Professor Bakut tswah Bakut, a Professor of International Relations and African Studies, is the current Director-General of the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR), Abuja and therefore the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chief Research Officer and Head of the Secretariat of the IPCR Governing Council. He was also appointed Chairman of the National Peace Committee on 3rd September 2018 and inaugurated by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF). Prior to his appointment as the Director-General, Professor Bakut assumes the responsibility of overseeing the Institute on Acting Capacity on 9th August 2018 until his appointment on 6th May 2019 by the President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR as the Substantive Director-General/CEO of the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution.
Professor Bakut joined the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution on 6th December, 2002 as a Chief Research Officer in the Democracy and Development Directorate until 2005 when he was promoted to Assistant Director. He was appointed Acting Director of the Defence and Security Studies Directorate and made substantive in 2008. He headed the Defence and Security Studies Directorate from 2008 – 2016. Dr. Bakut served as Nigeria’s Focal Point Person for the Zone of Peace for Cooperation of the South Atlantic (ZPSCA) between 2007 and 2010. While heading the Defence and Security Directorate, he also served as the Supervising Director, the Directorate of External Conflict Prevention and Resolution between 2012 and 2014. He was later redeployed to the Directorate of External Conflict Prevention and Resolution as the Director of Research in 2016 where he remained until he assumed the Acting position on 9th August 2018.
Before joining IPCR, he was the Module Leader and Lecturer in International Relations at Trent University, Nottingham, UK, 1994 – 2002; Director, The Nottingham Trent University African Studies Group, UK, 1997 – 1998; and Part-Time Research Associate/Tutor, Urban Programmes Research Group (UPRG), School of Education, University of Nottingham, UK, 1996 – 1998. Between 1996 and 1998, he served as Voluntary Project Coordinator of Nottinghamshire Youth Parliament, Nottingham/CEWC, London; and Part-Time Lecturer at Clarendon (FE) College, Nottingham, UK, 1995 – 1996. Interestingly, Dr. Bakut started his career as Clerical Assistant with the Federal Pay Office, Federal Ministry of Finance, Sokoto, 1979 – 1982; Bookshop Officer of Usman Danfodio University Bookshop Ltd, Sokoto, 1982 – 1986; and thereafter as the Purchasing Officer, Petrochemical Sector, Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), Kaduna between 1988 and 1989.
A Seasoned Scholar, Professor Bakut was a Nominee for the British International Studies Association (BISA) Best Thesis for the year 2000 where he emerged Second Position. An author and editor of many Book Chapters, Journals, Articles, Edited/Single Books of which, the Flagship publications are: The Human Quest for Physiological-security: An evaluation of the creation and disintegration of Yugoslavia (2014: Saarbrucken/Germany) Scholars’ Press; African at the Millennium: An agenda for mature development edited with Sagarika Dutt published (2000: London) Palgrave; Election Conflict Management: Lessons from the 2015 General Elections in Nigeria et al edited & published (2018: Abuja), Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution; The African Union, Democracy, Peace and Conflict Management et al edited & published (2019: Abuja), Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution and Nigeria Peace Initiatives et al edited & published (2019: Abuja), Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution and numerous book chapters and Journal Articles to his credit as well as books endorsement.
Professor Bakut was invited to the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in International Relations from Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, United Kingdom (UK) in June 2000; PGCE in Post Compulsory Education and Training (PCET), University of Greenwich, Greenwich, London, UK in July 1999; and his MA in International Relations from University of Kent at Canterbury, Kent, UK in September 1993. He holds a Diploma in International Relations from the University of Kent at Canterbury, Kent, UK, 1992 after his National Diploma from Kaduna Polytechnic in 1989.