
Dr. Umar Oseni
Secretary General
Dr. Umar Oseni is the Secretary General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Arbitration Centre. Earlier, he was the Chief Executive Officer of the International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation (IILM). He was also the the General Counsel of the IILM.
Umar is a member of both the Governance and Ethics Board of the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI), and the Financial Regulation Advisory Council of Experts (FRACE) of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Umar was an Associate Professor of Comparative Law and Regulation of Islamic Finance at the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). Apart from being a Harvard-certified negotiator and dispute resolution expert, Umar has consulted for numerous bodies in the areas of law and regulation of Islamic finance. With a good blend of both significant academic and industry wide experience in dispute resolution and Islamic Finance law, Umar has completed strategic consultancy works for some United Nations agencies such as the International Organization for Migration (IOM), COMCEC of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group and government-linked agencies.
Umar has published widely in refereed journals and co-authored books on alternative dispute resolution (ADR), Islamic finance and law of contract. Umar co-authored the first Textbook on Islamic Finance titled: Introduction to Islamic Banking and Finance: Principles and Practice (United Kingdom: Pearson Education Limited, 2013). He is also a co-author Alternative Dispute Resolution in Islam (Kuala Lumpur: IIUM Press, 2013). He co-edited Islamic Finance and Development (Cambridge, Massachusetts: ILSP, Harvard Law School, 2014) and Emerging Issues in Islamic Finance Law and Practice in Malaysia, (United Kingdom: Emerald Publishing, 2019. He is also the lead editor of Fintech in Islamic Finance: Theory and Practice (UK: Taylor and Francis, Routledge, 2019), a pioneering authoritative book on the dynamics of financial technology in Islamic finance. His latest co-authored book is titled, Islamic Contract Law published by the Oxford University Press, United Kingdom (2024).
Umar received his LLB (Hons) in Common Law and Sharī‘ah from the University of Ilorin; Master of Comparative Laws (with Distinction) and PhD from IIUM. He had his postdoctoral visiting fellowship programme at Harvard Law School where he specialized in dispute management. He also holds a Professional Master of Law degree in Financial Laws from the York University, Ontario, Canada.




