There is no doubt about it that Nigeria’s Society for Peace Studies and Practice, (SPSP) is yet to establish itself in terms of what might be reckoned with as cutting-edge practices. Notwithstanding what its critics regard as its obsession with largely anti-intellectual political elite, it is sometimes able to also pick out potential signifiers of the field and, thus, a promising sphere for that field of study. Its selection of Dr Chris Kwaja, Modibbo Adama University of Technology, Yola’s rising Peace and Security intellectual is generally held to be a good fit illustration of that score.
Not only has Dr Kwaja published, he is a hands-on operative in the key practices and spaces of the field. It has, therefore, not been surprising that his selection for conferment of Fellowship of the SPSP in 2019 met with applause. That was in 2019.
The award could, however, not be conferred on him till February 10th, 2020 because he was lost in a peace related engagement at the United Nations when award ceremony was due. Now, he is a fulfilled awardee carting away his plaque as well as stealing a moment with other thinkers in the realm.
