Date: 2017-10-05

Expectations are getting higher as the university community awaits what Professor Sulyman Abdulkareem Age will do as new Vice Chancellor of University of Ilorin, Kwara State.

Chairman of the Governing Council, Dr Zubair A. Oyekan, announced the name of the new VC at the end of the council's consideration of the recommendation of the selection board.

The chairman, while briefing journalists, said that the tenure of the outgoing VC, Professor AbdulGaniyu Ambali, would come to an end on October 15, 2017, leading the council to advertise the position.

"Interested applicants were given six weeks to submit their applications with a closing date of May 26, 2017. Immediately thereafter, council met and constituted the joint council /Senate selection board as well as the search team for the appointment of VC.

"The search team visited universities in various geographical zones of the country and contacted senior academic staff in these institutions who might not have applied for the position.

"Subsequently, the selection board shortlisted candidates based on the various parameters indicated in the advertisement.

"The selection board later interacted with the shortlisted candidates over a period of three days after which they forwarded their recommendation to council for further consideration," Oyekan said.

The governing council chairman said the council's meeting, in accordance with the university Act and the provisions of the Universities (Miscellaneous Provisions) (amendment) Act 2003, considered the recommendation of the selection board.

A lecturer at the Department of Science Education and assistant secretary general of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Dr. Alex Akanmu, said the new VC should be fair and responsible.

"Prof. Age Abdulkareem is a God-fearing man. He has the love of the system at heart and as such, there are high expectations for fairness, equity and justice for all under his administration," Alex said.

Some of the students who spoke to Daily Trust also said they were looking forward to a better tenure that would improve students' welfare and academic standard. A student in the Department of Law, Mrs Fatimah Hussein, urged the new VC to improve students' welfare services.

"I hope he will work more on the issue of hostel accommodation, transport system, lecture rooms, toilets and other issues on academic standard," said.

Another student in the Department of Mass Communication, Mr. Abdulwahab Umar, also called on the new VC to pay more attention to students' welfare and strive hard to maintain stable academic calendar which the university has been known for.

Also, a lecturer in the Department of Agricultural Extension, Dr. Lawal Lateef Adefalu, said the new VC should ensure good academic standard and good practices in the best interest of all stakeholders.

"The outgoing VC tried in the area of staff welfare and we want him to do more by improving on it greatl. He should also build on existing good work of the outgoing VC and lastly, he should ensure that the academic standard the school is known for that made it the choice of every admission seeker should not be compromised but improved on," Adefalu said.

The new VC, Professor Abdulkareem, was born in 1954 at Oro in Kwara State. He attended Government Secondary School Ilorin for both his secondary and Higher School Certificate from 1968 to 1974 which he undertook with a Kwara State government scholarship.

He later got a Federal Government's scholarship for his university education at the University of Detroit, Michigan, USA between 1975 and 1980 where he was awarded with MChE, BChE Chemical Engineering specialising in heterogeneous catalysis/reaction engineering.

He was awarded the USA national science foundation fellowship for his Ph.D in chemical engineering at the University of Louisville from 1985 to 1988 and also obtained engineering-in-training certificate of the state of Minnesota. He became a registered member of the Nigerian Society of Engineers in 2002 and COREN in 2004. Professor Abdulkareem lectured at the Detroit Board of Education from August 1984 to August 1985 and was a graduate teacher assistant at the University of Louisville, Kentucky from 1985 to 1988.

He joined the services of Unilorin as a senior lecturer in 1996 and rose to become a professor in September, 2005.

He held many positions in the university including director of SIWES 2000-2008, head, university admission unit 2006-2009, dean student affairs, 2008-2010 and director, laboratory-to-product centre from September 2015 to date. The new VC is expected to assume duty on October 16.