Dr. Opeyemi Bello

Opeyemi Bello joined the University of Manitoba in September 2024 as Instructor II. His teaching focuses on commercial law, contract and labour-management relations. Before joining the University of Manitoba, he taught income taxation, international taxation and contracts at the Schulich Law School, Dalhousie University. He holds LLB (equivalent to a JD) from the University of Ilorin, Nigeria, LLM and MBA (Finance Specialization) from the University of Lagos, Nigeria and a PhD (International Taxation Law and Policy) from the Schulich Law School, Dalhousie University.

Opeyemi’s research focuses on the intricate political dynamics of international tax cooperation and the challenges that developing countries encounter in negotiating international tax agreements. His PhD thesis examines and proposes solutions to the ongoing debates about negotiating a global digital framework. His research continues to monitor and evaluate the evolving discussions on the digital tax framework and how they can affect the normative values of the international tax regime. Additionally, he is interested in researching how the international tax regime connects with other aspects of the international economic law regime. Opeyemi has received academic awards, including the prestigious Purdy Crawford Fellowship from the Schulich Law School.

Before starting his PhD, Opeyemi worked as a lawyer for several years in Nigeria. He practiced in diverse areas, including commercial law, foreign investment, taxation, and dispute resolution. He also worked as a part-time consultant for the United Nations on tax policies for the international shipping industry. During his PhD at the Schulich Law School, he was involved in the law school’s academic activities, teaching 1L and Upper-Level courses in the aforementioned areas.

• The Need for a Responsive African Business Community in International Tax Cooperation (2024) Africa Multidisciplinary Tax Journal.
• Global Minimum Tax without Global Impact: Examining the OECD’s Pillar 2 and its Potential Impacts on Illicit Financial Flows (2024) published by Afronomics.
• Are the Imposed Principles Standard? A Review of Martin Hearson’s Book titled Imposing Standards: The North-South Dimension to Global Tax Politics (2023) 46:1 Dalhousie Law Journal.
• Nigeria’s Finance Act 2021 and the Digital Tax Framework: Another Attempt to Boil the Ocean? (2022) published by Afronomics.
• Rethinking the Taxation of Demurrage Income in Nigeria, (2018) The Gravitas Review of Business and Property Law.

• Purdy Crawford Fellowship, Schulich Law School
• Best paper at the conference organized by the African International Economic Law Network (June 2023)
• Dalhousie University Faculty of Graduate Studies Scholarship
• Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria Best Performance in International Taxation (2016)
• University Scholar, University of Ilorin (2008 - 2010)