The Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR) was established in February, 2000, by the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. The Institute is under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The IPCR is primarily a research centre, a think-tank and an agency to strengthen Nigeria's capacity for the promotion of peace, conflict prevention, management and resolution.

Issues and cases of conflict have been on the increase in the developing countries of the world. Africa has been particularly vulnerable to incessant conflicts which, in the past decade, have resulted in unimaginable casualties and human misery, and contributed vastly to the spread of poverty, disease, malnutrition, starvation, socio-economic decline and moral deterioration.

Nigeria has, since independence, played a major role in peace advocacy and conflict resolution, especially in the area of domestic crises where successive governments have fought against potential forces of disintegration. On the international scene, Nigeria has an impressive record of participation in peace-making, peace-building and peace-keeping, the most recent of which are her successful handling of conflict in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Cote d'Ivoire.