Ayodeji Olukoju obtained a B.A. First Class Honours degree from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and the MA and PhD degrees in History from the University of Ibadan. He taught at the Ogun State University (Olabisi Onabanjo University), Ago-Iwoye (1984-87) before joining the services of the University of Lagos, where he became Professor on October 1, 1998, Head, Department of History (2001-2004) and Dean of Arts (2005-2009).  Olukoju was University of Lagos Best Researcher in the Arts/Humanities in 2006 and 2009, and was inducted Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Letters in 2011. He was  a two-term Vice-Chancellor, Caleb University, Imota, Lagos State, Nigeria from 2010 to 2016.
Professor Olukoju is the author of over 100 scholarly publications on Nigerian and comparative maritime, social, economic and urban history, including Maritime Trade, Port Development and Administration: The Japanese Experience and Lessons for Nigeria (Tokyo, 1996), Infrastructure Development and Urban Facilities in Lagos, 1861-2000 (Ibadan, 2003), The “Liverpool” of West Africa: The Dynamics and Impact of Maritime Trade in Lagos (Trenton, NJ, USA, 2004), Culture and Customs of Liberia (Westport, CT, USA, 2006) and The Fourteenth Commissar of Works: The Life and Labour of Rauf Aregbesola (Lagos & Winnipeg, 2007). His other publications comprise edited books, chapters in books and articles in the following specialist and Africanist journals: Journal of Global History; Journal of Transport History; International Journal of Maritime History, Journal of African History; International Review of Social History; Labour History Review; Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History; African Studies Review, African Affairs; International Journal of African Historical Studies; African Economic History; The Northern Mariner; History in Africa: A Journal of Method; The Great Circle: Australian Journal of Maritime History; Nordic Journal of African Studies; Afrika Zamani: Journal of the Association of African Historians; Journal of Third World Studies; Vestiges: Traces of Record; and Itinerario. A recipient of the Japan Foundation, British Academy, Henry Charles Chapman, Leventis Foundation, Institute of Developing Economies (Tokyo) and DAAD  Postdoctoral Research Fellowships,  Olukoju has served on the editorial boards of African Economic History, Afrika Zamani: Journal of the Associations of African Historians , Journal of African History  and History in Africa: A Journal of Method.  He was the Founding Editor of the Lagos Historical Review (2001-2004), rated the best Department-based journal of History in Nigeria by the National Universities Commission (NUC).  Professor Olukoju, a member of the New York-based Advisory Board of the African Peacebuilding Network  is the first-ever African member of the Executive Committee of the International Maritime Economic History Association (IMEHA) and Founding President of the Organisation for Historical Research in Nigeria. He has consulted for UNESCO, Ford Foundation, the Netherlands Foundation for Tropical Research, the Israel Science Foundation and the Nigerian National Merit Award Board. He has been external examiner and professorial assessor at several Nigerian, Ghanaian and UK universities.
Supervisors: Professor Wale Oyemakinde and Professor G.O. Oguntomisin