Former BUK VC, Prof Umar, is dead

A renowned physicist and former Vice Chancellor of Bayero University, Kano (BUK), Professor Ibrahim Umar is dead.

His son, Farouk Ibrahim Umar confirmed the development on Monday, announcing that the burial ceremony would hold at Kofar Kudu by 10am on Tuesday.

The deceased, who served as BUK VC between 1979 and 1986, was the third head of the institution.

He was the first Nigerian academic in physics to teach at the university in 1976.

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In his last interview with Daily Trust in 2017, the deceased went down the memory lane, curating the various positions he has held within and outside the country, including representing Nigeria at the Executive Assembly of the World Energy Council from 1990 and being a part of the team that drafted the 1979 Constitution for the country.

He was a member of the Nigerian delegation to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) General Conference from 1989 and was appointed Director-General of the Energy Commission of Nigeria in 1989. He served as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the IAEA for 2000-2001 and In 2004 he was the Director of the Centre for Energy Research and Training, where the first Nigerian research nuclear reactor is located.

His last known appointment was in 2007, he when he was on the international advisory committee for the international workshop on Renewable Energy for Sustainable Development in Africa, held at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in Nigeria.

In the interview, he advised Nigerians to “make sure that we elect people who would work for the country and not because they can give money to the electorate” as one of the ways to get out of the challenges being faced in the country.

The current VC of BUK, Professor Sagir Abbas, expressed sadness and condoled with the entire university community.

He said the deceased laid a good foundation during his stewardship as the head of the university and was very instrumental to the second phase of university’s development particularly the new site campus.