Prof. Oluwatoyin Ashiru was born on 28 July 1954 into the illustrious Ashiru family of Ijebu Ode.  His late father Pa Simeon Adeyemi Ashiru was a highly respected and revered Ijebu statesman. His late mother Alhaja Omo’ba Moradeun Ashiru hailed from the royal families of Fidipote in Ijebu-Ode and a ruling dynasty of Owu-Ijebu. 

Prof. Toyin Ashiru is a distinguished Materials and Metallurgical Engineer with a career of about 40 years that spans through Nigeria, UK, USA, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Far East, and Asia.

Toyin Ashiru has utilized his diverse experiences in the academia, consulting, finance/investment entrepreneurship, and project management to provide technical advisory services for the enhancement of productivity in major oil and gas industries worldwide. He has served as expert consultant to NNPC, SHELL, CHEVRON, EXXONMOBIL, ADDAX, SAUDI ARAMCO, SABIC, SAMAREC, QATAR OIL, etc. He has also served on various technology advancement committees of the UNIDO, UNESCO and the WORLD BANK.

Prof. Ashiru had his primary education at the Baptist Primary School, Ereko, Ijebu Ode and secondary education at the Ijebu-Ode Grammar School. He is a graduate of the University of Sussex, Brighton, UK where he obtained B.Sc in Materials Science and Engineering. He concluded his Ph.D at the University of Birmingham, UK in Industrial Metallurgy in 1983. He began his career as a lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at the Universities of Lagos and Ibadan respectively before serving as Nigerian Senior Research Fellow at the International Tin Research Institute in the UK. Toyin Ashiru before his advent into the oil and gas industries in 1998 was a professor/senior research fellow at the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Saudi Arabia.

Toyin Ashiru is the inventor of the first known instrument for Situ Detection of Steel Cracking in Sour Petroleum Production Operations. This sophisticated microprobe device is now fully commercialized and used worldwide in the oil industries. He holds patents in the USA, UK, Brazil, Japan and of the World Intellectual Property Organization for several other inventions. He developed electroplated tin-zinc alloy coating system (USA Patent # 5,378,346, January 3, 1995). The coating is extensively used worldwide, particularly in the USA, UK, Europe, and the Far East for the protection of plant, machinery, automobile, and aerospace components. He developed a comprehensive paint and coating standard and specification system. This one-of-the-kind package includes expert software systems for specifying of protective coating applications and preventive maintenance planning in industrial plants. Over the years, he has carried out many projects to solve corrosion and materials degradation problems in petrochemical, chemical processing, fertilizer, and steel manufacturing industries. He is a world recognized consultant on matters concerning oil and gas plant development, integrity enhancement and failure analysis. Of importance was his stint as a Technical Advisor to the Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), where he developed several innovative solutions for petrochemical, chemical processing and fertilizer plants. He is responsible for the introduction of Sponge-Jet, an environment-friendly low-dust blasting technology to Nigerian industries.

Toyin Ashiru has received many merit awards and citations worldwide in recognition of his work, including an acknowledgment in the USA as a “Professional with Extraordinary Ability” and listings in Who is Who in the World and the Dictionary of International Biography; the highly esteemed Corrosion Odyssey 2001 Award in England; Distinguished Alumni Award University of Sussex, UK in 2009; Dalic’s Very Imperial Plater Award, Vitré, France in 2010; Honoree of the African Engineering Education (AEEA). He is a recipient of the prestigious Distinguished Innovator Award of the Association of Tin Producing Countries (ATPC). The honour was in appreciation of his inventions of the first known industrially viable tin-zinc alloy coating system. Recently, an award was constituted in his name at the Faculty of Science, University of Lagos. The Toyin Ashiru Award for Emerging STEM Enterprise is awarded annually for individuals who have developed their inventions into commercially viable states. More recently, he was the recipient of the Special Presidential Merit Award for Distinguished Engineering Practice of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE).

Professor Ashiru has great passion for community service especially educational counseling for Nigerian youths. He sponsors and personally conducts programs on career development and effective study strategies for university students and keen parents. He has assisted many young Nigerians in obtaining placements and scholarships for postgraduate studies in American, British, and Saudi Arabian universities. Most of the beneficiaries are now highly placed and successful professionals.

Toyin Ashiru is a Fellow of the Nigeria Society of Engineers, the New York Academy of Science, the Nigeria Academy of Engineers and the Nigerian Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

Prof. Ashiru is a Non-Executive Director of FCMB Group Plc, Chairman of CSL Stockbrokers Ltd and others. He is currently the Group Managing Director/CEO of Tricontinental Group, a first-rate Nigerian conglomerate with interests in Oil & Gas services, industrial technologies, industrial academy, properties and investments, energy and power.

He has been happily married to his “soul mate and chum” Adenike since 1980. They are blessed with children and grandchildren.