 He was Regents Lecturer at the University of California, Los Angeles, US in 1979, Professor of Political Science at the University of Lagos, from 1983 until 1985, and Visiting Fellow, St John's College, Cambridge, England in 1984.Akinyemi was Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) from 1975 until 1983.The NIIA is an organisation focusing on Nigerian foreign policy; while he was Director-General, it was involved in promoting Nigerian-Angolan relations, among other things.