By KEMI KASUMU
The 13 shortlisted candidates for the position of new Vice Chancellor of the University of Ilorin may face interview panel today, Tuesday September 6, 2022, if fillers from the “Better by Far” Citadel of Learning are anything to go by.
The DEFENDER, according to an impeccable source from the university, gathered on Monday that the governing council of university, which recently shortlisted candidates for the vice chancellorship position, had fixed between Tuesday 6th and 7th September, 2022 for the interview to take place.
This exercise forms part of the process to pick the next Vice Chancellor as the five-year single term of the incumbent VC, Professor Sulyman Abdulkareem Age, expires in October this year.
Sources close to the committee who sought anonymity, reportedly, confirmed last week Thursday in Ilorin that about 23 candidates had applied for the vice chancellorship position of the institution.
He said that 13 out of the 23 were shortlisted for the interview.
Those shortlisted for interview, according to him, are Professor Wahab Olasupo Egbewole (SAN), Prof. Mohammed Olanrewaju Ibrahim, Prof. Olubunmi Abayomi Omotesho, Prof. Bashiru Ademola Raji, Prof. Ibraheem Ademola Katibi, Prof. Mikhaila Olayinka Buhari and Prof. Ahmad Shehu Abdulsalam.
Others are Prof. Hassan Ajisafe Saliu, Prof. Suleiman Folorunsho Ambali, Prof. Raheem Adebayo Lawal, Prof. AbdulRasaq Akinola Alada, Prof. Baki Toyin Abdulrahim and Prof. Isaac Abiodun Adimula.
The source added that the interview for the 13 shortlisted candidates would start early his week more likely Tuesday 6th and end Wednesday 7th September.
He noted that out of the 13 shortlisted candidates for the interview, three would be presented to the visitor to the institution, President Muhammadu Buhari for consideration.
He, therefore, said that “out of the three candidates presented to the visitor to the institution, one of them will be picked for the plum position of the vice chancellor of the university”.
The DEFENDER reports that University of Ilorin is Nigeria’s public institution of higher learning structured in the days of Professors Wahab Oba, Is-haq Oloyede and AbdulGaniyu Ambali, to earn its glorified status of nation’s most sought university because of its discipline, timeliness in terms of consistency of academic calendar and assurances for parents to plan for the development and life of their children.
Those special qualities that made University of Ilorin stand out for those three tenures, in the past, eroded with the return of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on the “essentially fantastic” institution.
Ability to discover who, among the 13 shortlisted candidates, has capacity and wherewithal to restore the University of Ilorin to its past and improved glory makes the business of determining who becomes the next Vice Chancellor a tall order for both the Governing Council and the Visitor.
The Candidates
1. Prof Olanrewaju Timothy Adedoyin:
Professor of Paediatrics and Child Health since 2011 is a former Dean of the Faculty of Clinical Sciences and presently the Provost of the College of Medicine of the university. He hails from Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara State and he is renowned as a Consultant to World Health Organization/ Federal Ministry of Health on Malaria and the National Programme on Immunization.
2. Engr. Prof. Abdulrahim Abdulbaqi Toyin:
He is a registered Engineer and a Fellow of The Nigerian Society of Engineers (FNSE), a Fellow of the Nigerian Institution of Mechanical Engineers (FNIMechE), a Fellow of Automotive and Locomotive Engineers’ Institute (FAutoEI) and a Fellow of the Institute of Professional Managers and Administrators of Nigeria. He rose to the rank of Professor of Mechanical Engineering (Energy and Thermo-fluid) in 2012. He has served as Acting Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maiduguri. He was a Visiting Associate Professor at the University of Ilorin and also served as Adjunct Professor at the same University. He hails from, Asa Local Government of Kwara State.
3. Hassan Ajisafe Saliu:
Saliu is a Professor of Political Science and he is the current President of the Nigerian Political Science Association (NPSA). He was appointed to the rank of a Professor in 2002 and, has served as Head of Department, Coordinator of Professional Programmes and Dean of Faculty for two terms at the University of Ilorin. He has also served in some important administrative and ad hoc committees such as Senate’s Business Committee, University Estimates Committee, Chairman, and Senate’s Committee on the 2004 Presidential Visitation Panel, among others. He has a robust publication profile – 321 publications- and has delivered one hundred and forty papers across the world. He is also a consultant to some international organisations and the Federal Government of Nigeria.
4. Wahab Egbewole:
Professor Egbewole is an active legal practitioner who reached the pinnacle of the legal profession in 2018 when he was conferred with the coveted rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN. Before then, his erudition benefited legal education and research, especially in the university’s Law Faculty where he served in various capacities including Acting Head of Department, Sub-Dean, Acting Dean of Law, among others. He has also served the university in different roles, notably, his role as the Director, General Studies Division, his membership of the University Senate and member, Governing Council. He was appointed a Professor of Jurisprudence and International Law in 2012. He is from Osun State.
5. Olugbenga O. Mokuolu:
He is a Professor of Paediatrics, since 2011. Mokuolu has a dual-track career development in Malaria and Neonatology. He has served for years as the Technical Director, National Malaria Elimination Programme and has consulted extensively for WHO, RBM, UNICEF and many other organizations providing technical support to various countries on accessing resources for malaria control. He was in 2010 rewarded the prestigious researcher of the year award by the university. Mokuolu is from Ogun State.
6. Abdulraheem Olarongbe Mahmoud:
He is a Consultant Ophthalmologist and Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital. He has vast international experience in ophthalmological practice, training and research and he is a past recipient of the University of llorin Researcher of the Year award. He is reputed to be behind the University of Ilorin’s project on vitreo-retinal surgical research. His experiences is said to help in forging international research collaborations with experts across the world.
7. Professor Raji:
He is a senior soil scientist of repute. A Professor of Soil Science since 2003, is the immediate past President, Soil Science Society of Nigeria. He joined the services of the University of Ilorin in 2012 and served as Chairman, Committee on Computer Base Test and Coordinator of the Department of Forest Resources Management, while on visiting appointment between 2010 and 2012. Prior to this time in ABU Zaria, he had served as Dean, Students Affairs, Director, Academic Planning & Monitoring, Assistant Dean, and HOD, while also participating in many University-based committees among which are the University Senate representative on the Governing Board of National Agricultural Extension Research Liaison Services, ABU, Zaria between 2003 and 2005. He was the second substantive Vice-Chancellor, Fountain University, Osogbo between 2012 and 2016. Raji hails from Offa in Kwara State.
8. Ibraheem Adeola Katibi:
He is a Professor of Medicine and the current Dean of the Faculty of Clinical Sciences. He is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology and Fellow of the International Society for the Epidemiology and prevention of cardiovascular diseases. He is credited with pioneering the establishment of the first electronic database of normal electrocardiograms in any indigenous African population in collaboration with the University of Glasgow. This dovetailed into the successful comparison of this database with British, Chinese and Indian normal ECGs. He rose through the ranks to become a Professor of Medicine in 2011 and had served as in various capacities. He currently doubles as the Research Manager for the Faculty of Clinical Sciences, University of Ilorin and Chairman, Board of survey for the University. At home, in Ilorin, he holds the traditional title of Wazirin Likita of Ilorin.
9. Mikhail Olayinka Buhari:
Prof M. O. Buhari became a Professor of Pathology in 2012. He was at various times a Head of Department, member and chair of various University, College and Faculty Committees. He rose to become the Director of Clinical Affairs and Training of the Hospital in March 2015 and was appointed the Acting Chief Medical Director of the Teaching Hospital on the 18th of March 2018. He held this position till the 19th of June, 2018 when was elected the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research, Technology and Innovations by the Senate of the University of Ilorin.
10. Suleiman Folorunsho Ambali:
Prof Ambali is a Professor of Environmental Toxicology, former Dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Ilorin. He is the Chairman of the University’s Library and Publication Committee and also the Chairman of the Technical Sub-Committee of the Appointment and Promotions Committee. Professor Ambali is not a cousin to another Ambali, the predecessor to the incumbent Vice Chancellor, although both hail from Ilorin.
11. Babatunde Akibu Solagberu:
Prof Solagberu is a Consultant, Orthopedic and Trauma Surgeon at the Lagos State University College of Medicine. He is also a former Dean, Faculty of Clinical Sciences and Head of Department, Surgery. He was appointed the Provost, Lagos State University College of Medicine, Ikeja in 2016. Prior to all these, he was a Consultant, at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital from 1997 until he was enmeshed in the ASUU logjam in 2001.
12. Isaac Abiodun Adimula:
Prof Adimula is a Professor of Physics and he is the current Director, Academic Planning Unit of the university. He has served as the Director of the University Network Operating system.
13. Mohammed Olanrewaju Ibrahim:
Ibrahim is a Professor of Mathematics and a former President of Mathematics Association of Nigeria is a Fellow of the Association as well as Fellow, Chartered Institute of Strategic Managers and Leaders. He was Head of Department, Mathematics Department, of the University and Director, Centre for International Education.
