The Governing Council of the University of Abuja (now Yakubu Gowon University) has approved the appointment of Professor Hakeem Babatunde Fawehinmi as the substantive Vice-Chancellor.

The announcement was made during the 80th Extraordinary Meeting of the Council held on Friday, according to a statement issued by the university’s Acting Head of Information, Dr. Habib Yakoob.

Dr. Yakoob stated that “the appointment takes effect from Tuesday, February 10, 2026, for a single, non-renewable tenure of five years.”

Prof. Fawehinmi, who currently serves as the Vice-Chancellor of the Nigerian British University in Abia State, succeeds a series of acting vice-chancellors appointed following controversies surrounding the tenure of former VC, Prof. Aisha Maikudi.

Meanwhile, the Council also approved the extension of the tenure of the Acting Vice-Chancellor, Professor Mathew Adamu, until February 10, 2026. Prof. Adamu was first appointed by the Federal Government on August 11, 2025.

A Professor of Clinical Anatomy and Biomedical Anthropology, Fawehinmi brings extensive academic and administrative experience to the job.

He had previously served as Head of the Department of Anatomy, Associate Dean, Dean of the Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) at the University of Port Harcourt.

He had also held several leadership roles in professional bodies, including Secretary-General of the Nigerian Medical Association (Rivers State), Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Anatomical Sciences, and President of the Society of Experimental and Clinical Anatomists of Nigeria.

Prof. Fawehinmi is a fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland and the Academy of Medicine Specialities of Nigeria.

His innovation—the AMRG Anthropometry Chair for Dimensional Body Measurements—earned him a Federal Government patent.

He has also attracted national and international research grants and received multiple awards for academic excellence and community service.