Renowned Physicist And Ex-BUK VC , Prof Umar, Is Dead

A renowned physicist and former Vice Chancellor of Bayero University, Kano (BUK), Professor Ibrahim Umar has died.

Naija News reports that the former VC’s death was confirmed on Monday by his son, Farouk Ibrahim Umar.

According to his son, the burial ceremony for the late Umar would hold at Kofar Kudu by 10am on Tuesday.

The deceased, who served as BUK VC between 1979 and 1986, was the third head of the institution.

He was the first Nigerian academic in physics to teach at the university in 1976.

He represented Nigeria at the Executive Assembly of the World Energy Council from 1990 and was a part of the team that drafted the 1979 Constitution for the country.

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.

His last known appointment was in 2007, he when he was on the international advisory committee for the international workshop on Renewable Energy for Sustainable Development in Africa, held at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in Nigeria.

Reacting to his death, the VC of BUK, Professor Sagir Abbas, expressed sadness and condoled with the entire university community.

According to Daily Trust, Abbas said the deceased 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.