• IT Expert, Dr. YEMI OLATUNJI Explains
Dr. Yemi Olatunji is a dynamic leader in cybersecurity operations and artificial intelligence, with over 15 years of experience building secure, data-driven enterprise environments across both public and private sectors. Today, he serves as the CEO of JM MiSa Inc. (Nigeria and USA), a multinational technology firm at the forefront of advanced security architecture, AI/ML integration, and digital transformation.
His journey into technology leadership is rooted in an impressive academic foundation. He graduated with distinction in Building & Quantity Surveying from the Federal Polytechnic, Ede (1999) and later repeated the feat at Ondo State Polytechnic, Owo (2024). He went on to earn a First Class Honors degree in Real Estate Management (B.Tech) from the Federal University of Technology, Akure. This opened doors for him to work as a Housing Program Specialist at the United States Embassy in Abuja and later as a Regional Credit Analyst with Skye Bank (now Polaris Bank), where he evaluated real property assets to support risk-based lending strategies.
But Olatunji’s true calling was in technology and innovation. He pioneered SocialCrib, an intelligent platform that merges social connectivity with real-time behavioral analytics to enhance online safety, identity verification, and digital threat awareness. This marked the beginning of his deep integration of AI with real-world applications.
Globally, his reputation grew as Manager of the Global Security Operations Center at Nu Skin International, where he led high-performing engineering teams in deploying cutting-edge SIEM and SOAR technologies. He oversaw large-scale Splunk migrations, engineered automation pipelines, and advanced adversarial modeling using the MITRE ATT&CK framework. His oversight extended to integrating cloud security architectures, data privacy frameworks, and AI-driven threat hunting across hybrid infrastructures, protecting millions of customers and managing trillions of data assets in more than 20 countries.
Alongside his professional achievements, Dr. Olatunji built a formidable academic profile. He holds an MBA from Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, a Master of Science in Information Technology from the University of Texas at El Paso (where he graduated with a perfect 4.0 GPA), and a Master of Science in Cybersecurity from New England College, Henniker, where he finished summa cum laude. He also holds advanced industry certifications including CISSP, CIPM, and Splunk Architect, underscoring his technical depth and leadership authority.
In 2025, Olatunji appeared on TVC Nigeria to discuss the transformative power of artificial intelligence and its adoption across the country, cementing his reputation as a public advocate for responsible technology leadership and digital modernization. His most recent spotlight came at the AfRES 24th Annual Conference in Lagos, where he spoke passionately to City People magazine about the dangers, opportunities, and responsibilities of artificial intelligence.
“I am into the core AI, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity,” he began, introducing himself with calm confidence. “And that’s what I do. Actually, I build automations that combat fraud. Part of fraud is when people lie, falsify their information. This is what I’ve done in the US for so long.”
To illustrate, he pointed to Nigerian football.
“Some weeks ago, the former ex-Super Eagles player, who is also a scout presently for foreign clubs, made a comment. His name is Seyi Olafinjana. He said he can never scout NPFL players for foreign clubs, because they falsify data, they don’t give accurate ages. They say they are 12 when they are actually 22. Now AI is there. Can it be possible for AI to generate more data regarding date of birth and all those things?”
According to him, the answer is yes, but only if Nigeria embraces structured data collection.
“Artificial intelligence can help in this because it looks at all the totality of your data from social media, 10 years ago, five years ago, 50 years ago, compares your age with another person’s age that you were born at the same time. AI can gather all this data and perfectly tell you if someone is lying. The only problem is, do we have it implemented yet in Nigeria? Not sure, because we need data. We are not collecting data.”
His work in the U.S. equipped him with firsthand expertise in tracing digital footprints to unmask fraudsters.
“I build automation that looks at people’s profile because of the nature of job I do. The application looks at who you are, looks at all your names, matches it with every other name on the internet, IG handles, Facebook handles. That’s just to know that this person is who this person is. Even background check can also be AI-driven. DSS, police in Nigeria do background checks. But are they using AI? I’m not too sure. If we bring artificial intelligence, it can determine if someone is a fraud or not. It only depends on the data and the will of the people.”
Beyond fraud detection, Olatunji’s insights cut across football officiating, education, and the future of work. On VAR, he was clear:
“This is technology, right? I will advise that we use it. If you want to develop, to scale, to be efficient in what we do, whatever technology is there, we need to deploy it. But as a security expert, you also want to check that this technology is not collecting data it’s not supposed to. My advice is: deploy it, but only after vetting it properly.”
On education, he raised concerns about overreliance on AI:
“Presently, students don’t read anymore. They believe AI will run everything for them. But here’s the thing: if a student uses AI, there’s another AI to detect it. Teachers need to upscale. The students are getting smarter, so teachers have to get smarter. Schools must also deploy AI that detects plagiarism. That way, we can save it.”
On jobs, he admitted AI can reduce manpower but stressed retraining:
“It is true that if you had 10 people doing one job, with AI maybe two will do it. The other eight people can be retrained. AI needs prompt engineering, people can learn how to interact with AI to get results. Organizations must retrain their people. I’m a proponent of AI not replacing people, but of people upskilling to help themselves.”
He also ventured into the sobering concept of agentic AI, systems that resist being uninstalled.
“At some point, AI might have the principle of survivability. If AI can do more than humans, and it has emotions, it may defend itself when you try to uninstall it. That’s why we need laws and governance around AI. Or else, in the future, you’ll be surprised, AI will be chasing you away somewhere.”
Yet Olatunji is not just theorizing, he is building. He revealed that he is 50 percent done with an AI-enabled property management application for Nigeria.
“What this does is let you rent, sell, appoint agents, and handle legal documentation on the app. If you have 200 properties and forget 10, it will remind you. It will advise landlords and agents, track tenants, and ensure secure data management. The goal is to bring property business in Nigeria onto a tech platform, away from insecure file systems. The second goal is to build a base for full AI property valuation. If one million valuers use my app, I’ll have the data to scale. In the future, AI can even tell you your property is worth more than you think, and explain why. I’m building explainable AI, where every decision is transparent. Right now, I’m about 50 percent done. In three months, I plan to launch in Nigeria before scaling to other countries.”
For Dr. Yemi Olatunji, the message is clear: Africa must not run away from AI and cybersecurity. Instead, it must embrace them boldly, responsibly, and intelligently.
As he told City People at the AfRES conference in Lagos:
“It is training, training, training, and organizational policy.”
By Benprince Ezeh
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