The much awaited day is here as the pioneer Director of the Institute for Peace and Strategic Studies (IPSS), University of Ibadan and Professor of African History, Peace and Conflict Studies, Professor Isaac Olawale Albert is set to receive the West Africa Peace Building Award today 26 March, 2019, in Accra, Ghana.

The erudite professor who holds Africa continent in high esteem and believed strongly that  “a continent like Africa whose modernisation has been such a painful process for the majority of the populace, the continuous re-examination of each and every proposition is at the heart of Afrocentric consciousness.

“Reduced to whether Africans are the origin of their own disconnect from modernity or some extra-African forces, the Africans share the blame to a greater extent. European imperialism cannot solely be blamed for underdeveloped Africa. Such position suffers from Marxist mono-causality. After all, Asia and Latin America equally experienced Euro-American imperialism but over which many Asian and Latin American countries have transcended. The political rascality, the hereditary democracy and permanent presidency that define the African leadership landscape must be uniquely African problems for which we can't blame outsiders.

Nonetheless, 'African solutions to African problems' is not an innocent phrase but a contextually loaded one.”

Professor Olawale Albert is not just an ordinary scholar who contributed to the teaching of African History, Peace and Strategic Studies in Africa but also a mentor to Africans across all the divides of culture and faith. His influence on Peace and Strategic studies in Nigeria is widely acclaimed and his mentorship in the lives of people is worthy of emulation. Albert will be among eminent Africans that will be honored this year by WANEP.

It is on this premise that WANEP has found the great scholar worthy to bag the 2019 award as he has immensely contributed in sustainable peace for humanity both within his country and Africa as a continent.

The WANEP Award is usually given in recognition of the recipient’s contribution to peace practice. The recipient of the award must have acquired 20 years’ experience and their work must transcend their country of birth to at least 5 West Africa states plus other stringent measures.

The inauguration for this year’s award presently taking place today in Ghana with the President of ECOWAS Commission and President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo presiding over the ceremony.