Joseph Akinkugbe Adelegan is a Nigerian engineer, international civil servant, and scholar who has been serving as the incumbent Executive Director of Partners in Population and Development since 2025.
He previously served as the Secretary-General of the International Rubber Study Group (IRSG) and was known for the "Cows to Kilowatts" project, which turned waste products from slaughterhouses in Ibadan into biogas.
Education Adelegan earned his bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Obafemi Awolowo University. He later earned a master's degree and a doctorate in civil and environmental engineering from the University of Ibadan, and a Master of Business Administration from Ladoke Akintola University of Technology.
He earned a postgraduate diploma in structural engineering from Ss. Cyril and Methodius University. In 2018 he earned a Doctor of Management degree at Case Western Reserve University's Weatherhead School of Management.
Career In 2001 Adelegan founded the Global Network for Environment and Economic Development Research, a Nigerian non-governmental organization, serving as its Executive Chairman.
In this capacity he led "Cows to Kilowatts", a partnership that treated effluent from the Bodija Market abattoir in Ibadan and captured its gas emissions to produce cooking gas and fertilizer. It was described by CNN as the first Clean Development Mechanism project in Nigeria.
From 2012 he worked at the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development, where he headed its environment and sustainable development unit and later served as a division chief in the office of the vice-president.
He has also held United Nations roles, including team lead for the global circular economy programme of the UN Technology Innovation Lab in Finland and senior adviser at the United Nations Office for Project Services in Denmark.
He has also served as a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Venda.
On 1 December 2022 he became secretary-general of the International Rubber Study Group, based in Singapore.
In September 2025 he was appointed by the Governing Board of Partners in Population and Development to serve as its executive director for a three-year term, beginning his post on 9 October 2025. He presented his credentials to Bangladesh's foreign minister, Khalilur Rahman, in June 2026.
Recognition "Cows to Kilowatts" won a SEED Award in 2005. Adelegan was named a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum in 2006. In 2008 CNN chose him as one of its "Principal Voices" on the economics of energy. He is also an Ashoka Fellow.
References