About Us

The Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN) began participating in Peace Support Operations (PSOs) as far back as 1960 when Nigerian troops were first deployed to restore peace and security in the Republic of Congo (now Democratic Republic of Congo) under the United Nations (UN). The AFN participated in other UN PSOs and also spearheaded the operations of the ECOWAS Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) between 1990 - 2000. Drawing from the lessons from these peace operations, this Centre was established in September 2004 as a Peacekeeping Wing under the Nigerian Army School of Infantry (NASI). In January of 2009, the Centre became semi-autonomous and was renamed the Nigerian Army Peacekeeping Centre. This action was necessitated by the need to focus on the growing requirements for peacekeeping and to provide dedicated pre-deployment training for troops of the NA and sister Services

As the years evolved, the dynamic nature of contemporary UN PSOs revealed some dauting challenges to the successful participation of Troop Contributing Countries (TCCs) particularly in the area of leadership in peacekeeping. In addition, the leading role of Nigeria in the ECOWAS Standby Force arrangement towards ensuring peace and security in West Africa called for more training attention on delivering best peacekeeping practice for West Africa and the Sahel Region. The Centre aggregated these issues and introduced leadership training as a major tranche of its curriculum. The Centre also identified with the leadership roles played by one of the foremost and most recognizable peacekeeping leaders from Nigeria who was also instrumental to the formation of the Centre in 2004. On 29 July 2017, the Centre was aptly renamed Martin Luther Agwai International Leadership and Peacekeeping Centre (MLAILPKC). Since then, MLAILPKC continues to deliver realistic training for operational and tactical level leaders and peacekeepers across Africa