Campus News

CPSS and the UNILORIN ideals

Since its inception in 2008, and especially in recent times, the University of Ilorin Centre for Peace and Strategic Studies (CPSS) has been in the vanguards of the organs of the University promoting the ideals and values envisioned by the founding fathers of the Better by far institution.

The Centre, established to train world-class manpower in the fields of peace, development, and strategic studies, is currently headed by the charismatic Professor of History and International Studies, its seventh Director, AbdulGaniyu Ibrahim Jawondo. It has done a great lot to expound the community service leg of the tripodal core mandates of the University while not neglecting the two other critical mandates of teaching and research. Before Jawondo, the Centre had been previously headed by Prof. Isaac Olawale Albert, Prof. Felicia Olabisi A. Olasehinde-Williams, Prof. Joseph Odekunle Fayeye, Prof. Mahfouz Adebola Adedimeji, Prof. Noah Yusuf, and Prof. Oyeronke Olademo.

More than any other Centre, the CPSS has facilitated the achievement of a seamless town and gown relationship, contributing immensely to the excellent image and fantastic national reputation being enjoyed by the University.

Established under the visionary vice-chancellorship of Professor Emeritus Is’haq Oloyede, CON, the CPSS has relentlessly pushed the execution of the University’s community service mandate in many ways, including  public lecture series with their attendant impact on public policy formulation or/and redirection, initiation of several Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with reputable governmental and nongovernmental agencies, contributing to the  training and retraining of top military and para-military brass hats as well as other national security policy stakeholders in the public and private sectors.

One of the ways by which the Centre has been promoting the ideals of the University, especially the Vision 1: 10: 500 of the Prof. Wahab Egbewole Administration, is the hosting of periodic Public Lectures during which national issues, especially those bordering on internal security, are thoroughly  dissected and practical  suggestions proffered for seamless way-forward. In 2024, specifically on September 24, the CPSS Distinguished Public Lecture, titled “The Roles and Contributions of the Nigerian Army to National Development”, was delivered by the late Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, represented by the Chief of Training, Army, Maj. Gen. Sanni Mohammed. With those lectures, handled by eminent experts in various crucial sectors of the nation’s polity, the Centre has immensely contributed to furthering national development, thereby putting an unmistakable stamp of credence on the well-acknowledged relevance of the University of Ilorin in national affairs.

Last week’s Distinguished Personality Lecture organised by the Centre was in a class of its own. It was not one of your run-of-the-mill events.  Not just a lecture “to fulfill all righteousness,” neither was it “a lecture for lecture sake”. It was an event whose conception, delivery, and impact touched on the very rubrics of the very ideals that UNILORIN, nay any university that is worth its salt, should normally espouse, i.e. the third leg of the university core mandates — community service. Indeed, the Public Lecture series, organised by the CPSS, are to formulate new theories and practices in peace education for the general public.

Delivered by the Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Mr Oluwatosin Adeola Ajayi, represented by Assistant Director-General of Intelligence, Mr. Patrick Ikenweiwe, the 2025 Distinguished Personality Lecture, was, indeed, a veritable security policy statement, which underscored the need for massive stakeholders’ support for the DSS in its concerted efforts to enhance national internal security.

In the lecture, titled “The Role of the DSS in Security, Peacekeeping, and National Integration”, the DSS boss lamented the current perception of security and intelligence organisations as enemies rather than friends, saying that this must be addressed, as it affects the quality and quantity of intelligence shared, with its deleterious effects on  peace building and national integration.

To address this and other challenges facing security agencies in the country, Mr Ajayi called for the re-orientation of the citizens on the roles of intelligence agencies and a review of their recruitment and staffing processes. He also urged stakeholders to increase their support for the DSS, particularly in terms of funding and valuing the intelligence outputs provided to them.

In his welcome address, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Prof. Wahab Olasupo Egbewole, SAN, commended the Department of State Services (DSS) for its significant contributions to national security.

 The Director of the CPSS, Prof. Jawondo, fspsp, in his opening remarks, said that the Centre and the DSS have had longstanding and symbiotic relationship, adding that the Centre regularly admits and graduates DSS personnel and supports the National Institute for Security Studies, Abuja, through affiliation.

                In a goodwill message, posted on a popular and authoritative UNILORIN WhatsApp group platform, the Director of the Centre for Ilorin Studies (CILS), another University organ for promoting town and gown relationship, Prof. Issa Olarongbe Sanusi, said, “I congratulate our amiable Vice Chancellor for being receptive to programmes that project the good image of the University. Today’s programme is like holding forth for the Federal Government on crucial national issues bothering on security and peaceful coexistence. Kudos to our dynamic Director, Prof. Jawondo, for his effective mobilisation strategies.”

The Centre for Peace and Strategic Studies initiated its Annual Distinguished Personality Lecture on its 10th anniversary in 2018. The maiden edition was delivered by Prof. Yusuf Olaolu Ali, SAN, in April 2018, and he discussed “Opportunities, Challenges, and Prospects of Peace Scholars in a Conflict-ridden Environment.” The second edition was delivered by Prof. Matt Meyer, the then Secretary General, Institute for Peace Research, on April 9th, 2019. The topic of his lecture was “International Trends in Peace Action and Peace Research: South to North and into the Future.”

The 5th CPSS Biennial International Conference was held between 5th and 7th November, 2017, and the lead paper was presented by Engr Mustapha Yunusa Maihaja, the then Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA). The 6th CPSS Biennial International Conference was held between 6th and 9th November, 2019 with the lead paper presented by the late Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State,  who discussed “Domesticating Sustainable Development Goal 16 in Nigeria: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions.”

The Olomu of Omu-Aran,   Oba Abdulraheem Oladele Adeoti, was the Royal Guest Lecturer at the CPSS on 17th December, 2019. The royal father spoke on “The Roles of Traditional Institution in Promoting Peace and Development in Nigeria.”

TOWN & GOWN salutes the CPSS for the fantastic job it is doing in propagating, projecting, and promoting the great UNILORIN ideals. Kudos!