Adebayo Adedeji (21 December 1930 – 25 April 2018) was a Nigerian economist and academic.

A full-fledged Professor at the age of 36 years,[1] he was Nigeria's Federal Commissioner for Economic Development & Reconstruction from 1971 to 1975.

In June 1975, he was appointed Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and remained in this position until July 1991.

[2] On his return to Nigeria, he founded the African Centre for Development and Strategic Studies (ACDESS), a non-governmental independent continental non-profit, think-tank dedicated to multi-disciplinary and strategic studies on and for Africa.

[4] Adedeji died in the evening on 25 April 2018 in Lagos after suffering from a long illness.