If global steps should be taken it is imperative for local and national participation to take place. It calls for international cooperation and action driven by community perspectives and legitimacy that should be effective. The above has further motivated the interest of Professor Evans Osabuohien in international and institutional economics where he has carried efforts over the last two decades. As a testimony to that, one of his papers titled “Global Trade and Trade Protection in a Globalised World” (co-authored with Ibukun Beecroft & Uchenna R. Efobi) and published in 2018, was recently recognised as one of the most read articles in Transnational Corporations Review (with Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group as the publishers).

Professor Evans Osabuohien and his co-authors elaborate the dilemma that has lurked in the process establishing successful trade relationships and collaborations in the international market in the paper. World Trade Organisation (WTO) and Regional Trade Agreement (RTAs) noted that regions consecutively seek for collaborations and to boost their mutual benefits in trade; however, the efforts to maintain free trade has been undermined by trade protection tendencies, the authors added.  The above is crucial as a country’s institutional quality improves, they are less likely to engage in protection, which is argumentatively, justified if the country’s domestic institutions have the capacity to guide and guard economic activities in the country, with internal security challenges.  With the emergence of the 1^st Female and 1^st African Director-General of WTO (Dr Ngozi Okonji-Iweela), the world is waiting for possible turnaround in the global trade architecture.  The full paper is available online on the publisher’s website.   

On a related note, the success and impact of Professor Evans Osabuohien’s research and academic adventures was recently re-echoed when he was re-appointed as the Head, Department of Economics and Development Studies of Covenant University in January 2021. This came after his pioneering leadership in establishing two centres in the University (Centre for Economic Policy and Development Research-CEPDeR and Regional Centre of Expertise Ogun-RCE Ogun). Highlights on the appointment are online.