By joshua 
On this historic day five (5) years ago, precisely Friday, 18th December 2020, the Governing Council of the Federal University Lokoja (FUL) led by the 3rd Pro-Chancellor and Chairman, Senator Chris Adighije, PhD, announced Professor Olayemi Durotimi Akinwumi as the 3rd Substantive Vice-Chancellor of the University.
The Professor of African History, who was until his appointment the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) at Nasarawa State University, Keffi (NSUK), emerged out of 80 candidates who jostled for the position, and assumed office on 15th February 2021. He took over from Professor Angela Freeman Miri, the 2nd Vice-Chancellor from Plateau State, whose five-year tenure came to an end on 14th February 2021.
Similarly, on Tuesday, 16th December 2025, the 4th Governing Council, chaired by Professor Zubairu Tajo Abdallah, announced a Professor of Discourse Analysis and Pragmatics, and immediate past Provost, College of Postgraduate Studies, Gbenga Solomon Ibileye, as the 4th Substantive Vice-Chancellor of the Nigeria’s fastest growing University, following a transparent, merit-based, and highly competitive selection process.
He emerged first out of eleven distinguished professors who were shortlisted and went through the rigorous interview exercise—out of the overall 38 applications initially received and thoroughly screened by the selection committee.
Professor Ibileye’s appointment takes effect from 15th February 2026, immediately after the current Vice-Chancellor, Professor Olayemi Akinwumi, whose tenure has been widely adjudged and acknowledged by the Governing Council, as the most impactful in the history of the fifteen-year-old Institution, bows out of office in February next year.
“Professor Akinwumi’s administration recorded remarkable achievements in the areas of academic culture consolidation, infrastructural development, expansion of academic programmes, staff and student welfare, institutional stability, and enhanced national relevance of the University,” Dr. Rebecca Aimiohu Okojie, the Registrar and Secretary to Council, remarked while announcing the new Vice-Chancellor in a press release.
While Professor Akinwumi is the first indigenous Vice-Chancellor from Kogi State to assume the position, Professor Ibileye is the first professor from the University to be appointed into the highly coveted and exalted office. Interestingly, both the outgoing and incoming Vice-Chancellors hail from Ekirin-Adde in Ijumu Local Government Area of Kogi State.