A new chapter in the history of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko (AAUA), will begin on Wednesday as Professor Tomola Marshal Obamuyi officially assumes office as the institution's seventh substantive Vice Chancellor.

In a statement signed by the Deputy Registrar, Information, Protocol and Public Relations, Victor A. Akinpelumi, the official handover ceremony is scheduled to hold at 10:00 a.m. at the University's Multipurpose Hall, where Professor Obamuyi will formally take over from the outgoing Vice Chancellor, Professor Olugbenga Ige, whose tenure ends on Tuesday, July 7, 2026.

The university described Professor Obamuyi as a visionary scholar-administrator whose wealth of academic experience, global exposure, research accomplishments and deep institutional knowledge would further strengthen AAUA's pursuit of academic excellence.

Professor Obamuyi's appointment was approved by the Ondo State Governor and Visitor to the University, Hon. Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa, following a rigorous selection process conducted by the Joint Council and Senate Selection Board. He emerged as the preferred candidate from a field of 15 distinguished academics interviewed for the position.

A Professor of Finance with more than three decades of teaching, research and administrative experience, Obamuyi is widely regarded as a seasoned scholar and university administrator.

He earned a Ph.D. in Management Science from the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) in 2005 and later obtained a Certificate in Financial Technology from the New York University Stern School of Business in 2019.

Throughout his academic career, he has supervised 34 postgraduate students to completion, served as External Examiner for 223 postgraduate oral examinations in Nigeria, South Africa and India, and acted as External Assessor for 88 professorial appointments across several universities.

His administrative experience spans several strategic positions. As one of the pioneering stakeholders of AAUA following its transition in 1999, he served as Acting Head of the Department of Banking and Finance and later Director of Linkages and International Programmes. He subsequently became the first substantive Dean of the School of Management Technology at FUTA between 2015 and 2019 and later served as Director of the University's Advancement Centre from 2019 to 2022.

Professor Obamuyi has also held visiting professorial appointments at the University of Lagos, Lagos State University of Science and Technology, and Redeemer's University, Ede.

Beyond administration, the incoming Vice Chancellor has attracted and successfully executed several research grants, including projects funded by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor commissioned by Babson College, United States.

He has authored more than 80 scholarly publications and presented research papers at international conferences in 13 countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Sweden, Finland, Ireland, Ethiopia, India and Singapore.

His contributions to scholarship earned him the "Best Professor of Banking and Finance in Africa" award at the Africa Education Leadership Awards held in Mauritius in 2015. In 2018, he delivered FUTA's 99th Inaugural Lecture titled, "Finance, Entrepreneurship and Institutions: The Triple Helix for Nigeria's Economic Growth," while a Festschrift was published in his honour the following year.

Professor Obamuyi is a Fellow of the Association of Entrepreneurship Scholars and the Nigerian Society for Financial Research. He is also an Honorary Senior Member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, a member of the Nigeria Institute of Management (Chartered), the Fintech Association of Nigeria, among other professional bodies.

Meanwhile, the university invited members of its community, alumni, stakeholders and the general public to witness the inauguration ceremony.