NIGERIA: Ex-UNILORIN Vice-Chancellor Prof AbdulGaniyu Ambali Dies At 68

By Onoja Baba

Former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin Professor AbdulGaniyu Ambali is dead.

The renowned veterinary medicine scholar and university administrator passed away in the early hours of Saturday at his residence in Oloje Estate Ilorin Kwara State capital after a brief illness. He was 68 years old.

Confirming the sad news the University of Ilorin’s Director of Corporate Affairs Kunle Akogun said the current Vice Chancellor Professor Wahab Olasupo Egbewole SAN described the death as a huge loss not only to the University of Ilorin and Kwara State University Malete where Professor Ambali served as Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council but also to the nation and humanity at large.

Professor Ambali, who served as the 9th Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin from 2012 to 2017, was until his death the Pro-Chancellor of Kwara State University.

The Vice Chancellor has sympathised with the family and the people of the Ilorin Emirate while enjoining members of the university community and sympathisers to attend the Janazah prayer for the deceased at his Oloje Housing Estate residence by 4pm on Saturday.

Born on November 29, 1957, in Ilorin, Kwara State Professor Ambali attended Pakata Primary School and Government Secondary School Jalingo.

He obtained his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Ahmadu Bello University Zaria in 1981 and later earned his Master’s and PhD degrees in Veterinary Medicine from the University of Liverpool United Kingdom.

He began his academic career at the University of Maiduguri before joining the University of Ilorin, where he rose through the ranks to become Professor of Veterinary Medicine and pioneer Dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. He also served as Chairman of the Association of West African Universities and was a Fellow of the College of Veterinary Surgeons of Nigeria.