The Yoruba Academy is an independent, non-profit, non-partisan, non-governmental, multi-disciplinary institution set up to shepherd the growth and development of Yorùbá language, arts, and culture, through collaboration with scholars, politicians, businessmen and experts in Yoruba language, culture, economics, law, science and technology, and governance.
It was founded in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria in October 2007 following a retreat of young Yoruba professionals.
It is also committed to encouraging and funding research and systematic reflections on the history, culture, position, and future of the Yorùbá in the context of Nigeria and in a globalising world, towards helping to create and sustain freedom of thought, and providing a platform for effective linkage between research and human development.
The academy, in this way, is modelled after Académie Française, the preeminent council for the French language, the Goethe-Institut and the Confucius Institute.
In 2016, it brought all the Yorùbá kings and governors to Ibadan to mark the "120th Jubilee of World’s Longest Civil War"[3][4] The academy is supported by a Management Committee, a Board of Trustee, and a cohort of Academy Fellows and Patrons chosen from the pool of professionals around the world.