Credit: CLARE DAMISSAH

Your Appointment Well Deserved, ASURI Tells New IPCR DG Ochogwu. The recent appointment of Dr. Joseph Ochogwu as the Director General/Chief Executive Officer of the Institute of Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR), Abuja, has been described as merited and well-deserved.
Making the assertion in Abuja through a congratulatory message to the new Chief Executive, the Academic Staff Union of Research Institutions (ASURI) eulogized him as an experienced peace and conflict resolution expert well-suited for the job.

In the message, signed by the Secretary General of ASURI, Professor Theophilus Ndubuaku, the union says, “Your over 20 years’ expertise and multi-disciplinary peace and conflict resolution experience in social integration and sector-specific skills in policy formulation confirms you as the best man for the job.”

ASURI noted that the experience garnered by Dr. Ochogwu as a Presidential aide had prepared him adequately for the new assignment. “Apart from towering so high as a Researcher, your exploits on the field of practical experience as Special Assistant, Socio-Political Development/Foreign Affairs while on secondment from IPCR to the Office of the Chief of Staff to Mr. President speaks volumes about your assiduity and malleability. It is on record that, among other things, you provided policy briefs outstandingly for the Chief of Staff to the President for his consideration.”

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The union told the Director General: “We have no doubt, therefore, that while piloting the affairs of IPCR, you will bring to bear your skill in peace building strategies that involve the use of methodologies to peaceful co-existence, conflict resolution, retraining and capacity building tools development,” adding, “We also trust that your tenure will create friendlier Management-Labour relations towards engendering friction-free industrial atmosphere at IPCR.”

Speaking through two of his aides from ASURI Secretariat – Comrades Toye Fawole and Nosa Ogbomo – in presenting the congratulatory card, Professor Ndubuaku said the union was optimistic that with Dr. Ochogwu in the saddle, the dark days of the IPCR Management-Labour mudslinging which drew IPCR to the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment and attracted negative media publicity had become a thing of the past.

He said the union was upbeat that Dr. Ochogwu was not only a home-grown Chief Executive in line with the Conditions of Service for Federal Research and Development Agencies, Institutes and Colleges (COS 2019) but also very qualified as the best among equals.

Responding, the Director General said he had already taken steps to ensure that IPCR was not a peace and conflict resolution agency in name only but also in practice, adding that the first thing he did was to call a meeting of all staff to mend fences and heal wounds.

He noted that the situation of mutual mistrust among the staff which he inherited was such that no one would leave unfinished drinking water on his table, go out and return to continue drinking same.

Dr. Ochogwu said the peace effort was already yielding good result, adding that the Institute, an agency under the supervision of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is now poised to fulfill its mandate and vision of being Africa’s hub for policy-relevant research and capacity building in peace and conflict management strategies and interventions.
He expressed the desire to collaborate not only with ASURI but also the entire labour movement through Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to deliver programmes that will make life better for Nigerian workers.

R&D Watch has it on good account that during the heat of the ASURI’s disagreement with the immediate past DG, Dr. Bakut Tswah Bakut, the union petitioned the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Hon. Minister of Labour and Employment, as well as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, calling for the removal of the Chief Executive on the grounds of serial and sustained harassment and intimidation of its (the union’s) officials at the Institute.

In the letter, dated 6th April 2022, with Reference No. ASN/SGF/IPCR/0422/01, ASURI wrote: “As major stakeholders in the well-being and progress of the Research and Development Institutes (RDIs) sector of the economy, ASURI makes bold to state that unless the present Chief Executive of IPCR is removed with immediate effect or cautioned by the Federal Government, he will not only rupture industrial harmony in the sector but also cause a serious embarrassment to the President Muhammadu Buhari Administration with his zero tolerance to unionism, which is a fundamental human right as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

The union’s letter, signed by its Secretary General, said: “It is our candid view that Dr. Bakut is too crude to continue to lead IPCR, an elite Research Institute with the mandate for conflict resolution and with international outlook. At a time like this when the nation is embroiled in all sorts of conflicts, Dr. Bakut is not being heard proffering any solution but he is busy harassing harmless labour union officials. He is such an embarrassment to both the position he occupies and the President Muhammadu Buhari Administration. Just a few years ago, this same union stood for him when he had problems with his Chief Executive.”

Introducing the ASURI delegation, the Chairman of ASURI IPCR Branch, Comrade (Dr.) Dele Akangbe, described the Chief Executive as a trust-worthy Comrade DG, adding that the few months he had spent in office had shown that the Institute was now better positioned to fulfill its mandate.