The Rotary International District 9111, in collaboration with Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago-Iwoye, has awarded certificates to the pioneer set of students who participated in a three-month Certification Course in Peacebuilding, Conflict Resolution and Security Studies at the University. The successful students, numbering 55, formed the first and second cohorts of the programme sponsored by Rotary.
At the graduation ceremony held on Friday, 23rd May, 2025 at the Adebola Adegunwa Hall, Main Campus, Ago-Iwoye, the students were implored to imbibe the object of Rotary, foster its ideal of service and act with integrity and high ethical standards in their personal and professional lives.
As part of efforts to engender peace and promote harmonious existence in the society, the foremost international club also announced its plan to build what would be known as the “Rotary Peace Centre” at the University.
In his address, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Ayodeji Agboola, commended Rotary for partnering with the University to create an environment that encourages dialogue, mutual respect and cooperation, thereby contributing to the development of a more peaceful and cohesive society.
Prof. Agboola, who posited that conflict is inevitable in any human society, advocated conflict resolution measures that often help nip misunderstanding in the bud, adding that the certification course being sponsored by Rotary had greatly detailed several approaches to peacebuilding and security management. “As long as human beings coexist, we will continue to have conflict. But how we resolve our conflict is what matters. I’m happy that with this programme, you have been able to educate so many people on how you can resolve conflict without necessarily getting to police station, or court,” the Vice-Chancellor said.
Prof. Agboola expressed appreciation to the Rotary International District 9111 for coming up with the idea of establishing a Peace Centre in the University, saying the project will provide a platform for research, education and community engagement on peace building.
Giving insight into the certification course, the outgoing District 9111 Governor, Rotarian (Dr.) Oluwole Kukoyi, who had earlier led a delegation of Rotarians on a courtesy visit to the Vice-Chancellor in his office, said the programme was conceived as an initiative to domesticate the Rotary International Peace Fellowship for communities, thereby building peace and preventing conflicts from the grassroots. Kukoyi stressed the imperative of peacebuilding efforts by promoting education and cultural exchange, empowering youths as peacebuilders, supporting conflict resolution initiatives and fostering inclusive communities.
He said, “Rotary believes so much in peace and in actual fact, it’s one of our key areas. That is why on assumption of duty as the District Governor, I envisioned a programme that would build capacity for Nigerians in terms of ensuring that we have peace in our communities.”
“Following the example of the International Peace Fellowship programme that we have in Rotary, I thought we can domesticate that programme by having our own and when that was envisioned, there was no other University we could partner with than Olabisi Onabanjo University.”
The District Governor assured that the partnership between Rotary and OOU would bring “greater dividends” to the University. He further said, “Rotary is an international organisation. Everything that we do is dictated by the core values of discipline, trust, fellowship and leadership. Currently, our members are over 1.4 million all over the world in over 220 countries.”
“In our District, we have 75 clubs but all over the world, we have 46,000 clubs. That tells you that the Rotary world is a very big one and we will continue to make it bigger.”
In his welcome address at the graduation ceremony, the Chairman, Peace and Conflict Preventions Committee of the Rotary District 9111, Rotarian (Dr.) Isaac Bankole, disclosed that 55 participants satisfied the conditions set for graduation in the certification course. These included 19 successful participants in the first cohort and their 36 counterparts in the second cohort. He explained that the first cohort received 78 applications out of which only 30 were successfully screened, with orientation ceremony conducted for them and lectures commencing on the 13th of December, 2024. He added that the second cohort received 302 applications but only 50 were successfully admitted into the programme which ran from 22nd of February to 3rd of May, 2025.
“The rationale for this course was the development of analytical and theoretical skills to understand the origins of conflict, approaches to peacebuilding and security management, and the different theoretical traditions that underpin the field,” Dr. Bankole stated.
He noted that the Nigerian society has continued to face growing threats from different dimensions of crime and violent conflicts, putting the country on the red list of strife, intra and inter-communalclashes, farmer-herder’s conflicts and inter and intra-religious crises.
“These multifaceted challenges have undoubtedly stretched existing conflict resolution and security agencies in the country beyond their effective functional capacity. Consequently, a greater level of security awareness, training on peacebuilding, mediation, conflict resolution, disaster relief and humanitarian outreach were required to contain the crises that result from the country’s security upheavals,” he added.
The committee chairman expressed satisfaction with the way and manner the certification course was being handled by the Programme Coordinator and Director of Research at OOU, Prof. Richard Aborisade, and the Director of Business School in the University, Prof. Bamidele Ilo, as well as other facilitators on the team.
