Campus News

We ‘ll make UNILORIN @ 50 colourful – Alafara

By Abubakar Imam

As the Golden Jubilee celebration of the University of Ilorin approaches, the Dean of the Faculty of Physical Sciences, Prof. Baba Abdullahi Alafara, has pledged the readiness of the staff and students of the Faculty to be part of all the events being planned to mark the anniversary, promising that his Faculty would make the anniversary colourful.

Prof. Alafara gave this assurance last Monday (June 16, 2025) while speaking with UNILORIN Bulletin in his office.

He explained that the upcoming “anniversary is a monumental milestone and a unique moment in the history of the University”, which deserves to be marked elaborately, saying that 50 years in the life of an institution is truly a long period that must be assessed and appreciated.

The Dean pointed out that as one of the three founding Faculties of the University, his Faculty would not be left out in celebrating the achievements of the University in the last five decades. He explained that the Faculty is one of the two Faculties that emerged from the former Faculty of Science at the beginning of the 2013/2014 academic session.

Prof. Alafara added that some of the Departments that constitute the Faculty such as Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry are among the oldest in the University, which had produced several outstanding alumni whose contributions to national and human development cannot be glossed over.

            Other Departments in the Faculty that have equally produced distinguished alumni for the University, according to Prof. Alafara, are Geology and Mineral Sciences, Geophysics, Industrial Chemistry and Statistics.

            He recalled that his Faculty was the first that was moved from the mini-campus to the permanent site about 40 years ago, noting that the sacrifice made by members of the Faculty and students of the period would remain imperishable in the annals of the University.

            Prof. Alafara, who described his Faculty as second to no other in the University, recalled that the Faculty was ranked the first of all the 16 Faculties and won the maiden “Best Faculty of the Year Award” at the University in October, 2024.

He said that the Faculty, in terms of staff and students population, is also bigger than some universities, pointing out that the Faculty has no fewer than 130 academic staff and has produced over 25,000 alumni in the last five decades.

            The Dean said that many of the academic staff of the Faculty have won different scholarships/awards and grants nationally and internationally, an achievement, which he said, had broadened the fame of the University.

            Prof. Alafara also said that many staff and students of the Faculty have over 70,000 total Google Scholar Citations and total average H-index of 1400. He said that these efforts have equally won multi-billion US dollar research grants including Erasmus Mondus scholarships by Julius Akinribido of the Department of Industrial Chemistry at the Universite Paris Saclay, France, and University of Porto, Portugal.

            He added that the Faculty had produced a Vice Chancellor for the University in person of the late Prof. John Otunola Oyinloye, who headed the University from 1992 to 1997 as its fifth Vice Chancellor. He equally recalled that the Faculty also produced Prof. G. A. Olatunji, who served as Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research, Technology and Innovation) between 2014 and 2018.

            In addition, the Dean also said that the Faculty has produced two Emeritus Professors and they are Prof. T. O. Aro and Prof. O.S. Adegboye.

Prof. Alafara, who earned all his degrees from the institution, described himself as a total product of the University as he said that this imposes on him the responsibility of mobilising everything within his province to celebrate his alma mater, which has also become his place of work in the last 25 years.

He also explained that the Faculty has also produced two Fellows of the Academy of Science through Prof. S. O. Akande of the Department of Geology and Mineral Sciences, who headed the Old Faculty of Science from 2000 to 2002; and Prof. F. A. Adekola, who teaches at the Department of Industrial Chemistry and was the Dean between 2018 and 2020.

            The Dean added that his Faculty is one of those that has continued to bring glory to the University across its annals as he said that the second person in the University community to secure a place in the Guinness World Book Record is a final year student of the Department of Mathematics.

            He added that the achievement of Mr Sanusi Akanbi Kazeem, who was recently inducted into the Guinness World Book of Records, has placed and would continue to make the University to rank among the best.

            Apart from Mr Sanusi, the Dean also explained that the Faculty is also proud of the fact that it produced an elected State Governor, saying that the immediate past Governor of Kwara State, Alhaji Abdulfatai Ahmed, graduated from the Department of Chemistry about 40 years ago.

            Other prominent products of the University from the Faculty, according to Prof. Alafara, are Dr Julius Adeleke, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Aradel Holdings PLC and Justus PetrolConsult, Aberdeen; Dr Olugbenga Lufadeju, a retired Director at the Department of Petroleum Resources and Chief Executive Officer, GL Dynamic Solutions Ltd.; Mr Arisekola Tunde Muritala, African Representative on Mineral Resources, United Nations; Dr Dele Oyeku, a Director at FIIRO and Dr Henry A. Adimula, who is the Rector, Federal Institute of Petroleum and Training Institute, Effurun, Delta State.

            Also mentioned among the outstanding products of the Faculty are the newly appointed Executive Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company PLC, Mr Babs Omotowa; Prof. Olusegun Omoniyi Ige, the Director-General of the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency (NGSA); his immediate predecessor, Dr AbdulRazaq Abubakar Garba; Dr Adetoyese O. Adekola, who is a Senior Education Specialist at the World Bank and Mr Ibigbemi Oloruntobi, the Chairman/ Chief Executive Officer, Item 7 Restaurant, Ilorin, among others.

            Prof. Alafara said that many of the alumni have been very supportive of the Faculty through donations/endowments as he said that all of them would be mobilised towards playing active role in the celebration.

            While congratulating the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Wahab Olasupo Egbewole, SAN, and the entire members of the University community on the milestones achieved by the University, Prof. Alafara said that the anniversary would also offer his Faculty the privilege of playing its characteristic leading role in the University.