Meet Prof. Dapo Akande, First Black Professor To Be Honoured With A Portrait At St. Peter’s College, Oxford University – TheNigerialawyer

UK-based Nigerian professor of public international law, Dapo
Akande has been honoured with a portrait at St Peter’s College,
Oxford University.

Akande will be the first black professor to stand gallantly in
the halls of the college located in the prestigious and current
world’s number University

The 46-year-old educator has spent most of his adult life
lecturing at great institutions in the United Kingdom

Professor of Public international law, Dapo Akande has been
honoured with a portrait at St. Peter’s College in Oxford
University, United Kingdom, making him the first black professor to
be bestowed such an honour in the college of the prestigious
university.

Akande who is Yamani Fellow at St. Peter’s College and
Co-Director of the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed
Conflict (ELAC) has spent most of his adult life as an educator.
Starting as a part-time lecturer at London School of Economics and
then at Christ’s College and Wolfson College, Cambridge from 1994
to 1998.

From 1998 to 2004, Akande made giant strides as he was lecturer
in law at the University of Nottingham School of Law and University
of Durham. He then moved on to University of Miami School of Law
till 2009, when he Yale Law School as a visiting associate
professor and Robinna Foundation International Fellow.

Not only is he a remarkable educator, he has advised states and
international organizations on matters of international law as well
as advised and assisted counsel, provided expert opinions in cases
before the International Court of Justice, the International
Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, international arbitral tribunals,
WTO and NAFTA Dispute Settlement Panels as well as cases in England
and the United States of America.

Little wonder that Akande, who is currently a professor of
public international law at the Blavatnik School of Government, was
nominated alongside two other colleagues for teaching awards in
2018. The 46-year-old professor was nominated under the most
acclaimed lecturer category.

Read what Facebook user Yomi Layinka had to say about the
brilliant educator below:

The Portrait was created by Catherine Goodman, Artistic Director
of the Royal Drawing School, England.

Interestingly, Akande is an apple who didn’t fall far from its
tree. His father is emeritus Professor Ebenezer Oluwole Akande, who
was the first Chief Medical Director of the University College of
Hospital, Ibadan in 1978 to 1984 and former Dean of the Faculty of
Medicine at University of Ibadan.

Indeed, the Akandes have one hell of a legacy.

How We Nabbed 1,151 High Profile Criminals in One Month-
Police Boss

(An Opening Remarks by Inspector General of Police Mohammed A.
Adamu at Conference of Senior Police Officers in Abuja

I am delighted to welcome participants to the monthly Conference
of strategic police managers drawn from the 12 Zonal Police
Commands, the 36 States of the Federation and the FCT. The constant
engagement of senior police officers occupying strategic
administrative and operational portfolios across the country has
been one of my management traditions.

2. It is my firm believe that, in doing this, we shall be able
to jointly re-evaluate the internal security outline of the country
with a view to assessing which strategies have produced desired
outcomes and those that need to be tinkered with to meet national
policing requirements.

3. I am again pleased to note that the national crime profile of
the country continues to decline in relation to the previous
quarters. This trend is indicative of the effectiveness of our
policing strategies which are based on community partnership
practices, application of cutting-edge policing technologies and
crime management solutions, the engagement and integration of
intelligence-led policing standards to our functions at all
operational and investigative levels, and an enhanced inter-agency
collaboration orientation.

4. In furtherance to these, the trust gap between the citizens
and the Police have been significantly narrowed and the bond to
fight and reclaim our communities from the criminals who are our
common enemies has been strengthened. In addition, the commitment
and capacity of the Nigeria Police to re-dominate the public space
and deny criminals the liberty to manifest their heinous crimes has
been appreciably boosted.

5. In consequence, between August 2019 to date, a total of one
thousand, one hundred and fifty-one (1,151) high profile suspects
have been arrested nationwide. This includes four hundred and
seventy (470) armed robbery suspects; two hundred and sixteen (216)
kidnap suspects; three hundred and thirty-five (335) suspected
cultists, and one hundred and thirty (130) murder suspects.

6. Furthermore, two hundred and twenty-eight (228) firearms of
various descriptions and calibre were recovered in various police
operations across the country within the same period. Aside this,
two hundred and thirty-one (231) kidnapped victims have been safely
rescued and reunited with their families while seventy-five (75)
stolen vehicles were also recovered from criminal elements.

7. We are challenged by these achievements to sustain our tempo.
This calls for constant re-evaluation of the dynamics of crime and
the re-alignment of our strategies accordingly. In so doing, I am
to note that there are still some security challenges which
currently require our professional attention and which will
constitute part of our discourse during this Conference. In this
context, I encourage you all not to relent, but to roll up your
sleeves with renewed vigour in the fight against crimes in the
country.

8. The Nigeria Police under our watch, will not only continually
emplace strategies that are potent enough to deal with the emerging
trends of crime, we are determined to attain this mandate within
the dictates of rule of law, uncompromising respect for human
rights, and best global policing practices. In this regard, it will
be recalled that I have at various fora confirmed our determination
to adopt less-lethal approaches and equipment in our policing
duties. This is with the intention of ensuring that the sacred
lives of the citizens whom we swore to serve and protect are not
endangered in the line of our duties.

9. It is in furtherance to this that I initiated actions towards
the acquisition and deployment of electro-muscular disruption
technology-based weaponry which is commonly known as Taser or Stun
Guns for low-risk police operations. This is with the intention of
addressing public concerns on misuse of firearms by the Police with
its attendant consequences on lives and effect on the attainment of
our community policing vision.

10. In addition, special trainings are being organised for the
Special Units of the Police including the Police Mobile Force,
Special Forces, Counter-Terrorism Unit, Anti-Robbery detachments,
Anti-Kidnapping Squads and the Criminal Investigation Operatives.
This is with the intention of equipping them with the right
orientation for policing in the 21st Century and to align their
operations within the expectations of the law and the citizens.

11. In order to situate our vision in this regard to the
standards of democratic policing, which is hinged on the protection
of fundamental human rights, it is considered expedient that Force
Order 237 which defines our Rules of Engagement (RoE) be reviewed,
standardised and simplified.

12. I am delighted to announce that with the support of our
local and internal partners, we have successfully completed the
process of reviewing the document and today, we shall be formally
launching the Revised Force Order 237 (RFO) which is not only
comprehensive and modernised but simplified for ease of
comprehension by all members of the Force. The launch of the first
two thousand (2,000) copies of the document will be undertaken in
the course of this meeting.

13. We are immensely grateful to the International Committee of
the Red Cross (ICRC), United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
(UNODC), the Swiss Government, the National Human Rights Commission
(NHRC) and AIG Austin Iwar (rtd) among others who collaborated with
the Nigeria Police towards achieving this feat.

14. The upcoming elections in Kogi and Bayelsa States will again
put our professionalism and doggedness to test. Let me seize this
opportunity to assure all citizens and stakeholders, including the
international community of our determination to work with the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in creating
conducive and enabling environment that will guarantee the peaceful
conduct of the elections.

15. While assuring law abiding citizens and stakeholders of
their safety during the elections, let me warn all political actors
who may want to adopt undemocratic and illegal means to achieve
their aspirations to bury such thoughts now or be prepared to face
the consequences, as they will be identified, isolated and made to
face the wrath of the law.

16. Therefore, parents and guardians are strongly advised to
caution their children and wards not to allow themselves to be used
to undermine the democratic process in the two States. Politics is
a game and it should be driven by service-orientation, patriotism,
and overriding national security interest rather than unrestrained
narrow and desperate individual considerations. All political
actors and stakeholders are, accordingly, admonished to play the
political game in accordance with the law and democratic norms.

17. The year is gradually running down and as the lead internal
security agency, I must remind you all of your critical role in
projecting and strengthening the security architecture in your
Commands towards ensuring that anticipated security threats are
prevented in the most professional manner.

18. While this shall form part of our discussion at this
meeting, my charge to you is to return to your Commands and evolve
strategies and implementation plans that will be based on the broad
framework to be reviewed here today and submit your End of the Year
Security Operational Plans to my Office through the Deputy
Inspector General of Police in-charge of Operations. To complement
your efforts, I can assure that we shall soon re-launch and deploy
new fleet of patrol vehicles under the Safer Highway Scheme to
highways and other identified vulnerable points in your
Commands.

19. Overall, I am encouraged by your commitment to duty and your
determination to align with my leadership vision in relation to the
adoption of community-led and intelligence-driven policing
standards in the attainment of our internal security mandate. The
idea is directed at preventing crime before it is manifested or
developing and deploying our unique capacity to detect and mitigate
such should they become manifest.

20. In this regard, I recognise and commend the commitment of
the Commissioners of Police in Katsina, Zamfara, Kano, Niger and
Kaduna States who have been providing quality professional
leadership and making great sacrifices for their commands in the
war against bandits, kidnappers and other heinous criminals. There
efforts have stabilised the security situation in their Commands to
a commendable level.

21. I also, particularly, commend the efforts of the
Commissioner of Police, Edo State Command, CP Danmallam Mohammed
and the State Anti Kidnapping Squad for their professionalism,
dedication to duty and for imbibing the doctrines and practice of
intelligence-led policing. CP Danmallam has been exceptional in his
ability to key into our policing vision of utilising actionable
technical intelligence towards preventing and cracking several
high-profile crimes in his Command. Through this, he has succeeded
in proactively arresting several terror elements, kidnappers and
armed robbery syndicates with significant recovery of firearms.

22. I encourage you all to use this forum to undertake
professional peer review and draw on the strategies and experiences
of these officers towards strengthening your operational
efficiency. This represents the major objective of a forum of this
nature.

23. On our part, we shall continue to provide the requisite
guidance, logistics, broad strategies, and other forms of
professional support that will motivate you and your personnel to
sustain your sense of commitment to duty. It is in furtherance to
this that we have approved the establishment of a Nigeria Police
Skills Acquisition Centre (SAC) in Kaduna State to equip serving
and retiring officers with vocational and business skills they can
utilise in their post-service lives. I can assure that more
welfare-oriented policies shall be emplaced in due course with a
view to addressing concerns that distract serving personnel from
optimal professional service delivery.

24. Let me conclude by expressing my deep appreciation to the
citizens of this country for their relentless support, trust,
encouragement and cooperation. There is no doubt that as we
continue to join hands together as a formidable team in confronting
our common enemies, victory is assured against those who are bent
on assaulting our cherished tradition of peace.

IG Mohammed A. Adamu
Inspector General of Police