…To Assume Office Nov 1
The Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, FUNAAB, has gotten a new acting Vice Chancellor, following the ratification of the university Senate’s election of the incumbent Deputy Vice Chancellor, Projects, Professor Babatunde Kehinde, as acting Vice Chancellor, by the university by Governing Council.
However, Kehinde, a Professor of Plant Breeding and Genetics, will formally assume office on November 1, 2022, a day after the expiration of the tenure of the outgoing Vice Chancellor, VC, Prof. Kolawole Salako, on October 31.
The university’s Head of Public Relations, Mr. Kola Adepoju, when contacted by our correspondent after scooping the development, confirmed the news, but cautioned that academic culture, which stipulates that the acting Vice Chancellor will assume office on November 1, while Prof. Salako remains the Vice Chancellor till October 31, be respected by the media.
Until his ratification by the Governing Council on Thursday, October 6, Prof. Kehinde was the Deputy Vice Chancellor, DVC, Development, since November 2021.
The incoming acting VC, Prof. Kehinde, attended University of Ibadan, where he obtained a Bachelor of Science, B.Sc, degree in Agricultural Biology, with Second Class Honours, Upper Division in 1987; this was quickly followed with a Master of Science, M.Sc, in 1990 and a Doctor of Philosophy, Ph.D, in 1994.
He began his academic career at the FUNAAB in March,1994 as an Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Plant Breeding and Seed Technology, and rose through the ranks to become a Professor in 2007.
Prof. Kehinde has served the university in various capacities, which included Dean, College of Plant Science and Crop Production; Director, Institute for Human Resources and Development, INHURD; member, FUNAAB Governing Council; chairman and member of notable committees in the university.
Prof Kehinde is a recipient of many Fellowships and grants, both personally and for the university, including: Graduate Fellowship Programme at International Institute for Tropical Agriculture, IITA, Ibadan; Chinese Fellowship Programme at Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing; and grants for research studies and the establishment of Centre of Excellence in Agriculture.
Apart from FUNAAB, Prof. Kehinde has contributed to the development of other universities; his impact at the Lagos State University, LASU, led to his appointment as the acting pioneer Dean, School of Agriculture.
He was also a visiting lecturer at the Mendel University, in Brno, Czech Republic.
At the national level, the incoming FUNAAB acting VC served the nation as a member of the National Technical Working Group, Agriculture, of the Vision 20:2020; as well as the Study Group that reorganized the National Agricultural Cooperative and Rural Development Bank into the Bank of Agriculture.
Prof. Kehinde has published more than 50 scientific articles in national and foreign journals.
Happily married to Prof (Mrs) Iyabode Kehinde, who is presently FUNAAB’s Director of Academic Affairs, Prof. Kehinde and his wife are blessed with children.
