A former Visiting Professor in the National Universities Commission (NUC), Abdullahi Yusufu Ribadu has been appointed the substantive 9th Executive Secretary of the Commission, with effect from Friday 6th December, 2024.
According to a statement which read in part issued by the the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Mr. Bayo Onanuga: “President Tinubu appointed Professor Abdullahi Yusufu Ribadu, an erstwhile Visiting Professor at the NUC and an expert in veterinary reproduction, as the organisation’s Executive Secretary.”
The President also highlighted his confidence in Prof. Ribadu’s ability to bring transformative changes to the NUC. “With his proven track record, Prof. Ribadu will provide the leadership needed to fulfill Nigerians’ expectations for quality and innovative higher education,” the President stated. Professor Ribadu, who was once a Visiting Professor at the NUC, has served as Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Yola, and the Sule Lamido University, Jigawa State.
Meanwhile, his wealth of experience in academic leadership is expected to drive reforms in the nation’s university system.
The new Executive Secretary is to take over from the current Acting Executive Secretary, Mr. Chris J. Maiyaki, who had been on Acting appointment since 1st July, 2023, following the voluntary resignation from office of the then 8th substantive Executive Secretary, Professor Abubakar Adamu Rasheed, mni, MFR, FNAL, on the 30th of June, 2023. It would be recalled that Professor Rasheed, a former Vice Chancellor of Bayero University Kano (BUK), who was reappointed for another five-year term of office in 2021 by former President Muhammadu Buhari, resigned his appointment in 2023, to continue his teaching job at the University.
The new Executive Secretary was born on 2nd September, 1960) is a Nigerian academic and professor of Veterinary Reproduction. He was the Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Yola, Nigeria (from 2004 to 2009). He also served as the pioneer Vice-Chancellor of Sule Lamido University, Kafin Hausa, Jigawa State, Nigeria (from 2013 to 2018). Professor Abdullahi had his primary and secondary education in Song and Mubi, respectively, in Adamawa State. He went to Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State, where he studied Veterinary Medicine.
In 1984, he performed the compulsory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme in Ilorin, Kwara State. He studied for his master’s degree in Veterinary reproduction (Theriogenology) between 1986 and 1988 at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
In 1990, he was awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship to study in the University of Liverpool, where he had his PhD in 1994. He was also awarded a Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Fellowship for a Postdoctoral Study at Rakuno Gakuen University, Ebetsu, Hokkaido, Japan from 1997 to 1999. He worked as a lecturer in the University of Maiduguri from 1985 to 2004 until he became the Vice-Chancellor of Federal University of Technology, Yola on that same year 2004.
Among Professor Abdullahi’s recognised scholarship include a Commonwealth Scholarship for a PhD degree at the University of Liverpool and also a Japanese post-doctorate fellowship that was sponsored by the Japan Society for the promotion of science. He was the first Nigerian to benefit from that programme.
The Monday Bulletin wishes him a successful tenure