The man Gambari
Born on November 24, 1944, in Ilorin, Kwara State, Prof Ibrahim Gambari, an academic and career diplomat, was Minister for External Affairs between 1984 and 1985. He was the ninth foreign or external affairs minister, succeeding Chief Emeka Anyaoku, who later held sway at the Commonwealth as its Secretary-General.
Prof Gambari was appointed Nigerian Ambassador to the United Nations, where he held sway for nine years from 1990 to 1999. In 1999, he became President, United Nations’ Children’s Fund (UNICEF) . He was Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Special Adviser on Africa from 1999 to 2005 and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations for Political Affairs from 2005 to 2007.
Gambari is a blue blood of Ilorin Emirate of the Fulani ruling class family. His nephew, Ibrahim Sulu Gambari, is the Emir of Illorin.
He attended the prestigious King’s College, Lagos before proceeding to the famous London School of Economics where he obtained a Bachelor of Science (B. Sc.) degree in Economics in 1968 with specialisation in International Relations. He later obtained his Masters degree (M.A.) in 1970 and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph. D.) degree in Political Science /International Relations in 1974 from Columbia University, New York, United States (US).
While adding to his degrees at the Ivory Tower, Prof Gambari began his teaching career in 1969 at City University of New York before working at University of Albany. He taught at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), in Zaria, Kaduna State. From 1986 to 1989, he was Visiting Professor at three universities in Washington, D.C. They were Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Georgetown University and Howard University. He was also a research fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington D.C. and a Resident Scholar at the Bellagio Study and Conference Center, the Rockefeller Foundation-run center, in Italy.
His Diplomatic career as the Minister for External Affairs between 1984 and 1985 under General Buhari’s military regime and his sojourn as Nigeria’s longest serving ambassador, made him to serve under five Heads of State and Presidents.
Prof Gambari is the co-chair of the Albright-Gambari Commission and member of the Johns Hopkins University’s Society of Scholars. He was decorated with the title of Commander of the Federal Republic (CFR) by the Government of Nigeria and accorded, honoris causa, the title of Doctor of Humane Letters (D.Hum.Litt.) from the University of Bridgeport. On March 4, 2013, Gambari was named by the then Governor of Kwara Abdulfatah Ahmad as the Chancellor of the Kwara State University.