Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq of Kwara State has appointed Johnson Bamidele Adewumi, a renowned educationist and philanthropist as the new Chancellor of the State University (KWASU), Malete.
According to a letter signed by Sa’adatu Modibbo, Commissioner for Tertiary Education, Adewumi’s appointment, which is for five years takes immediate effect.
Born on November 26, 1952 in Oko-Irese, Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara State, Adewumi holds a PhD (Civil Engineering) degree from the Imperial College of Science and Technology, London (December 1982); M.Sc D.I.C (Hydrology), Imperial College of Science & Technology, London (June 1979) and B.Sc (Civil) Second Class Upper Division, University of Lagos, Lagos, (June 1976). He is a Chartered Engineer, Council of Registered Engineers of Nigeria.
Adewumi’s appearance belies his intellectual capacity, accomplishments and uncommon clout across the sectors into which he has ventured.
By virtue of his education, occupation and affluence, he could have stayed away in urban centres rubbing shoulders with the nation’s wealthiest and most affluent, but he elected to lead the life of a community man.
Intensely philosophical, Adewumi’s love for the quest of knowledge across disciplines, its dissemination, and acquisition is legendary.
His love for, and passionate faith in his native home of Oko-Irese in Irepodun Local Government Area and indeed Kwara State have always been on the front burners and he never hesitated from committing his money, energy and time to the progress of both.
Adewumi lives, thinks and works as if he is in a race against time to remedy the lapses and rot in the education sector; he also never ceases to assist members of the younger generation to do their utmost towards ensuring that they attain the best.
And it is against that background that one can better appreciate his thoroughness, drive and commitment to the success of the sectors of the economy in which he has been privileged to have served at various times.
Till date, very few Nigerians are on record as having impacted the education sector more than he has done. He continues to strive for the progress of his community, State and Country.
Any discussion on the development of education, community development and leadership cannot be complete without reference to his sterling contributions.
He has traversed the Public and Private Sectors of the Nigerian Economy for about 43years, garnering useful experience across the broad fields of Engineering Construction, Design, Policy formulation, Research and Teaching.
He has worked on many large water resources and hydropower projects in various capacities including the Multi-purpose Gurara Water Transfer Project, reputed as the largest of its kind in Africa; engineering design of 3050MW Mambilla Hydropower Project and 700MW Zungeru Hydropower projects where he served as Project Director for the Engineering Design and Construction.
Adewumi also served on a number of Technical Commission and Advisory Committees for Civil Engineering Construction Projects and Water Resources Planning for Federal Government of Nigeria and International Commission on Large Dams.
He served as Water Resources expert for bilateral and multilateral organizations and his work and that of other experts formed the basis of the Water sharing Agreement between the Government of Federal Republic of Nigeria and Niger for the Four River Basin common to the two countries in 1985.
He served as Resource person on the Training Programme of ACEN Dams design and Geotechnical Investigation for Large Dams and was elected as President of Nigeria Committee on Large dams in May 2018 to serve for a period of 3 years ending May 2021.
On the global stage, the Asiwaju of Oko-Irese is a member of the International Committee on the Integrated Management of Hydropower Reservoirs whose membership is drawn from USA, China, Canada, Nigeria, Switzerland, Germany and France.
He had also served as Hydrological Rapporteur for World Meteorological Organisation.
