. In May 2023, Prof. Oyeweso also organised a National Colloquium and Exhibition tagged 55 Years of Exhibiting and Promoting Traditional and Contemporary Art: Celebrating Nike Okundaye. In September 2023, he also organised an International Colloquium on 50 Years of Germany in the United Nations and the deeply cultural International Conference on Ile-Ife and Yoruba Civilization: The Nexus between Tradition and Modernity, which took place in Ile-Ife on 10-14 August 2023.

Prof. Oyeweso continuously makes significant contributions to the culture sector nationally and globally. He is a serving member Board of Trustees of Institute of African Culture and International Understanding, a UNESCO Category II Institute, Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta, Ogun State, chaired by the highly revered and respected Dr. Christopher Kolade. He is also a member, Advisor and Administrative Board of the US-based Historical Africa Cultural Center, a non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting and exhibiting ancient African traditions, arts & crafts, music and culture.

In 2021, Professor Oyeweso was appointed the Chairman, Apostle Folorunso Alakija’s 70th Birthday Anniversary Planning Committee. This resulted in a string of activities that showcased the life, existence and love of a woman of note for humanity.

One of Nigeria’s renowned historians, Prof. Oyeweso has produced many distinguished professionals and scholars who are now heads of several tertiary institutions in Nigeria. It is on record too that he has produced a number of professors and vice-chancellors, top police officers and military generals, permanent secretaries and high-ranking civil servants and leading professionals across various walks of life.

Oyeweso’s research endeavours cover Higher Education, Cultural History of Nigeria, Nigeria’s Intellectual History, Yoruba Inter-state Warfare, Islam in Yorubaland, and the Nigerian Civil War. He is one of Nigeria’s leading authorities on the history of the Nigerian Civil War. Besides his Perspectives on the Nigerian Civil War (Lagos: OAP Publications, 1992), Mokwugo Okoye: Struggle for National Liberation and Social Justice (Lagos: Multi-Vision, 2004), he has published numerous articles on the Nigerian Civil War in high-impact journals. He recently completed another edited manuscript on Beyond Fifty (50) Years after Biafra: Memories, Legacies and Reflections on the Nigeria Civil War. He has authored many books and over 200 publications in the form of book chapters and journal articles. Some of the books he authored are Eminent Yoruba Muslims (Ibadan, Rex Charles, 1999); Ede in Yoruba History (Lagos: Multivision, 2018); Journey from Epe: Biography of S. L. Edu (Lagos: West African Book Publishers, 1996). He also co-edited with Deji Ogunremi and Muhib Opeloye Badagry: A Study in the History, People and Culture of an Ancient Civilization (Ibadan: Rex Charles, 1994), Torch Bearers of Islam in Lagos State (Ibadan: Matrix Books Ltd, 2008), Actors and Institutions in the Development of Islam in Lagos State (Ibadan: Matrix Books Ltd, 2013) and Heritage of Islam in Nigeria (Abuja: Mega Press, 2016), among others. Oyeweso jointly edited with Prof. Sola Akinnrinade Perspectives on Higher Education and Good Governance in Nigeria (Ibadan: Noirledge Publishing, 2019) and Pivotal Issues in Higher Education Development in Nigeria (University Press plc, Ibadan, 2020). His most current publications are Oyo: History, Tradition and Royalty (Ibadan, Ibadan University Press, 2021. 201pp) (co-edited with Prof. Olutayo Adesina); The Royal Institution in Yoruba Tradition and Popular Culture (Ibadan, John Archers, 2021, 266 pp.); and A Celebration of God’s Grace: Folorunso Alakija @ 70 (Osogbo: UNIOSUN Publishing House, 2021) (co-authored with Olukoya Ogen). His most recent publication is In the Service of the Nation: The Story of NASFAT AT 25 (Lagos: University of Lagos Press, 2024).

In the last few years, Oyeweso has been involved in the documentation of the oral history of many indigenous communities in Nigeria. He is into public history, using both conventional and digital platforms to enlighten the general public about Nigeria’s rich heritage. For instance, he was the Facilitator, Oyo Oral History Project, and Anchor, Yoruba Heritage Series: Osogbo, Ede, Ile-Ife, Lagos, Ibadan, Abeokuta, Ikorodu and Epe on DSTV, Channel 157 between 2019 and 2020. He has also produced a number of documentaries on traditional rulers, such as Oba Moses Oyinlola, Olokuku of Okuku; Oba John Adetoyese Laoye, Timi of Ede; Oba Adesoji Aderemi, the Ooni of Ife; and Alhaji Yusuf Maitama Sule (Danmasanin Kano). 

A Fellow and Life Member of the Historical Society of Nigeria (FHSN), Professor Oyeweso’s contributions to the understanding of Nigerian history and culture have been extremely significant and commendable. In August 2017, he was conferred with the highly prestigious Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Letters (FNAL), the apex organisation for all academic associations in humanities scholarship in Nigeria. He has served as a member of the Nigerian Academy of Letters (NAL) Fundraising Committee headed by Prof. Victor Awonusi and a member of the Screening Committee of the NAL College of Fellows; a committee saddled with the responsibility of screening and determining prospective candidates for the Award of Fellow. Distinguished Professor Duro Oni chaired the 2020 Screening Committee.

Prof. Siyan Oyeweso is the immediate past Director of the UNIOSUN Business School and is currently the Provost, Osun State University Post-graduate College since February 2024. In this and other positions, Professor Oyeweso is working assiduously in raising and equipping a new generation of scholars and technocrats, and challenging them for a better understanding of the nation and its people in the new millennium. He is currently the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife since July 4, 2024.