[2] The Nigerian Institute of International Affairs was established in 1961 but inaugurated in May 1963, with the support of the then prime minister of the Federation of Nigeria, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa.
It has a modern complex of buildings, which includes a 75-seat conference hall, equipped with simultaneous translating facilities, an auditorium accommodating 400, and a library wing for 100,000 volumes of books and journals, with an area for a press and pamphlet collection.
Olasupo Ojedokun, the second director-general, was credited with initiating a programme for the Institute of interdisciplinary research, symposia, and lectures, and the publication of monographs and surveys, with emphasis on African affairs.
The founding director general of the institute was Dr Lawrence Apalara Fabunmi, a historian whose Ph.D. thesis from University of London on the Anglo-Egyptian condominium in the Sudan has remained a classic.
[4][5] Other directors-general have been Bolaji Akinyemi, Ibrahim Gambari, Gabriel Olusanya, George Obiozor, Joy Ogwu, Osita Eze, Bola A. Akinterinwa, PhD Sorbonne, fniia, inma, fssan, Bukar Bukarambe and Cyprian Heen as an interim director-general.