Jeph Bisi

The Abuja Leadership Centre (ALC) at the University of Abuja on Thursday awarded Doctoral Degrees in Public Governance and Leadership to a senior Nigerian Army officer, Brigadier General Ime Okon Bassey, and four candidates, and a Master’s Degree to another.

The academic award is granted following the successful defense of their theses and dissertation on July 17, 2025, at the Centre.

The ALC instituted at the University of Abuja is a TETFund Centre of Excellence in Public Governance and Leadership, which seeks to enhance public governance and leadership across Nigeria and beyond.

Besides Brigadier General Bassey, who is renowned for participating in the nation’s fight against insurgency and held a key position within the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF), other recipients of doctoral degrees in Public Governance and Leadership include Franklyn Ginger-Eke, Tanko Audu Danlami, Okunlola Sukanmi Kolapo, and Agba Martha Utsunung.
Similarly, Joseph Umaru Philip was awarded a Master’s degree in the same discipline.

Speaking after the event, the Deputy Dean, Post Graduate School, University of Abuja, Prof. Rafat Abdulhamid, congratulated the recipients of the award and tasked them to give good account of themselves in the larger society by being good ambassadors of the Center and the university by extension.

Prof. Abdulhamid expressed excitement at the progress made in recent times at ALC under the leadership of Prof. Philip Dahida, describing his efforts at improving the Center as exceptional and a delight to the Post Graduate School. While commending Prof. Dahida for initiating programmes to reposition academic activities at the Center.

She noted that given the rate at which the Director of ALC (Prof. Dahida) and his team are going, the Center will surely record great achievements within the shortest possible time, adding that the knowledge imparted to doctoral and master’s candidates remains a vital route for improving governance, leadership, and public policies in the nation.

“We are proud of this leadership center because of the way things are going, the Post Graduate school is particularly interested in this center because of the calibre of people who come to the Center hold several leadership positions, so we are cautious because they will be showcasing the university in a good light, and that is our anticipation.

“What is being done here is generally how we can have better administration, good policies, and good leaders. Students are engaging in research, and we sincerely believe that governance in Nigeria is greatly impacted by our efforts. The government of Nigeria will have something to hold in terms of policy and change in the entire leadership approach from the knowledge people are acquiring from ALC.

“On behalf of the Post Graduate school, we want to encourage him (Prof. Dahida) to continue with his great initiatives, the university is proud of his efforts,” Prof. Abdulhamid stated.

Reacting to the academic milestone, Brigadier General Bassey thanked ALC for equipping him with further knowledge and vowed to avail the exposure gained in the fight against insurgency. He disclosed that following findings from the research carried out in the course of the doctoral programme he will be advocating that Nigeria applies more non-kinetic approaches in the fight against insurgency.

“The military has done well in the fight against terrorism, but what is needed now is to increase the line of non-kinetic approaches and operations in the fight against insurgency so that we can stabilise what the military has done. And non-kinetic operations involve community engagements, reconstruction of damaged facilities and civil-military relations; so people who were displaced by insurgency will have a better life.

“I will use what ii have learnt from this research to speak up for more non-kinetic lines of operations so that we can stabilise whatever achievement the personnel have gained using military operations and complement it with non-kinetic operations.

“A PhD is one milestone in everyone’s life, and I want to thank the Center for putting us through to this stage. The knowledge gained from my research will be used to impact the nation, especially in the area of fighting insurgency,” Brigadier General Bassey assured.

On her part, another doctoral degree awardee, Agba Martha Utsunung, vowed to embark on a vigorous enlightenment and campaign for more women’s inclusion in governance and public leadership following the knowledge gained.

Agba lamented the failure of the system to respect affirmative action for women and stressed that more women coming out to participate will increase their chances to change the current narrative of poor women’s representation in public offices and elective positions.

Her words: “The doctoral degree award is not just about the award but about how I will use it to impact society, especially since my thesis had to do with affirmative action and women in Nigeria. So this is a wake-up call for me to get up and contribute my quota, looking at my findings and how to see that we have more women in elective positions and support them in various capacities.

“I aim to share knowledge with other women who probably have their challenges to see how we can develop documents and policies and have engagements whereby we can hold those in positions of authority to account to ensure that whatever we say is not just on paper but implemented in the long run.

“I will start my advocacy from the grassroots and also at the federal level. You know Local government is the first handshake of people in governance, I can contribute my quota at the centre but most importantly I will go back home and empower women out there with the same knowledge I have gained, to groom more people because that is where we have people who need more enlightenment on political participation and governance,” she averred.

Share on Facebook

Tweet

Follow us

Share

Share

Share

Share

Share