By Mike Adeyemi
The Registrar of Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Isiaq Oloyede has stated that for peace to reign in the country, the Federal Government must fight corruption.
Oloyede stated this yesterday at the Auditorium Hall, University of Ilorin, during a public lecture titled, ‘Opportunities and challenges for peace scholars in a conflict-ridden environment,’ and organised by the Centre for Peace and Strategic Studies of the institution.
According to him, where there is scarcity, there will always be conflict.
Oloyede condemned leaders who amassed wealth to themselves without recourse to psychosis.
“I think they are sick for amassing wealth to themselves at the detriment of the masses. When many people are bad, it is better to have a sane one.
“Why we address the issue of population and issue of poor parenting, we should also look at the issue of our increasing resources and probably for the better management of our resources.”
Speaking further, Oloyede said, “there is no way we can ensure peace without addressing corruption, because the little we have will be judiciously and evenly used for the generality of the country instead of a few milking our common patrimony.
Oloyede however used the medium to charge the traditional rulers present to ensure peaceful co-existence in their communities. He cautioned the monarchs against offering chieftaincy titles to people with questionable character.
Speaking, the Guest Speaker, Barr. Olaolu Ali (SAN), said the history of the world has been filled with conflicts of various forms, ranging from Greek and Persian, Assyrian and Scythians.
He added that for the past 3,400 years, humans have been entirely at peace for only 268 years or just 8 per cent of the recorded history.
“Conflict happens, it is inevitable. It is going to happen whenever you have people with different expectations and aspirations. This makes conflict management critical, but conflicts can be resolved by applying a series of thoughtfully applied tools”, he said.
The legal practitioner added that in order to resolve a conflict, we must first understand the conflict, ensure an effective communication, patience, perseverance and interest-based relational approach.
He however charged Nigerians to always be a peace advocate, promoters and purveyors of peace in their various endeavour.
Earlier, the Vice Chancellor of University of Ilorin, Prof. Sulyman Age Abdulkareem, said, “We are proud of Prof Oloyede’s honesty, vision, commitment and patriotism to our nation.
“Your tenure and legacy as Vice Chancellor of this Better by Far university will continue to linger in the history of this institution.”
Speaking on behalf of Olofa of Offa, the Ojomu of Offa, Chief Bayo Akinola appreciated the institution for its pace setting role in impacting on the society through public lectures and sensitisation.
Similarly, the Director, Centre for Peace and Strategic Studies, Prof. Noah Yusuf said the centre is to focused on promoting understanding that would engender peace across the globe.
He charged the royal fathers who are the custodians of culture and value to take the issue of conflict resolution paramount.
