By Abubakar Imam
The Dean of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Ilorin, Prof. Abdulganiyu Giwa, has said that his Faculty is prepared to mark the upcoming Golden Jubilee of the University with a free medical outreach for members of the University community.
Prof. Giwa stated this penultimate Friday (July 11, 2025) while speaking with UNILORIN Bulletin in his office on the preparation of his Faculty towards the success of the upcoming celebration.
The renowned academic said that the Faculty would mobilise available human and material resources towards organising an impactful medical outreach that would provide malaria rapid diagnosis, medical consultation, health education and counseling for interested staff and students of the University and other members of the institution at no cost to them.
Prof. Giwa, who is the first substantive Dean of the Faculty and the eighth occupant of the office, said that blood sugar, blood pressure and other critical health conditions of the intending beneficiaries will also be subjected to professional evaluation for their own benefit.
The Dean said that the Faculty, which was established during the tenure of the 8th Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof. Is’haq Olanrewaju Oloyede, CON, subsequent upon the resolution of the 205th meeting of the University Senate held on December 2, 2009, has every reason to roll out the drums in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the University, considering its achievements.
Prof. Giwa explained that the Faculty has been mobilising its staff, students, alumni and friends to key-in to the celebration as he said that the anniversary is for everyone and organisations with one record of relationship or the other with the University of Ilorin since its establishment in 1975.
He explained that the Faculty successfully transitioned from the Bachelor of Pharmacy to Doctor of Pharmacy programme since the 2016/2017 academic session, adding that the next graduands of the Faculty would be awarded Doctor of Pharmacy degree by the University as the programme has been fully accredited by the National Universities Commission (NUC) and other relevant regulatory authorities.
The Dean, who teaches at the Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacy Practice, said that the Faculty has produced about 400 graduates who belong to six different sets and are doing very well within and outside Nigeria.
Prof. Giwa also said that the Faculty has since commenced postgraduate programmes in four of its Departments as it has also graduated Master degree holders and has also admitted doctoral candidates, some of whom are products of sister institutions.
He explained that the feedback obtained from the real world of pharmaceutical practice shows that many alumni of the Faculty are doing extremely well.
Prof. Giwa explained that many of the alumni of the Faculty are working in pharmaceutical industries, teaching hospitals and research institutes within and outside Nigeria.
Among the outstanding alumni of the Faculty, as mentioned by Prof. Giwa, are Mr Ayobami Diya Olu, who is at Washington State University, United States of America; Mr Umar Faruq Idris of Solina Centre for International Development and Research, Abuja; Mr Babatunde Yusuf, the Growth and Partnership Coordinator, YLABS, Kigali, Rwanda; Mrs Rahimat Oluwatomi Odunola, who upon completing her M.Sc. in Pharmacology and Drug Development at the Coventry University, West Midlands England, United Kingdom, is working as a Medicine Management Assistant at the University Hospitals, Coventry and Warwickshire UHCW; and Miss Amudalat AbdulRahman, who is pursuing her M.Sc. in Digital Health and Entrepreneurship at the University College, London, United Kingdom, to mention a few.
Prof. Giwa urged the alumni of the Faculty to continue to uphold the highest standards of professionalism and integrity. He equally urged them to be excellent and exemplary ambassadors of the Pharmacy profession and always carry the pride of being graduates of the University of Ilorin, which he described as a University that continues to set the standard for excellence.
On the strength and quality of its staff, Prof. Giwa said that the Faculty currently has 39 academic staff and about 50 non-teaching staff.
While he disclosed that all the academic staff members are self-motivated and well-trained professionals, some of whom have attained the pinnacle of the academic ranks, Prof. Giwa said that the non-teaching staff members of the Faculty are equally well-trained men and women, a condition that is propelling the Faculty to the continuous attainment of its corporate objectives.
As a mark of the hardwork of the staff of the Faculty, Prof. Giwa said that some of them such as Prof Rasheedat Ayanniyi, Dr Saad’ Abdullahi, Dr O. I. Eniayewu and Dr Alfred Francis Attah, have received grants in-aid of one research or the other while Dr Alfred Francis Attah, and Dr Salawu Kayode Murtala has also been granted patent, each, for their outstanding intellectual property.
Prof. Giwa also said that three members of the Faculty have delivered well-researched and thought-provoking Inaugural Lectures. These are Prof. Moji Taibat Bakare-Odunola, Prof. Isaac Olusola Aremu and Prof. Adeola Kola-Mustapha.
On the contributions of the Faculty to the development of the University since it was created about two decades ago, Prof. Giwa said that the creation of the Faculty marked the induction of the University into the group of ivory towers with total health related academic programmes as he said that healthcare delivery will be incomplete without a pharmaceutical component.
Prof. Giwa said that many members of the Faculty have been appointed into key positions in the University as he recalled that prior to her emergence as the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic), Prof. Moji Taibat Bakare-Odunola was the Dean of the University’s Postgraduate School, where she also gave a good account of herself, among several other appointments.
While congratulating the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Wahab Olasupo Egbewole, SAN, and members of the University community on the upcoming anniversary celebration, Prof. Giwa thanked the authorities of the University for establishing and sustaining the Faculty since 2010/2011 academic session.
He expressed the hope that the Faculty would soon emerge as one of the first ten across the globe in the area of pharmaceutical training, research and practice that would manifest from the classroom to the real world of practice.
