As part of efforts to provide solutions to security challenges confronting the country, the management of Al- Hikmah University, Ilorin, Kwara State plans to include military personnel and other security agencies in its peace and conflict management capacity building programmes.

The vice chancellor of the university, Prof. Noah Yusuf announced this yesterday during the opening ceremony of the 2nd Peace and Conflict Management Retreat of the institution’s Centre for Peace and Security Studies in Ilorin, Kwara State.

Representatives of the Nigerian Army, the police and other security agencies attended the event.

The vice chancellor said the programme was designed to provide solutions to the challenges confronting the country, adding that from 2025 personnel of the military and other security agencies will be incorporated into the programme.

Yusuf said that the university will make the recommendations of the retreat available to relevant security agencies to help them in their onerous task of securing the nation.

“We are to provide solutions to our challenges. We shall make our recommendations available to relevant security agencies at the end of this retreat. No country is immune to challenges, but each country adopts resources available at its disposal to solve such challenges. We will take this Centre to a standard that will compel other countries to approach it for solutions to their challenges,” Yusuf said.

In his remarks, the deputy vice chancellor, Prof. Ganiyu Akasoro, urged eminent Nigerians, including the security agents to enrol in the centre to study peace and security management.

Citing the example of the inspector-general of Police, Mr Kayode Egbetokun who recently bagged his PhD degree from the university, Akasoro explained that,” the security agents need to combine theory with their practical training for them to excel in their task of securing the nation.”

Earlier, the acting director of the centre, Dr Adekola AbdulAzeez Alao, said the retreat was part of the practical studies and experience that the centre gives its students.

He said the centre has extended the peace, conflict and security training beyond the postgraduate students to interested senior security officers as a way of increasing their skills, capacity and professional experience in peace and security management.