Obasanjo praises FUNAAB’s management.

Ibekimi Oriamaja Reports

Former President Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo has reviewed the tenure of Prof. Felix Kolawole Salako, the outgoing Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), and declared that he “managed FUNAAB successfully.”

Obasanjo spoke when the Salako paid a visit to the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL) with the university’s new Governing Council, led by Alhaji Umar Ahmed.

“Now that you have successfully managed FUNAAB, perhaps I can now make you a farmer,” Obasanjo said, sitting between Ahmed and Salako.

“We’ve had some good vice chancellors and some… but Prof. Salako has done well.”

The former president praised the mandatory five-year tenure of vice chancellors, claiming that it has improved stability and succession in ivory towers.

“This university that I’m very close to has done a lot in achieving the purpose for which it was set up,” Obasanjo said of FUNAAB since its inception.

“I am a direct and indirect beneficiary of your products in the form of your graduates who are doing very well in core agriculture and agribusiness or whatever you want to call it, as well as your agricultural products.”

He welcomed the new Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council, assuring them of his support and cooperation and wishing the council success in its missions.

“I think I can now address you as outgoing Vice Chancellor,” he said as he welcomed the vice chancellor.

“I’m delighted to be here as outgoing vice chancellor to introduce the newly-inaugurated Governing Council to you, sir,” Salako said.

He noted that the tenure of the previous Governing Council, led by Dr.Aboki Zhawa, ended in May of last year.

He expressed his delight that the Federal Government had inaugurated the new Governing Council on September 8, thereby necessitating the need to introduce and present the chairman and members to the former president.

Ahmed thanked the former president for welcoming him and his delegation.

He asked for his “fatherly advice and support as we carry out our mission.”

The university’s Governing Council has approved the university Senate’s selection of Prof. Babatunde Kehinde as the new Acting Vice Chancellor.

Kehinde, a Professor of Plant Breeding and Genetics, will take over on November 1, a day after the tenure of the outgoing vice chancellor expires. Kehinde was the Deputy Vice Chancellor until his ratification by the Governing Council on Thursday (Development). He graduated from the University of Ibadan with a B.Sc Degree in Agricultural Biology, Second Class Honours, Upper Division in 1987, an M.Sc in 1990, and a Ph.D in 1994.

He began his academic career in March 1994 as an Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Plant Breeding and Seed Technology at the University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, and rose through the ranks to become a professor in 2007.