Oluchi Chibuzor
The Head of Department, History and International Studies, Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo, Prof. Adewunmi Falode, has said the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) simulation event introduced by the department was aimed at producing talented and young diplomats with requisite skills.
According to Folode, who was also the Chief Host of the event, this year’s event was practically targeted at catching young diplomats and exposing them with the same intensity that nations put in diplomacy that plays out at the UNGA.
He disclosed this yesterday in Lagos, as over 400 first year students gather for a simulation UNGA event and made presentations on the countries they were representing.
According to him, “This kind of programme will let the government know that there are young Nigerians that are actually interested in foreign policy-related issues.
“As it is there are lots of conflicts that predates the existence of Nigeria and there are lots of conflicts that have been here before I became a lecturer.
“Our idea is that these young minds when properly groomed and tutored can be the missing link to providing such important solutions to long running world conflicts provided they can actually be given the proper guidance and attention they need.”
Speaking on the significance of the programme to the profession, Falode said LASU was the first university in Nigeria that would be carrying out such kind of simulation on its own.
“This is a departmental programme and is not the university-wide thing as it is. The initiative came from the department, we look around and most of the time, what we teach is theory.
“So, we want our students to feel that thing, the tactical aspect of international diplomacy and that is why we conceived this idea. When we started this programme and they entered into that hall, they assumed the role of the countries they are representing, they are no longer Nigerians, are no longer within Nigeria and are now within the confines of United Nations building or the organisation,” he explained.
He added that through this kind of simulation training, “those with the ambition in the future of becoming diplomats and ambassadors can represent the country on any fora internationally.
“We usually catch them young at 100 level and build that idea into them. Imagine about 400 of them actively taking part. So, those you see that came out to make presentations are the delegates for each country that was adopted by them.
“If you notice they usually start with the language of the country they are representing, that shows their seriousness and devotedness to this event.”
For the coordinator of the LASU-UNGA Simulation programme, Associate Prof. Olawale Lawal, the department saw a gap that needed to be fil for its students.
For him, the message was that teachings on international relations and diplomacy should not just end in the classroom.
He stressed that universities should introduce their students to the practicality of what diplomacy was all about.
According to him, “We have seen globally, where all nations practice diplomacy, inside the UNGA. Doing an UNGA simulation as we are doing now is a gap we saw and needed to close for our students. “This is the third in a series; we did one around 2018, with our Master student and off course we experimented with that.
“We had another two years with our undergraduate students and we are having this today.”
