*Photo: Professor Adebayo Simeon Bamire, Vice Chancellor, Obafemi Awolowo University*
At 65, Obafemi Awolowo University is beginning to look like itself again.
For years, many feared the legendary Great Ife spirit was slowly slipping away beneath broken roads, abandoned projects, unstable calendars and the wider decay confronting Nigeria’s public universities. But today, as OAU prepares for its 65th anniversary, the atmosphere on campus feels different.
There is movement again.
New roads stretch across the campus. Abandoned buildings are returning to life. Investors are showing interest. Alumni are spending billions on legacy projects. Research is gaining visibility. And for almost four years, students have remained in classrooms instead of sitting endlessly at home because of strikes.
At the centre of this quiet turnaround is Professor Adebayo Simeon Bamire a calm, understated administrator many now describe as one of the most effective vice-chancellors OAU has produced in recent times.
Unlike many public officials, Bamire does not thrive on noise. He rarely chases headlines. Yet, across Ile-Ife, the evidence of his leadership is difficult to ignore.
When he became the university’s 12th Vice-Chancellor in 2022, Bamire arrived with something rare: deep institutional memory. He had spent 35 years inside the OAU system and nearly two decades as a student of the university across three degrees. Before reaching the top, he had served as Head of Department, Dean and Deputy Vice-Chancellor.
More importantly, he broke a 65-year jinx.
No Deputy Vice-Chancellor had ever become substantive Vice-Chancellor in OAU’s history. Professor Bamire changed that — not through politics, but through years of visibility, competence and trust within the university community.
Since then, OAU has witnessed one of its most stable periods in years.
Promotion bottlenecks that once frustrated staff were cleared. Internal tensions reduced. Administrative processes became faster. And in a country where university strikes have become almost routine, OAU quietly maintained an uninterrupted academic calendar for nearly four years.
But it is the physical transformation across the campus that has truly caught attention.
Roads once filled with potholes have been reconstructed. The campus gate area has been redesigned. Road One now carries a cleaner, modern look, while the Link Road connecting Maintenance to Parakin has improved movement around the university.
Then come the buildings.
The once-abandoned Mass Communication building is nearing completion. The Academic Resource Centre near Pit Theatre has come alive. Engineering projects are rising again. Most symbolic of all is the revival of the university’s abandoned 11-storey Senate Building project after years of stagnation.
Under Bamire, abandoned projects are no longer being abandoned.
An economist by training, the Vice-Chancellor also understood early that government allocation alone could not sustain a modern university. Instead of waiting for handouts, the administration aggressively pursued grants, partnerships and private-sector investment.
The results have been staggering.
OAU secured over N2bn in TETFund interventions in 2026 alone for infrastructure, ICT, research and staff development. Another N1.5bn was approved for the College of Health Sciences, alongside a N1bn agricultural commercial farm intervention.
Private investors are also returning.
A N4bn hostel partnership is expected to deliver over 1,200 bed spaces, while SmartCity Plc and Techbrokers Limited are developing thousands of additional student accommodations and a modern CBT centre.
Perhaps even more remarkable is the alumni comeback.
For years, many old students watched from a distance. Now, they are returning with projects worth billions.
Professor Anthony Adegbulugbe is building a research centre. Professor Yusuf Ali is constructing a WIERD Innovation Hub. Ahmed Raji completed a Clinical Legal Education Centre. Engr. Lanre Adeleke donated an 18-hole golf course project, while Zacch Adedeji renovated the Faculty of Administration building. This is in addition to Alhaji (Dr) Murtala Adeyemi Adeniji Centre for Development .
The university’s agricultural revolution is also gaining momentum.
Under Profesor Bamire, OAU established a 162-hectare cocoa plantation and a 50-hectare oil palm plantation, turning its Teaching and Research Farm into a growing commercial enterprise.
In energy and technology, the university is pushing boundaries too.
OAU recently commissioned what is believed to be the first CNG Daughter Station and Conversion Centre in any Nigerian university. Plans for a solar power project are advancing, while digital initiatives, research partnerships and international collaborations continue to expand.
But beyond the billions, perhaps the biggest transformation is psychological.
For years, many within the university had stopped believing. Projects stalled endlessly. Staff morale weakened. Students adjusted to instability. Confidence faded.
Today, that confidence is slowly returning.
As OAU prepares to celebrate 65 years of existence, the university is not merely marking an anniversary. It is rediscovering its identity.
And at the centre of that story is a quiet professor who chose results over noise.
Professor Bamire may eventually be remembered not just as the Vice-Chancellor who broke a jinx, but as the reformer who made Great Ife believe in itself again.