Dr Garuba Dauda is Director of the CDD.

He has African-wide experience in academic and development policy research and advocacy, development programme design and management, technical advisory, capacity building, mentorship and grant-making on questions of democratic and economic governance, natural resource management, transparency and social accountability, public policy administration and reforms, conflict prevention, peacebuilding and security transformation (including security sector reform). He is widely published in local and international research outlets. His network of contacts cut across local, national, sub-regional and continental spheres.

He has previously worked as Senior Programme Officer at CDD (2003 to 2008), Nigeria Officer at the Natural Resource Governance Institute (2015 - 2017), technical adviser and senior consultant at the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (2017 - 2021) and an independent researcher prior to his appointment as CDD Director in 2024. 

He holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in History from the University of Ilorin. He has a Masters in Political Science, as well as a Doctorate in Political Science, with a specialisation in International Relations, both from the University of Benin, Nigeria.