JUST-IN: Yakubu Gowon Varsity Appoints Prof Fawehinmi As New Vice Chancellor

The eleventh Governing Council of the University of Abuja (now Yakubu Gowon University), under the chairmanship of Senator Olanrewaju Tejuoso, has approved the appointment of Professor Hakeem Babatunde Fawehinmi as the substantive Vice-Chancellor of the University.

The appointment was announced during the 80th Extraordinary Meeting of the Council held on Friday, 7 November, 2025.

A statement on Friday by the University’s Acting Director, Information and University Relations, Dr Habib Yakoob, said the appointment takes effect from Tuesday, 10 February 2026, for a non-renewable tenure of five years.

Professor Fawehinmi is currently the Vice Chancellor of the Nigerian British University, a conventional private institution in Asa, Abia State.

Meanwhile, the Council has approved the extension of the tenure of the Acting Vice Chancellor, Professor Mathew Adamu, until February 10, 2026.

Adamu was first appointed on 11 August, 2025 by the President Bola Tinubu.

Professor Fawehinmi is a professor of Clinical Anatomy and Biomedical Anthropology.

He is deeply rooted in the finest academic traditions and has a wealth of experience in institutional administration, having served as a two-time Head of the Department of Anatomy (2005–2007; 2007–2009), Associate Dean (2010–2012), and Dean (2012–2014) of the Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, as well as a two-term Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) (2016–2020) at the University of Port Harcourt.

He has served on several statutory and ad hoc committees and boards, experiences that have equipped him with the requisite skills to provide leadership to a well-informed, articulate, and expanding academic community.

Fawehinmi is also an active member of national and international professional associations. He served as Secretary-General and Member of the National Executive Council of the Nigerian Medical Association, Rivers State (1999–2000), Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Anatomical Sciences, and President of the Society of Experimental and Clinical Anatomists of Nigeria (2014–2016).

He has received numerous academic and community service awards and prizes and is a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (FRAI) and a Fellow of the Academy of Medicine Specialties of Nigeria (FAMedS).

Fawehinmi has published over 100 articles in reputable, peer-reviewed, and mostly indexed journals visible on conventional academic search engines, as well as 37 conference abstracts.

He has also participated in and served as a resource person at 78 conferences, workshops, and training programmes across Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and North America.

He has supervised over 100 BSc projects, 15 MSc and 13 PhD/MD dissertations and theses, and delivered the 111th Inaugural Lecture of the University of Port Harcourt in 2014, titled: “Different Tailors for the Same People; Same Surgeon for Different People.”

Professor Fawehinmi has attracted several national and international competitive grants as a principal investigator. His invention won a Federal Government patent for the design of the AMRG Anthropometry Chair for Dimensional Body Measurements.

The new Vice Chancellor has also been involved in the conceptualisation and delivery of several Memoranda of Understanding and partnerships between town and gown, both locally and internationally.