The University of Ilorin is reputed to be one of the best universities in the country. Since inception, the institution has produced several national and international alumni some of which have been highlighted in this post.
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Femi Adebayo
Femi Adebayo studied law at the University of Ilorin before going into acting full-time. He’s the son of veteran actor, Adebayo Salami.
Adebayo is a popular Yoruba Nollywood actor, director and producer. The movie that shot him into limelight was Tade Ogidan’s movie, Owo Blow.
He received the award for the Best Yoruba actor at the 17th African Film Awards also known as Afro Hollywood.
Some of his popular movies include: Sonto Alapata, Wura Ati Fadaka, Ma Wobadan and Buga.
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Ezekiel Adebiyi
Ezekiel Adebiyi won the award for the most outstanding student at the University of Ilorin when he graduated in 1991.
Adebiyi is a Nigerian computational biologist and research scientist. He is also the President of the Nigerian Society of Bioinformatic and the Vice President of the African Society for Bioinformatic and Computational Biology.
Adebiyi is the first Professor of Bioinformatics in West Africa.
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Sarah Alade
Sarah Alade was the former acting Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria. She was appointed as the Governor when Lamido Sanusi was suspended in 2014 and she was at the helms of affairs until Godwin Emefiele took over.
Alade received her undergraduate degree at the University of Ife now Obafemi Awolowo University, before proceeding to the University of Ilorin to obtain her PhD in Management Science (Operations Research) in 1991.
Alade worked at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, Ilorin before becoming a lecturer at the University of Ilorin.
A couple of years later, she joined the Central Bank of Nigeria in 1993 as an assistant director in the Research Department. She also served as head of the State Government Finance Office, head of the Federal Government Finance Office and head of the Fiscal Analysis Division.
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Abdul Rasheed Na’Allah
Abdul Rasheed Na’Allah is a notable author of numerous books. He wrote the popular article on Kwame Anthony Appiah for The Oxford Encyclopedia of African Thought.
He received a BA in 1988 from University of Ilorin. He also received his M.A. Literature in English from the same university.
He later proceeded to the University of Alberta, Edmonton to receive a PhD in Comparative Literature. He is currently the Vice Chancellor or Kwara State University in Nigeria.
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Charles Ayo
He was the third Vice Chancellor of Covenant University. He received his undergraduate degree at the Ahmadu Bello University where he emerged the best graduating student from the Department of Computer Science.
He obtained his PhD in Numerical Computation from the University of Ilorin and was a lecturer at the Lagos State University before joining the Covenant University.
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Ado J. G. Muhammad
He is the current Director of Nigeria’s National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA). Prior to his appointment, he served as a Special Assistant to the Permanent Secretary, Dr Daudu, at the State House, Abuja.
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Aize Obayan
Aize Obayan is another stellar product from the University of Ilorin. She was the former Vice Chancellor of the Covenant University and the current Vice-Chancellor, Landmark University.
She received her PhD from the University of Ilorin and was working as a snior lecturer at the University of Roehampton, United Kingdom prior to joining Covenant University.
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Josephine Obiajulu Odumakin
She is a notable human right activist. She is the current President of the Rights Groups; Women Arise for Change Initiative and the Campaign for Democracy.
Josephine received her Bachelor’s, Master’s and PhD from the University of Ilorin.
She was presented the International Women of Courage Award from the United States Department of State by Michelle Obama and John Kerry at the US State Department’s Dean Acheson Auditorium during one of the International Women’s Days.
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Johnson Bamidele Olawumi
He was the former Director General of the National Youth Service Corps. He is a Major General of the Nigerian army. Currently, he is the Coordinator of the Nigerian Army Aviation.
He has held positions such as Director of Cyber Security at the Defence Space Agency, Commandant at the Nigerian Army School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering and Principal Staff Officer to the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General OA Ihejirika.
General Johnson obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from the Nigerian Defence Academy in 1988 and a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Ilorin in 1997. He later studied at the University of London, where he received a Master’s degree in defence studies in 2006.
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Is-haq Oloyede
Is-haq Oloyede was the former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin and the current Registrar and Chief Executive of Nigeria’s Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB.
He received a Bachelor’s degree in Arabic from the University of Ilorin in 1978. He also received a Doctorate degree in Islamic Studies from the same university in 1991.
He was an outstanding student during his days as an undergraduate at UNIILORIN. He earned several scholarships and prizes, some of which include the Arab League prize for the best final year Certificate student in Arabic and Islamic Studies; Federal Government undergraduate merit award from 1979 to 1981; Department of Religions Award, University of Ilorin, 1981 and Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Award, Unilorin also in 1981.
He graduated with a first class degree from the University and was appointed as assistant lecturer soon after.
He was appointed the Vice Chancellor on the 15th October 2007 for a single term of five years. Currently, Prof Is-haq Oloyede is the Executive Secretary of National Inter -Religious Council (NIREC) and also the President of Association of African Universities (AAU).
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Nkem Owoh
Popularly known as Osuofia due to his award winning movie, Osuofia in London, Nkem Owoh is one of the top notch actors in Nollywood. He is known to have featured in several comedy movies.
He studied at the University of Ilorin but ventured in to acting soon after. His blockbuster movie, ‘Osuofia in London’ won several awards in the country and beyond.
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