Yesterday, light dimmed on Professor Ibrahim Umar, a renowned physicist and former Vice Chancellor of Bayero University Kano (BUK). The erudite was appointed the head of institution three years after he started teaching physics at the citadel. He would hold the position for seven years.
Professor Umar was the first academic to teach physics at BUK in 1979, according to Daily Trust. A 2017 interview with the medium revealed that the deceased was part of those that drafted 1979 constitution that came with some distinct features, making it a difference from other constitution the country had had.
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Professor Umar was a member of the Nigerian delegation to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) General Conference from 1989 and was appointed Director-General of the Energy Commission of Nigeria in 1989. He served as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the IAEA for 2000-2001 and In 2004 he was the Director of the Centre for Energy Research and Training, where the first Nigerian research nuclear reactor is located. In 1990, he represented Nigeria at the Executive Assembly of the World Energy Council.
Professor Umar was among the international advisory committee for the international workshop on Renewable Energy for Sustainable Development in Africa, held at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in 2007. Between 1994 and 1997, Umar served as Sole Administrator of the Federal University of Technology, Minna.
Professor Sagir Abbas, the current head of BUK while saying encomiums of the deceased, expressed sadness and condoled with the entire university community.
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According to him, Professor Umar laid a good foundation during his stewardship as the head of the university and was very instrumental to the second phase of university’s development particularly the new site campus.
The deceased, according to his son, Farouk Ibrahim Umar died on Monday and would be given a befitting burial on Tuesday according to Islamic rites.
Professor Umar held a B. Sc. in physics and mathematics from Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, a M. Sc. in physics from Northern Illinois University, USA and a PhD in physics at the University of East Anglia, United Kingdom (1974).
