NAN-DS-6
Security
By Modupe Seriboh
Ibadan, Oct. 11, 2016 (NAN) The Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Prof. Idowu Olayinka, on Tuesday, said that the institution could lead the way in tackling the myriads of challenges confronting African states.
Olayinka spoke at the opening of a three-day conference organised by the Institute for Peace and Strategic Studies of the university.
The theme of the conference is “ Nigeria’s New Security Threats: Patterns, Implications and Management.’’
The vice chancellor said that the university remains focused on advancing academic leadership that could provide solutions to the problems confronting African states and Nigeria in particular.
Nigeria, he said, was confronted with several challenges that require urgent and pragmatic approaches, adding that scholars, through research, were expected to provide the lead way to finding solutions.
He said that the university was noted for its contributions to solving many challenges facing the country in the past through some of its researches.
Olayinka cited some of the new security challenges threatening the peace and corporate existence of the Nigerian state as the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East Zone and the re-emergence of militancy in the Niger Delta region.
Others, he said, included the prevalence of kidnapping in the South-East Zone and the South-South as well as the conflict between farmers and herders.
“I am glad that these and many more are what this conference intends to provide scholarly solutions to.
“The attendant human security implications are hunger, thirst and desperate need for safety and security.
“We must remember that it is in the quest to destroy knowledge that Boko Haram has killed thousands and displaced millions as either IDPs or refugees.
“I sincerely look forward to this conference providing documented policy framework that can help mitigate future occurrence of some of the situations dragging African states to situations of uncertainty and high security, ” he said. (NAN)
MAM/OJO
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(Edited and controlled by Mufutau Ojo)